Microsoft Word settles space debate, will flag double spaces as errors

Image courtesy of The Verge

Microsoft has officially sided with those who believe sentences should have one space instead of two. Microsoft Word is being updated to support this change, meaning if you still use double spaces after a period, it will appear as an error, and the recommended change will be a single space. The company started testing this change on the desktop version of the app. And like other Editor suggestions, you have the option to ignore it once, make the change, or turn it off. The change is rolling out to all desktop users of the app soon.

Source: The Verge

Microsoft Word aims for productivity boost by automatically making to-do lists for users

A new beta feature being tested out by some Mac for Office Insiders brings added productivity features to Microsoft Word. The word processor can now automatically detect notes and messages you leave for yourself and others and turn these into actionable to-do lists. All you need to do is type in things like “todo” or “<insert something here>” in a document and Word’s AI-powered writing assistant Editor will create a list based on these items. It can even suggest things based on recent documents and files. For example, if you type in "<insert graph here>," it’ll show you recent charts you’ve worked on. If you’re collaborating with someone in a Word document, you can @-mention these colleagues to let them know what tasks need to be done. The tagged person will get an email and can even take action on the document by replying directly to said email.

As mentioned, it’s first available to Mac for Office Insiders who are on the Fast level, which is a group of users that get features first to provide feedback. Slow level Insiders will get a more stable version at a later date. The Windows version is expected to land in the coming weeks. It’ll eventually be rolled out to all existing Office 365 users. The other Office apps will get the feature later on.

 Source: Engadget

Android phones now get Microsoft Office apps

Microsoft’s goal to expand its cross-platform development bears another fruit today. The company just released its Office apps to Android smartphones. Office for Android tablets has been around since the start of the year. Now, the apps have been optimized for a smaller screen. One of the big changes is the placement of the formatting settings at the bottom of the screen to make editing that much easier. OneDrive integration is a given but the app also adds support for Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox. Microsoft said some Android manufacturers will also be preloading Office apps into different Android phones. It’s bloatware admittedly but at least it’s something useful. You can find the free download links for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel below.

Source: Mashable | Download: Word + PowerPoint + Excel (Free)

Microsoft adds chat capabilities to Office Online

Furthering online collaboration (and obviously taking cues from Google Drive), Microsoft is introducing chat feature to Word and PowerPoint online. Like in Google Drive, this means you can talk to your colleagues about a document or presentation you’re working on. It’ll even send you notifications for when you need to respond or wait for their comment to pop up on the sidebar. The feature will reportedly be rolling out in the coming weeks.

Source: WinSuperSite | Via: Engadget