Touch Bar support for Office for Mac has now officially moved out of preview, rolling out to everyone who owns a 2016 MacBook Pro with the horizontal OLED shortcut strip.
Microsoft Rolls Out Office For Mac's Touch Bar Support
Microsoft officially rolled out the feature Thursday, giving Office programs such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint new contextual shortcuts and capabilities on the latest MacBook Pro model. It was first announced in October. Those using Office for Mac may access the features by clicking "Help," then "Check for updates" in any of the apps included in Office for Mac.
New Features
The public release contains more functions. In Word, for instance, users may find that the Touch Bar will let them add photos, hyperlinks, or comments in particular document. In PowerPoint, on the other hand, the Touch Bar displays "view-specific" controls for slideshow presentation.
Microsoft has also added a slider in the Touch Bar so users can rotate an object more precisely in Office for Mac apps. On top of everything, Microsoft also announced that Touch Bar support will arrive soon for Outlook and Skype for Business.
What You Can Do In Word
Last October Microsoft previewed Office for Mac Touch Bar integrations, including Word Focus mode, a feature which hides all ribbons and controls away from the screen so that users can focus on writing, while keeping essential shortcuts relegated to the Touch Bar.
What You Can Do In PowerPoint
In PowerPoint, the Touch Bar features slide thumbnails so users can navigate through a slideshow, and it also keeps a timer for time-sensitive presentations. There's also a "reorder objects" button to produce all the graphical map of all the layers on a slide, which makes it easier to locate certain elements and adjust it accordingly.
What You Can Do In Excel
In Excel, typing "=" pulls up most recently used Touch Bart functions. Also, a tap for the formula with another tap for a named range, for example, will quickly let users sum a given range in an open spreadsheet. The Touch Bar also houses shortcuts for borders, cell colors, and recommended charts.
What You Can Do In Outlook
Once Touch Bar support officially rolls out for Outlook, one can expect similar functions. In email composition, for instance, the Touch Bar will bring up most recent files, which can be tapped to add as an attachment. On the other hand, in "Today view" on Outlook, the Touch Bar provides a succinct rundown of calendar events for a particular day. Finally, there's also a quick launch option to make a Skype for Business call.
Microsoft Office 365 start from $69.99 for a yearly subscription, or $6.99 a month for a one-user personal license, which comes with a lot of incentives including 1 TB of cloud storage, fully installed versions of the aforementioned apps, and more.
Have you tried these new Touch Bar shortcuts on your Office for Mac apps? How does the experience feel so far? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
