There’s been some welcome changes to the Office apps for Android. These updates have been, or will soon be, pushed out to devices.
Office for Android
Overall each app is now about 50% smaller than before. Word for Android takes up 66MB. That’s good for those of us with limited space on their devices (tip: always get an Android device with external storage like a microSD card).
Office for Android now complies with Android for Work and supports Android M for Enterprise.
Note that the next version of the OS – Android M – is NOT yet supported.
According to Microsoft, the Office 365/Sharepoint sign-in has been simplified.
Cloud font support
The list of fonts now has download buttons next to fonts that aren’t installed on the device.
Click the icon and the font will be downloaded, installed and the document refreshed to show the new font. All that happens in the background as you continue to work – nicely done.
Excel for Android
In addition to the above, you can now open files with Read-only recommended and Formula view.
PowerPoint for Android
Now there’s a Presenter View so you can see speaker notes and control what people see on the big screen. This requires an Office 365 subscription.
As you can see there’s drawing/ink tools, blank screen and exit tools at top.
A slide preview, notes can be read or added. Finally a slide thumbnail to jump quickly to other slides.
It works well with compatible screen projecting/mirroring systems such as the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter which supports Android devices (check the device for Miracast support).
