April is over and that means the usual summary of Office 365 features. This month has held some quite significant updates, with plenty of new ink functionality.
First up is PowerPoint's with Ink analysis. Ink analysis provides better text a shape recognition to convert any handwritten words and objects either as they're drawn or when the whole slide is complete. It's rolling out to Office 365 and Microsoft 365 Insiders next month.
It joined by Ink gestures in Word, which should prove useful to those on Surface devices. As you would expect, this lets you draw onto a document and have it interact with text. You can, for example, split paragraphs, insert words, and join separate words. It brings the natural flow of paper editing to the PC.
On Mac, users will get access to Word's AI-powered features. They'll be able to translate documents in over 60 languages, 11 of which use neural machine translate to understand context. They can also use Resume Assistant to craft documents based on their LinkedIn profile.
Office 2019 Preview
As we reported previously, Microsoft has also released the Office 2019 preview. This will be a big draw for organizations and consumers that prefer a non-subscription model and is currently available to commercial customers.
It includes features that have been in Office 365 for some time, such as improved inking, new animations in PowerPoint, and new formulas for Excel. Server admins, on the other hand, will see more manageability, voice, and security features.
The preview includes most of the major apps and will soon launch for Mac, alongside the servers for Exchange, Skype for Business, Sharepoint, and more.
A total of 13 features have also come to Outlook. These include cross-timezone Calendar appointments, automatic bill pay reminders, SOCKS proxy support, and quick reply on mobile.
To protect organizations, Microsoft 365 Business has several new, advanced security features powered by Advanced Threat Protection. It's also moving towards GDPR compliance, has improved IT management, and much more.
You can find all the Office 365 April Update details on the Microsoft blog.
