Microsoft's Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iOS Gaining Real-Time Co-Authoring, Drag and Drop Support

[sracer]

I’m confused about this - I don’t have the new 10.5 iPad Pro but my 9.7” seems to full functionality. Did something change?

Nothing has changed. Microsoft allows full function on devices 10" and below. Larger than that requires paying for the app or a subscription to O365.

It doesn't matter what size iPad you are using, MS Office for iPad is far from being "full function". It does a great job of DISPLAYING MS Office documents and one can make basic modifications to them, but anything beyond that is just about impossible.

Functionally, MS Office for iPad is essentially on par with iWork for iOS and Google Docs for iOS.

 

[Breaking Good]

Hey Microsoft... instead, how about a full functioning version of Office for iOS that can be used on the iPad Pro 10.5 and 12.5" models without having to subscribe to Office 365?

I am pretty much anti-subscription for just about everything, but this is place where I think a subscription model makes sense. It encourages Microsoft to continuously make incremental updates to Office across all platform versions instead of just updating once every three to five years.

 

[jlc1978]

So the features that already exist in iOS Pages/Numbers/Keynote.

While I lie those apps the people I work with us MSOffice and thus ultimately need to be able to transfer documents seamlessly form an iPad to a Windows box; something that is not easy to do with iWorks.

 

[sracer]

I am pretty much anti-subscription for just about everything, but this is place where I think a subscription model makes sense. It encourages Microsoft to continuously make incremental updates to Office across all platform versions instead of just updating once every three to five years.

You say that as if continuous incremental updates to Office are a good thing. For software that I heavily rely on for work and/or leisure, I want to control when and if they are updated. A subscription model that turns software into a service, causes me to lose much of that control.

Continuous incremental updates means that Microsoft (or any other SoaS provider) does not need to test their software as thoroughly as they did under a perpetual license model. "Oh that little feature tweak caused an issue? No worries, we can push out a fix later but we have to meet our deadline today."

Continuous incremental updates also means more interruptions due to taking the time to review the change log, read forums to determine what ill side-effects result from the change. Of course if one is a gambler, they can turn auto-update on and let the wheel of fate spin.

The subscription model in the long term benefits Microsoft more than it does (individuals) customers. Having said that, I have an Office 365 subscription. We're taking full advantage of the 5+5 device limits so the cross-over point where the cost of the subscription will exceed the total cost of all of the perpetual licenses we would need, is still a bit away. By then I don't expect to be in Windows or macOS.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Go apply for a job in corporate America touting your knowledge and experience with Pages/Numbers/Keynote and see how far it gets you.

Of course I would never mention any knowledge of Pages/Numbers/Keynote. That is top secret.

I do use Office for corporate use. I use iWorks for personal use but there has been times when I use iWorks and do 95% of my work in iWork then export to Office for minor adjustments before shipping it off to someone that uses only Office. I have sometimes exported to PDF since that will save me time with formatting since it will look great when they open it using Windows. If a document requires a feature that doesn't even exist in iWorks then I use Office for the document creation.

 

[Brammy]

MS Office for iPad is far from being "full function".

This is true. Granted, I don’t run into the walls often, but when I do. Yep.

It’s in between a viewer and full-office. The areas that hit me the most are: not being able to edit styles, add a TOC (I can at least update them), drags and drop from outside Office, adding images from outside of Photos.

 

[sracer]

This is true. Granted, I don’t run into the walls often, but when I do. Yep.

It’s in between a viewer and full-office. The areas that hit me the most are: not being able to edit styles, add a TOC (I can at least update them), drags and drop from outside Office, adding images from outside of Photos.

True. And it's not even the "exotic" features like adding a TOC (many here would consider that non-vital)... but even lists. Anything beyond creating a simple list is impossible... something like "continue or restart" numbering.

 

[Brammy]

True. And it's not even the "exotic" features like adding a TOC (many here would consider that non-vital)... but even lists. Anything beyond creating a simple list is impossible... something like "continue or restart" numbering.

I have the same problem with a lot off apps (AutoCAD mobile, for example) where the iPad app is more of a companion to the desktop version than a stand-alone version.

 

[sracer]

I have the same problem with a lot off apps (AutoCAD mobile, for example) where the iPad app is more of a companion to the desktop version than a stand-alone version.

This is why I've given up the pursuit of getting the iPad Pro to be more than a consumption device that is capable of occasional work and creation.

 

[Brammy]

Has anyone gotten these updates? All I've gotten is the Outlook and OneDrive ones.
[doublepost=1517414365][/doublepost]

This is why I've given up the pursuit of getting the iPad Pro to be more than a consumption device that is capable of occasional work and creation.

if I separate out "day job" stuff, I can get a lot done on the iPad with Ulysses, Procreate, and Affinity Photo. Even grad school work I can get done fine in Office.

 

[Applefanben]

Well, PDF is my friend.

Except in many academic settings a PDF is unacceptable. Also, in a business model for edibility PDF is not optimal as well.

