If you've wanted to use a <https://9to5mac.com/guides/microsoft-office/>
Microsoft Office iPad app, you've been able to run the individual Word,
Powerpoint, and Excel apps for many years. But while the iPhone got an
all-in-one Office app in February of last year, the iPad didn't. A year
later, Microsoft has finally fixed that.
The process of integrating the main Office tools into a single app actually
began in November 2019 .
Background
Microsoft
<https://9to5mac.com/2019/11/04/microsoft-launches-beta-for-new-office-ios-a
pp-includes-word-excel-powerpoint/> launched a 2019 iOS beta to bring "all
of your Office documents together in one place."
The Office app provides a simple, integrated experience that puts the tools
you need for working on a mobile device at the forefront of the experience.
We started by combining the existing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint mobile apps
into a single app. Doing so brings all of your Office documents together in
one place, reduces the need to switch between multiple apps, and
significantly reduces the amount of space used on your phone compared to
multiple installed apps. We then added new capabilities that harness the
strengths of mobile devices, such as the camera, to enable you to create
content in uniquely mobile ways. Finally, we added a new Actions Pane that
helps you accomplish many of the common mobile tasks you need to do all from
one place.
That was
<https://9to5mac.com/2020/02/19/unified-microsoft-office-for-ios-app-exits-b
eta-with-word-excel-powerpoint/> officially launched in February 2020, when
Microsoft explained that it made better use of your iPhone's storage.
This app maintains all the functionality of the existing Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint mobile apps but requires far less phone storage than using three
separate apps.
The only problem was, there was no iPad version - and running the iPhone app
on an iPad was as ugly as you'd expect.
Microsoft Office iPad app now available
<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/-/id541164041> Version 2.46 finally gives us
a native iPad app.
Office is now available on iPad: We're combining the Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint apps you know into a single, iPadOS-optimized app. Plus, you'll
see additional tools to keep you more productive than ever. For example,
you'll be able to quickly create and sign PDFs, and transform pictures into
documents.
Get to Image-based Workflows Readily: Tap 'Share' in the phone gallery
outside the Office app, to get to several actions like Create PPT, Create
PDF and more. In addition, if there are any recent screenshots when you open
the Office app, these are surfaced as a suggestion to convert to PDF or PPT.
Insert date, shape, image and notes in PDF: Now you can easily insert date,
shape, image and notes in PDFs using new capabilities.
The app is <https://apps.apple.com/us/app/-/id541164041> a free download
from the App Store, but requires a Microsoft 365 subscription priced at
$6.99/month for an individual, or $9.99/month for a family.
Two of the individual iPad apps got updates last month, including
<https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/12/microsoft-updates-word-for-ipad-with-mouse-s
upport-excel-now-works-with-multi-window-mode/> trackpad support in Word.
<https://9to5mac.com/author/benlovejoy/> Ben Lovejoy at:
www.9to5mac.com
