Category: Microsoft

Microsoft has pushed an update out to the Android version of Excel, Word and PowerPoint to the Play Store.  The updated Office 365 apps brings new features to each app that continue the company’s drive to have feature parity between the desktop and the mobile screen.  For Excel, the big new feature is the ability to open a file that contains form controls.  Form controls, as the name suggests, are when you have a form embedded into a spreadsheet.  This previously could only be opened on the desktop.

For PowerPoint, a likely more useful addition than the form controls in Excel for most of us.  Now in PowerPoint on Android you can send a single slide to someone.  Previously you had to send the entire presentation and couldn’t send an individual slide.  Again, this is something you could do on the desktop and online version of PowerPoint but now can do it on your phone or tablet.

A new beta of Microsoft Cortana, the personal assistant AI from the Redmond company, is out for Android and with it comes a pretty nice new feature.  In the beta, you can allow Cortana to have access to your Lock Screen.  Why is that a big deal?  You could ask Cortana for information without having to actually unlock your phone.  It appears to function in nearly an identical way to Google Assistant in the Google Pixel Launcher or the Google Now Launcher.

Cortana, the AI character from the Halo series, is perhaps the most forgotten of the AI assistance out there, behind Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant.  But it is a solid performer and is integrated into Windows 10 and in Windows 10 Phone.

Microsoft has once again pushed out another big update to their Android launcher app, Arrow Launcher.  The update is in the Play Store now and has a number of improvements and new features.  In fact, there are three big features that users of the launcher will likely enjoy immediately.  First is the ability to customize the icon and name of individual apps.  All you have to do is long press the icon and it will pop-up a menu that gives you these options.

Next is an all new backup and restore feature.  This gives you the option to save your app layout and settings and restore them if you need to reinstall the launcher.  This is a huge win as you no longer have to recreate your home screen layout if you delete and reinstall the app.  This is something many other launchers do so it is great to see Microsoft bring the feature to Arrow Launcher too.

After spending the last three months in preview, Microsoft has pulled back the covers and launched Microsoft StaffHub for Android, iOS and on the web.  The service and app is aimed at providing a centralized place for managers and staff to handle schedules, send out information and connect with other workforce management tools that are in the market.  With it being across multiple platforms and on mobile devices, Microsoft is aiming to have staff management be easier regardless of where you are – work, home or at play.

Scheduling can be done by managers and allows works to see who is working when and for how long.  This is particularly important for businesses with shift workers.  Managers can also enable the ability for workers to trade shifts with other employees should a personal conflict arise.  This is all done within the app and can be pre-approved by the manager when the feature is enabled.

Microsoft has rolled out a sizable update to their intracompany, Slack competitor, Microsoft Teams.  The update, version 1416 for those keeping score at home, brings a lot of improvements to the collaboration app, the most notable of which is the ability to have voice conversations through the app.  Now if you are collaborating with a colleague, you can elevate that chat to a voice conversation with a push of a button.  No longer do you have to leave the app for that voice interaction to happen, making this sweet and simple.  All indications are that this new feature is leveraging the existing Skype for Business infrastructure on the backend.

Another nice update to the app is the ability to delete messages.  Now you can delete a message within 24 hours of it being sent.

Microsoft has pushed an update out for their Android phone launcher, Arrow Launcher.  The update to the launcher doesn’t bring a lot of new features but focuses on performance improvements and bug fixes.  In my How To Microsoft your Android Phone article, I pointed out that Arrow Launcher is a great launcher alternative for those of you who are heavy into the Microsoft ecosystem.  It allows easy access to recent files and contacts, your apps and photos.  Even if you aren’t a heavy Microsoft user, check it out.  It’s pretty good and continues to improve.

This updated version of Arrow Launcher, version 2.9.1 for those keeping score, brings a couple of changes.  First, Bing wallpaper is now an icon on your home page.  You can tap that icon to change your wallpaper instead of having to dive into settings on your phone.