Microsoft has rolled out a big update to Office Online (available via Office.com). On top of the new features that come with the update, Office Online is now available via the Chrome Web Store so you can launch the apps via your Chrome App launcher to create new Office documents online with a single click from your desktop.
“Just over a month ago we introduced Office Online at Office.com, making our online Office experience easier for you to find, so you can use it to help you get more done. Since then, the team has been working hard to finalize several updates across Office Online that will start rolling out today,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post.
Here are all the new features in today’s Office Online update:
- Excel Online: Microsoft has added the ability to insert new comments as well as edit and delete existing comments.
- Excel Online: You can now open and edit VBA-enabled spreadsheets without removing (or corrupting) the VBA contained in the file.
- Excel Online: Tell Me feature lets you ask Excel how to do something, and have the relevant commands presented in a simple drop-down list so you can perform your action right away.
- Excel Online: Added support for the most common way that users hide and unhide rows and columns, using a context menu that appears when you right-click a row or column header – just like in desktop Excel.
- Excel Online: Min, Max, and Numerical Count aggreregates now available and visible in the status bar configurable – just like in desktop Excel.
- Excel Online: Enter GoTo (Ctrl+G), a “pro” feature that allows you to quickly type in a reference and jump to that location in the spreadsheet.
- Word Online: Microsoft has extended commenting to editing mode, so you can make comments and changes at the same time as others.
- Word Online: Footnotes and endnotes can now be added inline
- Word Online: When making a list, if you’re directly below an existing numbered list and start typing, your next line automatically becomes part of the list – just like in desktop Word.
- Word Online: You now have the option to download your document as a PDF file and added improvements to make printing easier for users with PDF readers installed on Internet Explorer and Chrome.
- Word Online: Improved rendering support for merged and missing cells
- PowerPoint Online: Re-engineered text editor so the layout when editing slides looks more like your final result.
- PowerPoint Online: Microsoft has also made some performance and video playback optimizations by speeding up advancement of slides in the editor and by adding the ability to play back embedded YouTube videos.
- OneNote Online: You can now print your notes.
- OneNote Online: Multi-column section or page navigation has been added.
In addition to these new features, Office Online is now available in the Chrome Web Store. You can now add Word Online, PowerPoint Online, and OneNote Online to your Chrome App launcher, so you can create new Office documents online with a single click. Excel Online will be coming to the Chrome Web Store shortly, according to Microsoft.
Further reading: Chrome, Microsoft, Office Online
