Microsoft Updates Office Apps for iPad With Mouse and Trackpad Support

[MacRumors]

Microsoft today announced that the Word, PowerPoint, and Excel apps for iPad are receiving updates that will allow them to use the trackpad and mouse support in iPadOS.

The apps will feature a cursor that transforms into the tool that's needed depending on the context of what you're pointing to for easy cursor control, fluid navigation, and precise adjustments. Microsoft says that the trackpad experience will be familiar to those who have used Office on a Mac or PC.

And using a mouse or trackpad with iPad for common tasks like highlighting a passage of text in Word, selecting a range of cells in Excel, and moving and resizing graphics in PowerPoint are as simple and intuitive as ever. This experience will be immediately familiar to anyone who has ever used Office on a Mac or a PC and helps make iPad even more versatile and capable for getting more work done.

Along with mouse and trackpad support, Microsoft is adding new start screens and a new ribbon of feature menus to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for a cleaner and more modern user experience.

According to Microsoft, many users have already started receiving the updates through a phased rollout, which will reach all users within a couple of weeks.

Article Link: Microsoft Updates Office Apps for iPad With Mouse and Trackpad Support

 

[ct2k7]

Awesome, a little late, but a welcome change.

 

[icanhazmac]

According to Microsoft, many users have already started receiving the updates through a phased rollout, which will reach all users within a couple of weeks.

Because Microsoft has a stellar record when it comes to updates! #brokewindowsagain

 

[TheDailyApple]

About time! Using office without a mouse is miserable.

 

[DNichter]

Very happy about this

 

[Pangalactic]

Wow, wonderful!

Meanwhile still waiting for 50% of the apps to at least rotate into horizontal mode...

 

[Simmias]

With the latest Office updates, I am very close to being able to use my 12.9" iPad Pro as my full time work computer. In addition to trackpad support, Word and PowerPoint now allow multiple windows/documents to be open at the same time. For some reason, Excel still only allows one spreadsheet to be open at a time. I'm not sure why it's taking so long (it took nearly a year to add multi-window support after it was demoed onstage at the WWDC iPad OS 13 keynote), but I'm glad the updates are finally coming. Once Microsoft enables multiple windows in Excel, I will finally be able to use the iPad for 99% of my professional workflow!

 

[MauiPa]

I completely gave up on MS apps awhile ago. Things like pivot tables always seemed to crash, the UI was horrible (looked like a Kindergarten class designed it, the ribbon was worst invention ever contemplated). Wouldn't it be funny, if it took MS writing an app for an iPad to finally get it right?

Hey if you love MS Office - cheers to you. I respect that, please respect my choices too. thanks

 

[ugahairydawgs]

It's about damn time.

 

[bklement]

What about rdp? Or any other remote desktop app? Last time I tried none worked as if I were sitting 8n front of the computer with a mouse.

 

[GeoStructural]

Can we edit charts in Excel now? I hate that so many essential features are not available on the iPad app, this device is powerful enough to run the desktop app version.

 

[jjm3]

I wonder how this fits in with the "unified Office app on iOS, but keep using three separate Word/Excel/PowerPoint" apps on iPadOS scheme... Hmmm...

 

[gautampw]

I wonder how this fits in with the "unified Office app on iOS, but keep using three separate Word/Excel/PowerPoint" apps on iPadOS scheme... Hmmm...

They’ve already said the unified iPad app is in development

 

[davidjearly]

Wait, I’ve been using all the MS apps on my 12.9” Pro with Magic Keyboard for months - what’s new here?

 

[Just sayin...]

I’m still waiting for Pivot Table support. If they were to implement that, I could use my iPad for everything. Without it, I still need a PC...

 

[markfc]

TeamViewer, RDP, sort you’re stuff out and add mouse support. 😀

 

[Peepo]

I don't understand how MS can do a "phased rollout" on a feature like this? I would think they are not allowed to add/remove features without submitting a new version to Apple to place on the app store. Same with Google and their dark mode support for Gmail app which seemed to take months, if not a year before I got.

And what is the reasoning behind doing a phased rollout... is mouse and trackpad support going to bog down MS servers somehow?

 

[Peepo]

What about rdp? Or any other remote desktop app? Last time I tried none worked as if I were sitting 8n front of the computer with a mouse.

And also have MS RD Client support portrait mode so I don't have to turn ipad 90 degrees each time.

 

[sdwaltz]

I've been using the Magic Keyboard w/Office apps with no problems for months now, trackpad included...am I missing something?

 

[jjm3]

I think that's part of the normal App Store option available to developers... It's the same app version in question, but you can choose to roll it out to a certain percentage of your installed base over time. Like 5% the first day, 10% the second... That way you can catch any bugs you missed before they are too widespread. My brother uses this feature when he releases updates to his app.

 

[bklement]

I don't understand how MS can do a "phased rollout" on a feature like this? I would think they are not allowed to add/remove features without submitting a new version to Apple to place on the app store. Same with Google and their dark mode support for Gmail app which seemed to take months, if not a year before I got.

And what is the reasoning behind doing a phased rollout... is mouse and trackpad support going to bog down MS servers somehow?

It's a common practice in "modern" software development. If it breaks, it should break at only a minority of customers.

 

[AppleTO]

I don't understand how MS can do a "phased rollout" on a feature like this? I would think they are not allowed to add/remove features without submitting a new version to Apple to place on the app store. Same with Google and their dark mode support for Gmail app which seemed to take months, if not a year before I got.

And what is the reasoning behind doing a phased rollout... is mouse and trackpad support going to bog down MS servers somehow?

You have to sign in to Microsoft 365 to edit documents, so they probably only allow the new mouse and trackpad support based on the regions the accounts are from, or something around those lines.

 

[ooans]

Word iOS is the first app that my "old" 2016 iPad Pro is not able to run without lagging. A really horrible experience. I knew the day was coming when the 2016 iPad Pro won't be able to run some apps, but I didnt think the first one would be a word processor.

 

[gusping]

Because Microsoft has a stellar record when it comes to updates! #brokewindowsagain

Not sure which is worse, broken updates or broken from the very beginning like the past few Mac OS releases. From my (admittedly fairly limited) use of Windows over the past few years, it is pretty much on par with Mac OS in terms of stability. Mac OS is such a dog atm. Apple need to sort it out. I've not heard great things about Big Sur either...

 

[el beisbol]

FINALLY