One of the big announcements at last November's Ignite 2021 conference was Microsoft's redesign of Office for Windows and Office.com. Since then, the rollout of the new UI has been arriving in stages. However, Microsoft now confirms that the Office.com overhaul is arriving for all education and business users by the end of this week.
The core goal of the redesign is to increase productivity for commercial users. You can see how this looks in the main image above. Microsoft is focusing on providing a new Quick Access section in the Home interface.
Furthermore, a new Create pane allows simpler creation of files by tapping into templates within the standard UI. Another major change is a new My Content pan that provides all content that the document or work is linked to.
Features
In an update post, Microsoft goes into detail on how these changes will impact the Office.com experience:
- “A redesigned Home screen featuring a Quick Access section to easily get to the files related to your work. We've included customizable filters so you can see your content according to your collaborators, document type, and more with a single click.
- A new My Content pane helps you get to all the work related to you no matter the file type, where it's stored, or how it was shared with you. New “Browse by” views help you find content associated with the people with whom you work or the meetings you've had so can quickly find attachments, meeting recordings, Loops, or any other file you need. We've also added Infinite Scroll to the page making it easier to skim for what you're looking for rather than clicking through pages of search results.
- A new Create pane makes it easy to see all your apps in one place and quickly create new content. You can create a new file or document with a simple click or use a new template tool that makes it easier to create new content. Just select the type of content you wish to create and you'll be presented with various template options across multiple apps all at once so you can decide which option works best for you. This is also the place for you to find branded templates from your organization (must be enabled by your organization's IT).”
Whether you're on Office.com or the Windows app, these changes should be coming your way by the end of this week. Microsoft has wider plans to bring the same new features to personal customers on the Microsoft 365 (Office 365) subscription service.
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