Microsoft brings support for co-authoring and AutoSave to Office apps on Mac

Along with the major update to OneDrive for iOS app, Microsoft today announced the general availability of several new features in Office apps for Mac and iOS users. With this release, Microsoft has unified the Office apps core codebase across Windows, Android, iOS and Mac platforms. This will enable Microsoft to easily add new features to all these platforms. Today, Microsoft is announcing the following improvements to Mac and iOS Office 365 users.

General Availability of Co-authoring:

Now, whether you work on a Mac, PC, or mobile device, you’ll know who else is working with you in a document, see where they’re working, and view changes. Co-authoring is already available on the Office desktop applications for Windows, Office for Android, and Office Online. Co-authoring is only available in files stored on OneDrive or SharePoint Online.

AutoSave:

AutoSave feature is now supported for files stored on OneDrive or SharePoint Online. With this feature, the file is automatically saved every few seconds. AutoSave can be switched off using a dedicated toggle button in the ribbon. Microsoft also allows users to view and restore content from earlier versions of the document at any time using version history.

Drag and drop content and files on iOS:

The Office iOS apps now support drag and drop for content and files. It will enable users to easily move files to and from OneDrive and other sources—such as SharePoint or iMessage.

Other minor features:

• New chart types—Excel 2016 for Mac now includes even more chart types, including sunburst, treemap, histogram, waterfall, and more, to help you visualize your data in new, meaningful ways.
• New worksheet functions—New worksheet functions IFS and SWITCH for Excel users on Mac to simplify data calculations. The IFS formula takes the place of multiple nested IF statements, making formulas with multiple conditions easier to comprehend. The SWITCH formula is similar to VLOOKUP, one of Excel’s most-popular calculations, in that it evaluates an expression to return the first matching value in a list.
• Table slicers—Using slicers, you can filter table and PivotTable data to quickly curate only the information you need. Slicers also indicate the current filtering state, making it easy to understand what exactly is shown in a filtered table.
• Faster calculations—To speed up formula outputs, Excel tries identifying parts of the calculation that can be recalculated concurrently on different threads.
• QuickStarter—QuickStarter for PowerPoint creates an outline for you based on your presentation’s subject. After conducting initial research, the tool builds out several slides—a title slide, a table of content slides, one slide for each sub-topic, and more—that you can choose to keep or delete.
• Highlighted changes—PowerPoint automatically highlights changes others made to a shared presentation while you were away. This way, you can quickly see what was updated, when, and by who.
• Laser pointer—Turn your mouse into a laser pointer to draw attention to specific parts of your PowerPoint while presenting. You can also change the color of the laser pointer to match the style of your presentation or company.
• Learning Tools—Learning Tools in Word for iPad and Word Online will help you improve your reading skills and word pronunciation.

Learn more about it here.