Office Online Server updated for November with more robust support for on-premises web Office

Back in May 2016, Office Online Server (OOS) was released to bring Office Online on-site. OOS allows organizations to use their own datacenters to provide users with browser-based versions of Word, Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint, which are usually offered via Office Online.

Today, the OOS November release is the first significant update bringing a number of improvements and features. Here’s a look at the most important additions to OOS:

• Performance improvements to co-authoring in Word Online.
• Support for embedded Power View sheets in Excel Online.
• Improvements when working with tables in Word Online and PowerPoint Online, including better drag-and-drop support.
• Support for showing spelling errors inline in the PowerPoint editor.
• Improved picture resizing in Word Online.
• Copy and paste improvements in PowerPoint Online.
• Support for shapes in Excel Online viewer.
• Significant improvements for users that rely on assistive technologies—HTML markup updated to more fully support W3C accessibility standards.

In order to use the OOS November release, customers will need to remove the previous version of OOS. In the future, the Office team plans to have a release ready for OOS about every four months. The Office team will only support this version of OOS, and in the next few weeks, the Office team plans on releasing a more solid OOS roadmap for future releases.

In the meantime, OOS customers who are interested in downloading the OOS November release should go to the Volume License Servicing Center and refer to the product terms for more information on licensing requirements.

Further reading: Excel, Microsoft, Office, Office Online, Office Online Server, OneNote, PowerPoint, Word