Microsoft Office 2016 Release Date, News: Next-Gen Office Tools to Arrive in 2015?
In light of the current unveiling of the highly anticipated Windows 10, Microsoft also announced the release date of the new "touch-centric versions" of its Office apps.
Microsoft's Office general manager, Julia White, posted an update on the MS Office blog saying that that the next-gen Microsoft Office 2016 is slated to be made available in the later part of 2015.
"Simultaneously, we are hard at work on the next release of the Office desktop suite that will be called Office 2016. (Unexpected, I know!) We will have more to share on Office 2016 in the coming months, but this suite will remain the comprehensive Office experience you're long familiar with, best suited for a PC with keyboard and mouse. We have compelling new experiences coming as part of this Office suite–stay tuned to the Office Blog for more details. We expect to make Office 2016 generally available in the second half of 2015," White said.
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As further revealed, the new Office tools will be made compatible across all Microsoft devices including its smartphone, tablet, laptop and desktop units.
White went on to describe the details of the Windows 10 apps.
- "Word—Create and edit great looking documents with Word. Review and mark-up documents, then share your work with others to collaborate in real time. The new Insights for Office feature (powered by Bing) in Read mode brings additional online resources like images, web references and definitions right to you in your reading experience.
- Excel—Use Excel to create and update spreadsheets and gain new insights as you analyze data and visualize it with charts. And new touch-first controls shine in Excel, you won't even miss your keyboard and mouse when selecting ranges of cells, formatting your pie charts or managing your workbooks.
- PowerPoint—Create and edit beautiful presentations with PowerPoint. Then use Presenter View to prepare and present with confidence, even use Ink Tools to annotate your slides in real time so your audience really knows what you are talking about.
- OneNote—Capture all your thoughts, ideas and to-do's with the new version of OneNote. Getting things done with your friends, classmates and colleagues has never been easier with shared notebooks–now with the consistent Office ribbon experience.
- Outlook Mail and Outlook Calendar—Crafting emails has never been easier or more powerful, with the familiar and rich capability of Microsoft Word built into the authoring experience. Simply insert tables, add pictures and use bullets and color to get your point across. Keep up with your inbox with new touch gestures that help you read, sort, flag and archive your mail."
