Microsoft has officially unveiled Office 2016 and with it ushered in a new era of collaboration.
The new version brings with it all the usual suspects as far as apps are concerned and has a range of additional features such as co-authoring and Skype integration that promise to make it the most extensive Office yet.
Co-authoring has been added to the desktop versions of Word, PowerPoint and OneNote and this includes real-time typing in Word that lets you see edits as soon as they take place. Skype in-app integration allows you to instant message, screen share, talk and have video chats from within documents at any time, and builds even further on the idea of collaboration that is central to Office 2016.
Groups
Office 365 Groups bring a further team element to the table as part of the new Outlook 2016 client app and it is also available on mobile devices via a dedicated app. This allows companies to organize teams like never before and designate content depending on the team members.
In addition, there is the new Office 365 Planner that helps teams organize work and create new detailed plans from a dedicated app that will hit the systems of Office 365 First Release customers next quarter.
Microsoft's exciting next generation collaboration app GigJam is also now available in private preview and it will eventually become a part of Office 365 in 2016.
Securing the enterprise
Enterprise security features added include built-in data loss prevention in Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook and multi-factor authentication. Enterprise Data Protection for Office Mobile apps in Windows 10, meanwhile, will arrive later this year before hitting desktop apps in the early part of 2016.
In terms of the future, OneDrive for Business updates are set to land later this month including a new sync client for Windows and Mac. Enterprise users will also be able to save bigger files, volume limits will be upped, there is a new user interface in the browser and various enhancements have been made to the mobile experience.
Office 2016 apps are available for Windows 7 users or later right now and Office 365 subscribers will be able to download the new offering as part of their subscription from today.
- For more check out our Office 2016 review