I'm glad it works for you; it would not work for me in the academic setting I am in. I actually use Scrivener then export as a Word accessible file examine to make sure formatting was done correctly and then send. However, I could pull off pages to PDF for my job setting. Just not for the academics, which is unfortunate because it would save me $70 a year!

 

[Mitochris]

Who in the hell actually works on a document like this?

Would drive me batty(er).

I do. On almost every single document I am working on at the moment. The documents are anywhere between 5 and 40 pages long and 2 to 5 people have access to them. It is not unusual that two people work on them at the same time.
Sharing has increased the speed and reduced the problem with different versions floating about.
Currently we use pages but it does not play well with our reference manager so the final version has to be exported to word to compile the reference list.
Word would be better for this, but I do not like the word ribbon layout.

 

[Morgenland]

Would you pay the price of a full version of Office?

For sure I would. The price would be lower than previous PC stand alone programs because pirate copies cannot be made. Programmers earn secure money and prices can fall. There are amazingly professional programs for $50. Adobe and Microsoft didn't go this way, because they were too indecisive, they wanted to make money in the long term and want to be able to control rental prices. Personally, I don't have a single subscription app on my iPad. It'll stay that way. I would have bought a MS-Office non-rental, presumably up to 200 $ total. But not that subscription crab.

 

[teknikal90]

It doesn't matter what size iPad you are using, MS Office for iPad is far from being "full function". It does a great job of DISPLAYING MS Office documents and one can make basic modifications to them, but anything beyond that is just about impossible.

Functionally, MS Office for iPad is essentially on par with iWork for iOS and Google Docs for iOS.

I don't know... I use microsoft word and excel on ipad and it works very very well. formulas work...formatting works etc.
not sure what its like on the 10.5 pro though

edit: found this on the web. Apparently the version of Office that's installed is determined by screen size.

https://www.computerworld.com/artic...-free-ride-on-apples-new-105-in-ipad-pro.html

 

[Michael Goff]

For sure I would. The price would be lower than previous PC stand alone programs because pirate copies cannot be made. Programmers earn secure money and prices can fall. There are amazingly professional programs for $50. Adobe and Microsoft didn't go this way, because they were too indecisive, they wanted to make money in the long term and want to be able to control rental prices. Personally, I don't have a single subscription app on my iPad. It'll stay that way. I would have bought a MS-Office non-rental, presumably up to 200 $ total. But not that subscription crab.

So, no, you wouldn't pay the full price if you think it would instantly be lowered because of a lack of piracy (which is a lie, pirating iOS apps happen). You want to pay less for them to do more work (iOS apps seem toneed more updates over even a five year period just to stay running).

 

[sracer]

I don't know... I use microsoft word and excel on ipad and it works very very well. formulas work...formatting works etc.
not sure what its like on the 10.5 pro though

edit: found this on the web. Apparently the version of Office that's installed is determined by screen size.

https://www.computerworld.com/artic...-free-ride-on-apples-new-105-in-ipad-pro.html

Screen size only determine whether or not one needs to pay to use all of the features available.

My reference to "full function" was in relation to the full desktop versions available for Windows and macOS. Compared to the desktop versions, the iOS version is woefully lacking... it is not possible to CREATE Office documents that require any amount of complexity whatsoever... it is on par with iWork and Google Docs.

 

[chscag]

Since I can't carry my 27" iMac with me when I'm out doing a presentation or talking from a Word document, my iPad Pro 10.5" model is what I use. It would be convenient if I could do last minute editing on a document with the iPad, however, without O365, my Word documents are viewable but not editable. If I use Pages instead, I'm not handicapped in the same way but then I can not exchange documents with others.

 

[teknikal90]

Since I can't carry my 27" iMac with me when I'm out doing a presentation or talking from a Word document, my iPad Pro 10.5" model is what I use. It would be convenient if I could do last minute editing on a document with the iPad, however, without O365, my Word documents are viewable but not editable. If I use Pages instead, I'm not handicapped in the same way but then I can not exchange documents with others.

im in a similar boat but i have a 9.7" ipad. lets me edit.
alternatively, ive been tossing up the idea of buying a 12" macbook.

 

[sracer]

im in a similar boat but i have a 9.7" ipad. lets me edit.
alternatively, ive been tossing up the idea of buying a 12" macbook.

We all have different workflows and use cases (so my advice might not be applicable), but having spend a significant amount of time figuring out ways to get serious work done on the iPad Pro (with more failures than successes), I'd recommend serious consideration to getting a 12" macbook rather than a larger iPad that would require an Office 365 subscription.

I'm finding that my 11" MBA + iPad Mini 4 is a better mobile solution for my needs than the 12.9 iPad Pro+ASK+Pencil.

 

[chscag]

Have to agree with buying a MacBook instead of an iPad Pro. My 10.5" iPad Pro was a gift and after purchasing a new 2017 27" iMac for the office, there just isn't room in the budget for a MacBook.