This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

Office 365 -- 2016 -- Planner Boards View sample image

If you only install Office 2016 on a single desktop, you could be excused for wondering what Microsoft has been doing for the last iii years. Other than a bit of a facelift, and some absolutely welcome added features that we outset reviewed in the Preview version (and won't re-hash here), for the virtually part information technology looks and acts similar Function 2013. The minute you start to share or work with others, though, the major changes in the style the Part system works begin to appear.

Deject-first is more just defaulting to OneDrive

Microsoft has started using OneDrive as the default storage location for an increasing number of its applications, just that is only the tip of the iceberg when information technology comes to the integration of the cloud — and team-based workflows — in Office 2016. The new version features make new team-only apps Planner and Delve, too as Sway, an innovative new presentation creation and sharing awarding. Existent-time collaboration has also been added to Discussion, OneNote, and PowerPoint. For organizations that take standardized on Office, there is plenty to like in its newest incarnation.

Role 365 Planner & Delve

Office Delve's people view provides a handle on what everyone in your organization is working on.Office 2016 introduces two entirely new applications to support teams. Delve has been out in preview grade for a while. Available to organizations with Function 365 business subscriptions, it uses the power of Microsoft's servers to allow users to get an automated view into what is likely to exist of import to them. It does this by using data from Office Graph — essentially a consummate record of every document, meeting, or email-related activeness taken by every user — to build a tiled dashboard of people, projects, and documents that are related to what you lot've been working on, or that take been shared with you.

Planner is a brand new tool that allows teams to quickly set up projects and populate them with tasks and documents. Like Delve, information technology then uses Office Graph to create user-specific, interactive dashboards of projection status. It isn't designed to replace the heavy-lifting mode of project direction done by Microsoft Projection. Only for decorated squad members, it's a quick way to keep runway of their interest in many unlike projects. While Delve provides a people-focused dashboard of all Office-related activity, Planner provides 1 based on projects and tasks.

In functionality, Planner is very like to some other existing services, such as Trello, simply because it has the advantage of being deeply integrated with Function Graph, it may become the favorite among those organizations committed to Office. On the flip side, for organizations that don't have a corporate delivery to hosted or server-based Office installations, a divide service allows more flexibility.

Office Sway

Sway offers a variety of sharing options for co-authoring and viewing but presentations are always hosted by MicrosoftFor individual users, the most exciting new capability is probably Sway. Sway allows users to easily construct catchy multimedia presentations. Different PowerPoint, it doesn't rely on a slide-past-slide metaphor, and also moves much of the responsibility for layout style to the application. Users can tweak the layout themselves, or utilise the Remix! Button to accept Sway cycle through suggestions. Although function of Part 2016, the Sway awarding is available from the Windows ten app shop, and for the iPhone and iPad. It is likewise part of Role Online.

Sway presentations are easy-to-create, colorful, and wait cool. Information technology is so piece of cake to make them appear tricky, that I retrieve we'll meet a lot of users get overboard — the aforementioned style people went crazy with typefaces when desktop publishing was introduced. Information technology can be very disconcerting to be looking at a Sway presentation and having fly-in effects and panning images while you're trying to read.

One time shared, a Sway can exist viewed by anyone with a browser, although Sway presentations are e'er hosted on Microsoft'due south sway.com, and tin can't be off-lined or exported to some other format. That raises some other issue — longevity. Microsoft doesn't have the best track tape for long-term commitment to its creative tools (recall Expression, Movie Maker, or Live Author?). Until there is a way to guarantee the long-term survival of a Sway, I run into information technology existence almost effective for quick sharing.

Real-time collaboration in Give-and-take, PowerPoint, and OneNote

Word 2016 features both real time typing among collaborators and Skype for business videoNon to exist outdone past the ascension tide of cloud-based document editors like Google Docs, Microsoft has added some very slick real-time collaboration capabilities to Word, and similar versions to PowerPoint and OneNote. On the editing front, not just can ii users edit the same cloud-hosted document, but if it is on Microsoft's servers (OneDrive or Part 365, for example) then they can each run into exactly where other users are in the document.

Microsoft adds to this capability past making it easy to open up a Skype telephone call (or conversation or meeting) with any of the certificate's authors from correct within Word.

Function mobile apps

While not news — as they've been around for a while already — Microsoft'south mobile apps for Office have been the most speedily evolving part of the Office. These bear upon-friendly versions of Discussion, Excel, OneNote, and PowerPoint run on iOS, Android, and of course Windows ten. For Windows 10 users on tablets or phones, the mobile versions of the applications make information technology much easier to work without a keyboard or mouse. Microsoft as well has some additional cool tools for mobile users, including my favorite mobile certificate scanning applications: Office Lens.

Office 365 (2016) pricing: Subscriptions get more attractive

Microsoft has conspicuously realized — similar Adobe before it — that getting people to pay nearly whatever amount per month, forever, is better than relying on the whims of upgraders. So information technology is offering both a discounted Personal Plan ($seven/calendar month for one machine and 1 phone), and a more value-oriented Home Programme ($10/month for 5 computers and 5 phones). Both plans include 1TB of OneDrive storage and 60 Skype calling minutes per month — meaning you go Office essentially for free compared to a similarly-sized deject plan from Google, for example. (Yous tin compare plans in more detail at the Microsoft Office 3650 Home subscription page). Both plans include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access.

Those preferring to stick with the traditional purchase licensing model can get Part 2016 (1-fourth dimension purchase without upgrades) Home and Business for $230. It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. The Educatee and Teacher version is $150, simply doesn't include Outlook. Purchased versions don't include the Skype minutes, and only characteristic 15GB of free storage.

Mobile-start, cloud-showtime: Does Microsoft take it right?

Whether you apply Ballmer's phrase "devices and services" or Nadella's "mobile-first, cloud-first," it represents the largest software pivot for Microsoft since its 1990s encompass of the spider web. It implies expanding its platform presence from just Windows to online and mobile, and its moving its revenue model from production licensing to cloud-based service subscriptions. Part 2016 represents Microsoft's most aggressive effort to date to make these major changes. Its services are bachelor beyond almost platforms, and its revenue is increasingly platform neutral — since it gets subscription acquirement independent of which platform yous use to admission the services.

Google has been selling a very like vision with its Google Apps for Piece of work offering, but Microsoft is bringing the world's most mature suite of productivity applications to the political party. The good news for organizations, especially those that are long-time Office customers, is that they no longer have to choose between the power of Role and the flexibility of the cloud. With Office 2016 combined with Role 365, Microsoft is giving them the opportunity to have both.