Microsoft is rolling out major changes for its Office Web Apps – the free Web-based addition to the core MS Office applications on its " Get It Done Day" on Thursday.
The software giant has looked at it Office Web Apps as an addition to the full suite of desktop applications – a set of applications that permits Microsoft Office users to finish their jobs on it even when they are not using their primary computer.
The main improvement in the Office Web Apps is its co-authoring functionality, wherein one can create, edit, and insert substance in any file in MS Word, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint Web Apps. Microsoft has added real-time presence that sees where one's co-authors are working in the document, to make sure that they are not working on the same part of the document.
Another major alteration is the removal of the save button. There won't be a need to manually save every once in a while because as one goes on with the change, everything will be saved automatically.
The MS Word Web App now has a "Find and Replace" functionality that allows users to insert headers and footers, put styles and formatting on tables, and many more.
In the MS Excel Web App, dragging and dropping cells, reordering worksheets in a workbook, and giving summary analysis of selected cells at the end of the display is allowed, just like the one in the desktop.
Lastly, in the MS PowerPoint Web App, the user is given the capability to crop pictures and take more control of the optical appearance of one's presentation.
Tony Bradley of PC World was able to have a hands-on of the updated Web Apps on a demo environment, and he described the co-authoring experience as "very smooth and fluid." He was also able to update a file from his iPad and saw the changes happening on his MacBook Air.
