Microsoft has rolled out a fresh version of Office.com and the corresponding Windows application, with a revamped user interface that’s supposed to maximize productivity.
As explained in a Microsoft blog post, the changes will take effect for business and education customers first, with similar updates for personal accounts to follow “in the coming months”.
The company suggests that business customers took priority in this instance because the new functionalities are largely geared towards managing large volumes of files more efficiently, a challenge that professionals are more likely to encounter.
New-look Microsoft Office
First announced at Microsoft Ignite in November 2021, the changes to the Microsoft Office app and web client are designed to make managing and locating files simpler, by fine-tuning menu screens and introducing opportunities for customization.
“We designed Office.com and the parallel Office app for Windows to be the hub for your content – a place where you can get to all your files and documents, understand what needs your attention, and easily start creating content,” wrote Microsoft.
The most significant upgrade is perhaps the new-look home screen, which now features a Quick Access section that helps surface important files and filter options that allow users to organize files by those most recently opened, shared, favorites and various other parameters.
The new Office.com home screen. (Image credit: Microsoft)
There’s also a new My Content pane, which Microsoft says “helps you get to all the work related to you no matter the file type, where it’s stored, or how it was shared with you”. This page also benefits from infinite scroll, which eliminates the hassle of tabbing through multiple results pages to find a specific file.
Lastly, the Create pane lets users create new documents and spreadsheets with a single click, using a variety of templates as the base.
“Just select the type of content you wish to create and you’ll be presented with various template options across multiple apps all at once so you can decide which works best for you,” Microsoft explained.
These updates should take effect for all corporate and education customers by the end of the week.
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