Microsoft Office for Android officially available, but don’t get too excited just yet

After launching an official but limited iOS Office application a short while ago, Microsoft has finally released a similar app for Android.

The Office Mobile app can be downloaded now free of charge from the Google Play Store, but don’t get too excited about it, as there are several limitations in place.

For starters, you will need an active Office 365 subscription to use the application. Furthermore, the app is compatible with devices running Android 4.0 and higher, and does not have tablet support.

But most importantly, we’re not looking at a full-fledged Office mobile client here, as users won’t be able to do everything they’re used to doing with Office apps on their desktops.

Here’s what the application will let you do once you get it:

  • Edit – You can make quick edits to Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
  • Documents Remain Intact – Formatting and content remain intact when you edit Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents on your phone.
  • Edit While Offline – Your device doesn’t have to be continuously connected to the network to work on an Office document that is stored online. You can view and edit recently used documents even while you’re offline. Your changes will be saved online when your device reconnects to the network or to Wi-Fi.
  • Create – You can create new Word and Excel documents on your phone.
  • Comments – You can review comments that have been made in Word and Excel documents on your phone and add your own comments.
  • Share – When you’re done with your edits or comments, simply send the document in email or save it to SkyDrive or SharePoint.

However, we can only hope Microsoft will further update the app to add more functionality to it. Also worth mentioning are cloud- and email-related features for the app. Office Mobile will let you open documents from the cloud (SkyDrive, SkyDrive Pro, SharePoint), access recent cloud documents and even email attachments.

While there are other app alternatives for Android users to Office Mobile, including Google’s own Drive, the app will surely be appreciated by those users that spend a lot of time in Microsoft’s Office environment.

Source: Android Authority

Microsoft Office 2013 now available to businesses, wide release still set for Q1 2013

Right on time, businesses with the inside track to Microsoft's account team and partner program can now snag the latest version of Redmond's content production software suite, Office 2013. What's that? You've got the hook up, but you were also hoping for Exchange Server 2013, Lync Server 2013, SharePoint Server 2013, Project 2013, and Visio 2013? You'll be happy to hear that those are also available today -- the already announced "first quarter 2013" release window for Office 2013 stands, when it'll become widely available both digitally and at direct retailers.

The big update to Office this time around comes in the form of Windows 8-style visuals and cloud-based saves using Microsoft's SkyDrive service. We've got a full hands-on right here if you'd like to learn more ahead of next year's big launch.

[Source: Engadget]

Microsoft Office 2013 releases to manufacturing, reaches most of us early next year

Break out the party streamers and balloons -- if only in an orderly fashion, because this is the day Office 2013 has been released to manufacturing. The completion swings Microsoft's attention towards a rollout staggered over the next few months. Wider availability will have to wait until the first quarter of 2013 -- such synchronicity with your branding, Microsoft -- but companies who've sprung for volume licensing will get access as early as mid-November to December 1st, depending on whether or not they're embracing a Software Assurance plan. In the meantime, Microsoft is offering an easy path for anxious workers by promising a free copy of Office 2013 to everyone who buys Office 2010 from October 19th onwards. The upgraded software might not be cheap for those who aren't already buying a Windows RT tablet, but it's likely to be an important piece of the puzzle for anyone hunting down a touchscreen Windows 8 PC.

[Source: Engadget]