Microsoft is boasting that the Office 365 ‘Icons’ collection now has 300 more graphics but no information on what they are and no help finding them. The release of more Icons just emphasizes the problems with this cloud feature.
Icons is a cloud service that delivers SVG graphics to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook for Office 365 customers SVG’s are scalable from tiny to very large without loss of quality.
See SVG graphics coming to Office – at long last!
Office 365 for Windows: Straight Talk has a chapter devoted to Icons and the great power of SVG graphics.
All Microsoft said in their announcement is:
“ We’ve added over 300 new icons. Find them at Insert > Icons. “
Where are the 300 new Icons?
Are there new Categories or new icons within existing categories? It seems to be a mix of both, but customers would have to do a forensic comparison to find out.
Just some hints about highlights or major changes would be better than the current policy of secrecy. Because it’s a cloud service Icons can and does change at Microsoft’s whim.
Microsoft claims the new icons are the result of user feedback. “ We heard you! ” they boast. Redmond’s corporate hearing is selective. They ‘heard’ some requests for more icons while ignoring the problems with Icons and its antiquated interface.
Category reshuffle
One change in Icons is the category list. Originally the category list was in some arbitrary order (left), now it’s in alphabetical order (right)
The latest Icon category list gives some clues to what’s new in Icons. Bugs, Body Parts and Dinosaurs are new, probably many others.
More icons in Office for Mac?
Office 365 for Mac isn’t mentioned in the announcement of the 300 extra Icons. Cloud services apply to all linked software and the icons supplied to Office for Mac should be the same as Office for Windows.
Sure enough, we opened up Office 365 for Mac (the Fast Insider) and the extra icons and categories are there (e.g Bugs, Body Parts and Dinosaurs). The extra icons may be available to the public release of Office 365 for Mac or should be coming soon.
