Microsoft launches new all-in-one Office app for iPad



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Microsoft yesterday released an all-in-one Office app for iPad, bringing iPadOS a new take on Office on mobile previously seen on iOS and Android. The app combines Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and a number of mobile-specific features including PDF management tools and a file browser.

Almost a year ago to the day, Microsoft released this update to iPhones and Android phones, and the update has also appeared on some Android tablets. As an iPhone app, it previously worked on iPad, but only in windowed mode. This new version has a full screen tablet interface and supports various iPad multitasking features.

Users can still download individual Word, Excel, or PowerPoint applications from the iPad App Store; stand-alone apps and this all-in-one option seem likely to coexist at least for a while, as stand-alone alternatives haven’t gone away on the iPhone.

In addition to making working between the three productivity apps a bit more transparent, the app’s main value proposition is the “Actions” panel. In it, users can access quick action icons to transfer files between devices, convert images to text or tables, sign or scan PDFs, convert PDF to Word, scan QR codes and do some other things. The full list is shown in the gallery above.

Users can access files stored locally on the device, in the cloud through OneDrive, or in iCloud.

The app is available for download today in the App Store for free, but it requires a Microsoft 365 subscription to access all features.

IPad maker Apple has made significant software and hardware changes to make the iPad a fully viable desktop or laptop replacement, including the derivation of iOS in a new iPad-specific version called iPadOS . In our tests on iPadOS, we found the operating system to be functional and sometimes even exceptional, but there are still a lot of frustrations.

Apple is expected to launch a new iPad Pro in the coming months, and the company may add more productivity features with this hardware update.

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