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Microsoft has revealed that the cloud version of its Microsoft Office suite, Microsoft 365is transferred to a single desktop and mobile application.
The movement, announced (opens in new tab) at the company’s annual Ignite event, the Office.com web portal will end in November 2022, with existing Microsoft Office apps on desktop and mobile being phased out by January 2023.
The move will affect all Microsoft 365 users across enterprise, education, and personal subscription packages.
New Microsoft 365 features
Microsoft was quick to clear up any misconceptions about the change and confirmed that Microsoft Office will continue to exist as a standalone product that users can choose to purchase directly.
Existing users don’t even have to lift a finger, as the existing Office applications are automatically updated to the new app and users keep their account configurations.
While the move to a single application appears to be purely to preserve Microsoft’s cloud office software well organized for users, it also used the announcement to tease a slew of new features that will be coming to the existing Microsoft 365 apps before porting them over.
For example, Microsoft 365 now offers the My Content hub – a central location for all content created by or shared with a person – to all users. The feature was previously only available to business customers.
A custom tagging system has also been made available to business users, allowing them to organize content as they see fit, while a new feed will recommend content based on factors such as who they work with and what they usually collaborate on.
Many of these features are fundamentals that are unlikely to be groundbreaking. For example, a content recommendations feed and the My Content hub are variations of functionality already available as part of Google Workspace.
With the new Microsoft 365 app, the company has overcome the problem of encouraging users to use the new way of accessing the service by simply deleting all the old ones.
It’s a smart business move that will help clear up any confusion that may still exist about what Microsoft 365 is and can do for all types of users. Whether the app will really be more convenient than the current offering remains to be seen.