Microsoft Corp. has updated its developers' tools for Office 365 and SharePoint to ease the development of cloud apps for devices.

During the Microsoft's 2014 SharePoint Conference on Monday in Las Vegas, the company launched the March 2014 Update for its Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2013. The update, which is now available for download, is set to deliver a bunch of new features that improve Visual Studio 2013's support for Office 365 Cloud Business App and Office and SharePoint apps, e-Week reported.

The software giant also allows its developers flexible developments for Office and SharePoint by letting them choose the tools they want to use in creating apps using their existing CCS, JavaScript skills, HTML and others. This includes the newly updated toolset in creating Office and SharePoint apps called "Napa" to Visual Studio.

Additionally, the update lets developers connect to the company's ecosystem in new and exciting ways -- whether they are developing rich integration into Office experiences with a custom app for Office, creating a mobile app that connects to high-value services and data in Office 365, or constructing Cloud Business App projects that go with SharePoint.

Soma Somasegar, Microsoft's corporate vice president for the Developer Division, said in a blog post, "Office 365 provides a wealth of high-value data and services for business applications" that includes APIs for working with Calendar, Files, Mail, and People.

"These APIs use standard OAuth and OData, making them easy to use in any development environment and from any platform," he added.

Furthermore, developers can set in custom experiences in Office with apps for Office. A number of new options will soon be available for that, such as Outlook mail and PowerPoint content apps in compose forms, which developers can build using Visual Studio and the updated Napa tools.