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Office Android Insider apps missing features

The August Insiders update for Word and PowerPoint for Android have improved Zoom features plus another option is entirely missing!  We’ve tested these features to see how they really work, assuming the promoted features are there at all.

Office Watch hasn’t taken Microsoft at their word.  We’ve tried out the software to see how the ‘new’ features really work.  In this case, we found one hyped feature is entirely missing!

From Build 16.0.10730.20005 onwards Office for Android users can, theoretically, look forward to

Insert Video and Audio into slides

According to Microsoft, PowerPoint Insiders build 16.0.10730.20005 should have two new Insert options  Video and Audio.  They include a screen image to ‘prove’ it.

Source: Microsoft

Alas, our copy of that same Insiders build does NOT have those features.  The Insert menu with options for Table, Pictures then Shapes and Text Box but nothing new.

Maybe they were removed at the last minute … if so, why are they being promoted?  Being an Insider can be frustrating enough without misleading information from Microsoft.

Word for Android

According to Microsoft, Word documents can now snap to be viewed with ‘no wasted space’.  We’ve not been able to get that to work in the Insiders build. The Microsoft supplied image suggests there’s still plenty of ‘wasted space’ at the sides and between pages.

Source: Microsoft

In our tests, you can use the two-finger pinch to change the View | Zoom to a point where there’s little white space on the edges.  But there’s nothing which ‘snaps’ to that zoom level.

The existing alternative is mobile view – a read-only view in Word for Android with no page breaks and adjustable text size (again, the pinch gesture). Look for the ‘device’ icon between the magnifying glass and the Share icon.

PowerPoint for Android

PowerPoint for Android also has zoom features when editing or presenting and also Portrait or Landscape.

Two finger pinch to zoom in or out.

One finger ‘drag’ to move around a zoomed slide.

Microsoft has a nice, short video to explain if you’re not familiar with these common device gestures.

Source: Microsoft

Which version?

To be clear, our test Office for Android apps are ‘Insiders’ with the August 2018 updates which, according to Microsoft is  build 16.0.10730.20005.

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