Microsoft Office 365 has been renamed to Microsoft 365, and now, it comes with new features including an AI-powered editor, rich content and templates, presenter coach features in PowerPoint, new data types, and smart templates in Excel.
The rebranded Office suite will be fully rolled out by April 21 April. Microsoft says over 38 million people are subscribed to Office 365. and all of them will receive the new updated in the next few months.
In addition, Microsoft also announced two new apps – Microsoft Family Safety and Microsoft Teams. With the Family Safety app, you'll be able to view what your family members are doing on their respective devices. You will also be able to set a time limit for apps, set content filters by age, and can effectively block a few games on Xbox. You can also use this to block specific websites. The feature will work on Windows, Xbox, and Android platforms.
With Microsoft Teams, consumers can connect, stay organised, and collaborate with family and friends. Consumers would be able to connect with each other over group chats and video calls, as well as share photos and videos. They can also collaborate over shared to-do lists and assign tasks to people.
A few other features coming to the Microsoft 365 include:
Available in over 20 languages, Microsoft Editor – an AI-powered service – is now accessible across Word and Outlook.com, and as a standalone browser extension for Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. All Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers will have access to advanced grammar and style refinements such as rewrite suggestions and additional style critiques.
This is an AI-powered Presenter that helps correct monotone pitch and refine speeches. The feature will be available as a free preview, but later it will be available only to Microsoft 365 subscribers.
With the PowerPoint designer, you can transform texts into a beautiful timeline or even auto-generated slide layouts. All the Microsoft 365 subscribers will get exclusive access to over 8,000 beautiful images and 175 looping videos from Getty Images. Additionally, there will be over 300 new fonts, 2,800 new icons, and over 200 new premium templates.
A new solution for Microsoft 365 subscribers, this feature will help users seamlessly manage, track, and analyse their money and spending through a secure and simple process that connects to the user’s bank and credit card accounts, including major retail banks and community credit unions.
While the new Office features are available to the current Office 365 customers immediately, the Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions would be available globally on April 21. These include premium desktop Office apps, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage per person, 60 Skype minutes for calling mobile phones and landlines, advanced security features to protect users from malware and phishing attacks, and ongoing technical support.
The Microsoft 365 Personal costs Rs 4,199 a year. For the best value, a family of up to six people can use Microsoft 365 Family for Rs 5,299 a year.
