Microsoft Office for iPad updated with support for Apple's AirPrint

Posted:
in iPad edited April 2014
Microsoft's Office for iPad now ties even more tightly into Apple's ecosystem, as the touch-friendly productivity suite has been updated with support for the wireless AirPrint standard, along with a few other new features and assorted bug fixes for Word, Excel and PowerPoint.




The newly announced update to Office for iPad comes just over a month after the software first launched on Apple's popular touchscreen tablet. AirPrint support is now available for all three applications in the Office suite: Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

In Word for iPad, users can print a document with or without markup. In Excel, print-outs can come from a selected range, a single worksheet, or an entire spreadsheet.

Individual pages or slides can also be selected to print. And the capability utilizes Apple's AirPrint standard, which means any AirPrint-enabled wireless printer is compatible.




In addition, PowerPoint has also been updated with support for SmartGuides, which help users align pictures, shapes and text boxes as they are moved around on a slide. Microsoft promises that presentations can look "beautifully designed" on iPad with "very little effort."

Excel has also been updated with AutoFit, which lets users adjust the width of multiple rows or the height of multiple columns at the same time. And all three applications have also seen various bug fixes and stability improvements.

Users can view Office documents for free on iPad using Microsoft's applications, though editing capabilities require an Office 365 subscription. The company launched a new $69.99-per-year entry-level plan earlier this month, offering access to the service through one Mac or PC, as well as one iPad.

Downloads of Office for iPad hit 12 million units in the suite's first week of availability. The applications go head-to-head with Apple's own Pages, Numbers and Keynote for iOS.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 28
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Of course, this could not possibly have been in the initial release. That would have been too difficult.

  • Reply 2 of 28
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Of course, this could not possibly have been in the initial release. That would have been too difficult.

    My first reaction was ... "What ...? It didn't already?"
  • Reply 3 of 28
    brlawyerbrlawyer Posts: 828member

    Now the only thing missing is a non-subscription version.

  • Reply 4 of 28

    Very close to a COMPLETE state!

  • Reply 5 of 28
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

    Of course, this could not possibly have been in the initial release. That would have been too difficult.


    Why and how?

  • Reply 6 of 28
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by Chandra69 View Post

    Why and how?

     

    Sorry; sarcasm.

  • Reply 7 of 28
    mactoidmactoid Posts: 112member
    Now is they would just come up with a subscription level that covers JUST the iPad version of the software, I could actually use these programs.
  • Reply 8 of 28
    Wasn't there a lot of people who said Microsoft office was too late or not needed - why is everyone downloading it? It seems overpriced too.
  • Reply 9 of 28
    sporlosporlo Posts: 143member
    Wasn't there a lot of people who said Microsoft office was too late or not needed - why is everyone downloading it? It seems overpriced too.
    Habit. The branding of Office on people's minds (in the sense of cattle branding). Curiosity (impulse downloading: it's been hours since I last downloaded an app, let's try this new Office stuff!)
  • Reply 10 of 28
    Wasn't there a lot of people who said Microsoft office was too late or not needed - why is everyone downloading it? It seems overpriced too.

    Downloading was FREE... using it costs money.
  • Reply 11 of 28
    And all three applications have also seen various bug fixes and stability improvements.

    After being on the market for decades, Microsoft is STILL fixing bugs and trying to stabilize these programs... Just like their OS I suppose.
  • Reply 12 of 28
    Wasn't there a lot of people who said Microsoft office was too late or not needed - why is everyone downloading it? It seems overpriced too.
    Overpriced? The single user version is, but the Home Premium for up to 5 users is a bargain.
  • Reply 13 of 28
    emesemes Posts: 239member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

    Of course, this could not possibly have been in the initial release. That would have been too difficult.


    The same could be said about Touch ID on the iPad Air

  • Reply 14 of 28
    brlawyer wrote: »
    Now the only thing missing is a non-subscription version.

    Yeah! I signed up for a free trial of the cloud component so i could test/evaluate the MS apps. They were among some of the best things that MS has done on a tablet (better than the Surface equivalent).

    But, they were not that much more robust than Apple's free iWork apps -- not nearly enough to pay for a subscription (for my needs).

    I cancelled my MS trial.

    I believe, had MS done this a year ago, I (and quite a few others) would have purchased the apps for a reasonable price (not a subscription) -- now, from me, they have nothing!
  • Reply 15 of 28
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by Emes View Post

    The same could be said about Touch ID on the iPad Air

     

    Unlike TouchID, AirPrint was not omitted due to a physical limit to a number of objects manufacturable.

  • Reply 16 of 28
    brlawyerbrlawyer Posts: 828member
    Yeah! I signed up for a free trial of the cloud component so i could test/evaluate the MS apps. They were among some of the best things that MS has done on a tablet (better than the Surface equivalent).

    But, they were not that much more robust than Apple's free iWork apps -- not nearly enough to pay for a subscription (for my needs).

    I cancelled my MS trial.

    I believe, had MS done this a year ago, I (and quite a few others) would have purchased the apps for a reasonable price (not a subscription) -- now, from me, they have nothing!

    Indeed. As much as I hate MS, I can acknowledge the importance of native Office apps for strict file compatibility and would easily spend some 30 bucks on that. But subscription-based? Not a chance.
  • Reply 17 of 28
    A feature that should have been there since day 1. *rolls eyes*

    iWork for me -- I am done with MS Office, unless forced by an employer!
  • Reply 18 of 28
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    Of course, this could not possibly have been in the initial release. That would have been too difficult.

    Like MMS? Maybe it wasn't ready.
  • Reply 19 of 28
    kpomkpom Posts: 660member

    I notice that Excel doesn't support print-to-fit. That can be an important consideration for a spreadsheet. Maybe it will come in a future update.

  • Reply 20 of 28
    kpomkpom Posts: 660member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

    Of course, this could not possibly have been in the initial release. That would have been too difficult.


     

    Maybe it was buggy and they pulled the feature from the RTM build. Given the demand and the fact that it had taken so long already, maybe Microsoft didn't want to wait any longer and decided to release Office for iPad before it was finished. Apple did the same with the iWork applications, making major additions a few weeks after launch.

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