Capture and save PDFs with Office Lens while offline and without having to log in.

Office Lens is a powerful scanner on your Android device. The app was designed for easy scanning of documents, images and whiteboards. For the latter Office Lens will remove the glare and other imperfections to make it readable. No matter what you’ve scanned, you can use Office Lens built-in tools to, say, convert a document to PDF. Same can be done with an image and with the integration of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote, Office Lens will smoothly convert to these file format as well and save them to OneDrive or your local device. In order to take advantage of all these features, a Microsoft Account is needed. But not always.

Today’s update introduces the ability to save PDF files when your device is offline without having to log in. A feature that is handy when on the go and there’s no internet access. Microsoft says that this update will let you “quickly save PDF captures to your device without having to log in and without a watermark.”

Office Lens new offline feature makes the app even more useful and powerful. So make sure you check it out in Google Play Store for free.

Microsoft updates Excel, PowerPoint & Word for Android. Excel can open files that contain form controls.

Today Microsoft has updated Excel, PowerPoint and Word for Android. 

In Excel, the software giant added support for form controls. Excel for Android will be able to open files that contain form controls. If you're wondering what are form controls, here's a short explanation from Microsoft:

"You use Form controls when you want to easily reference and interact with cell data without using VBA code, and when you want to add controls to chart sheets. For example, after you add a list box control to a worksheet and linking it to a cell, you can return a numeric value for the current position of the selected item in the control."

PowerPoint gets a new feature that lets users share one slide instead of the whole presentation - which is very convenient. Microsoft also added support for Office Lens to capture whiteboards and add them to a slide.

Word also gets support for Office Lens capture of Whiteboards to add to your documents after cleaning up and cropping the capture.

Download: Excel   PowerPoint   Word

Microsoft adds viewing IRM-protected Word and PowerPoint files on Android devices.

Microsoft today published an update to Word and PowerPoint for Android bringing Information Rights Management (IRM) support, allowing users to view IRM protected documents on their devices. If you're not familiar with IRM, it is a way to protect documents from being copied, forwarded or printed by unauthorized users. Once enforced, the document is protected no matter its location because the protection is stored in the file itself.

This update also lets users add a shortcut to their Word and PowerPoint file to the start screen for quick access. Word is also capable of handling "files that were saved in plain text (.txt) format." Microsoft also added a format background feature into PowerPoint that will let users "customize a slide by adding the background color of their choice."

Download: Word PowerPoint

Microsoft updates Word, Excel & PowerPoint for Android with new contextual menus and support for CSV file in Excel.

It's Friday and I'm posting this between two beers. Microsoft has updated its Office suite of apps for Android adding some new useful features to Word, Excel and PowerPoint. I'm posting the change log as is below because I have not tested them all. I did however test the new updated Excel app that now lets users open CSV files on Android devices. Comma Separated Values are currently not supported, but the new version 16.0.6828.1014 changes that. If you ever receive a Excel CSV file, the updated Excel will open it without complaining. That's it for Excel. 

Word on the other hand makes it easier to work with tables with new touch controls to let you insert and resize rows and columns. The update also introduces new contextual menus to give users quick access to commands. 

PowerPoint now supports Superscript and subscript along with the same contextual menu similar as word. There's also the ability to create columns of text which lets users "split a block of text into easy-to-read columns".

All in all these are great features that will enhance users' productivity. One thing Microsoft is really good at. Use the links below to upgrades the app on your Android devices.

Download:

• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft adds Send as PDF, Convert table to a range & Morph transition to Word, Excel & PowerPoint.

I currently have 14 Microsoft apps installed on my Nexus 6 and being a Windows Phone user, it does make sense that I use them most. Same goes for apps installed on my work provided iPhone. And trust me, I have tried the resident document editors and other apps, but old habits are just hard to get rid of, and it’s mostly because Microsoft has worked hard to make the user experience almost, if not, the same across platforms. This is still work in progress, but they are surely getting there. Add the cloud to the mix and you get easy access to your documents whenever you need them with that familiar look and feel. 

I started writing this article in Word on my Nexus and will finish on Windows 10 powered Lenovo flex 3 when I get home. I very rarely use my phones to write articles because my previous devices screen real-estate did not provide much comfort to do that, whereas the Nexus 6  5.7” screen is another story, albeit it’s one that I probably won’t reiterate soon. Unless there’s a need for it. But I digress.

