If you have long wanted to access your documents in your iPad, then there's good news for you. Microsoft has finally released Office for iPad. Before you get quick on downloading it on your device though, you might as well check out these five things about the new Microsoft Office for iPad so you know what you can expect once you finally have it in your iOS tablet.
1. Microsoft Office for iPad is composed of three separate and independent apps
If you search for Microsoft Office in the App Store, you won't actually find it as a single app but as three separate apps. You can opt to download only the Word if you only need to read and create word documents and skip Excel and PowerPoint altogether but since all three apps are free, you might want to download all of them.
2. You need an Office 365 subscription to enjoy the full benefits of the apps
The apps can be downloaded for free but don't imagine yourself creating or editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents in your iPad yet if you're not willing to shell out some money. You can only do these and get to maximize your usage of the apps if you subscribe to Office 365 which will cost you $99.99 a year.
3. You can't print directly from the apps
Here's one major flaw of the Office for iPad, you can't print your documents straight from the apps. Of course there's get-around to this such as emailing the document to yourself or saving the documents on the cloud and printing it using a different computer but the process can be time consuming and impractical especially if you're in a hurry. Many users will likely find the lack of direct printing option a major turn-off but such feature will possibly be included when Microsoft updates the apps in the future.
4. You can't just use any cloud service
You need Microsoft OneDrive, formerly Skydrive to access or save your documents, spreadsheets and presentations on the cloud. You may easily store copies of your computer files on Google Drive, Dropbox and Box but these popular cloud services won't be an option if you use Office on your iPad.
5. You can dictate words into a document
One of the downsides of using the iPad for writing is it does not have the same keyboard that makes writing on computers easier. Fortunately with Word, you can use your voice to input words. You simply need to tap the Microsoft icon that you will find on the digital keyboard and you can start dictating the content of your document.