Microsoft has updated Word, Excel and PowerPoint, its three most popular productivity apps for Android. This update contains some features common to all thee apps and some unique ones as the change logs below show. The most noteworthy features is the ability to open .RTF files in Word, Send as PDF and the ability to insert pictures directly the camera. Excel will let you convert a table to a range. In PowerPoint, the ability to morph transition is only available to Office 365 subscribers. 

Microsoft Word

• Open RTF Files: You can now open rich text format (.rtf).

• Send as PDF: Quickly share your document as a PDF file for easy viewing.

• Insert Picture from Camera: Open the camera directly from Word and take a picture. Presto! The picture is in your document.

Microsoft Excel

• Send as PDF: Quickly share your document as a PDF file for easy viewing.

• Insert Picture from Camera: Open the camera directly from Excel and take a picture. Presto! The picture is in your document.

• Convert table to a range: Easily convert a table to plain rows and columns when you need more flexibility and customization.

Microsoft PowerPoint

• Send as PDF: Quickly share your document as a PDF file for easy viewing.

• Morph: Apply the Morph transition to easily move several objects at once. (For Office 365 Subscribers)

Microsoft brings auto-save, version history and more to Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Android.

You don't always have the time to save your files when disaster strikes, that is what makes the auto-save feature extremely useful in Word, Excel and PowerPoint for the desktop. You can even configure auto-save to save every x minutes. Today, Microsoft has brought this feature to its productivity suite for Android. Installing the update will automatically activate the auto-save feature, but this can be turned off by taping Save in the apps menu. Unfortunately the mobile version of auto-save does not include the save interval like its desktop version but it's better than nothing.

Another useful feature that Microsoft added is version history, another feature ported from the desktop world. Version history actually saves a snapshot of your document and future edits you make to the document do not overwrite the previously saved version. This is handy if you want to go back to a previous version and not having to shuffle through multiple version of the same documents on your device. Finally, Microsoft added Collaborative authoring to Word for Android, a feature that lets users work together on the same document at the same time.

Some of the features Microsoft added are specific to their respective apps. For example, Excel gets the Fill Handle that lets users drag the handle to automatically fill up cells with data.

PowerPoint for its part lets users take pictures right within the app. PowerPoint Mobile for Android also supply high quality pictures based on pictures that users supply for their slides.

Grab these updates in Google Play store:

• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft adds "schedule a call" and ability to open docs in Office to Skype for Android.

If you are among those who wanted the ability to send and receive documents in Skype, Microsoft has made it possible to open such files directly in the Skype app for Android, provided you have the Microsoft Office apps installed on your device. In case you don't, you will be prompted to download them.

Microsoft is also letting Android users schedule Skype calls within the app simply by selecting a contact and clicking "schedule a call" in the menu to add to Outlook Calendar. Microsoft states in the change log that another calendar app can be used.

Download the free update in Google Play store.

Microsoft reduces install size of its Office products on Android by 40% & makes them compliant with Android for Work.

Microsoft has updated its Office suite of products for Android today and made it compliant with Android in the enterprise. This update is inline with Satya Nadella's vision to bring Microsoft technologies across all platforms. The products affected by this update are Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Microsoft's most popular productivity apps. Microsoft has also made these apps lighter by reducing the app install size by 40% and making it possible for users to download their favorite fonts off the cloud. Isn't that awesome? Check out the change log below for all three Microsoft products:

Microsoft Word:

• Reduced app size:40-percent reduction in app size so the Word app is lighter and faster to install.

• Compliance in the enterprise: Word complies with Android for Work and supports Android M for Enterprise.

• Sign-in simplification: Selecting your sign-in details is easier than ever before.

• Cloud font support: Download your favorite font from the cloud so you can write with the fonts you like.

Microsoft Excel:

• Reduced app size: 40-percent reduction in app size so the Excel app is lighter and faster to install.

• Improved file compatibility: Now you can open files with Read-only recommended and Formula view.

• Compliance in the enterprise: Excel complies with Android for Work and supports Android M for Enterprise.

• Sign-in simplification: Selecting your sign-in details is easier than ever before.

• Cloud font support: Download your favorite font from cloud so you can write with the fonts you like.

Microsoft PowerPoint:

• Presenter view (Office 365 subscription required): Present like a professional! Check speaker notes on your phone/tablet, but control what the audience sees when you project to a large screen

• Compliance in the enterprise: PowerPoint complies with Android for Work and supports Android M for Enterprise

• Sign-in simplification: Selecting your sign-in details is easier than ever before

• Cloud font support: Download your favorite font from the cloud so you can write with the fonts you like.

All three products update are available for download free in Google Play store for end and enterprise users.