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8 Office 365 Updates You Can’t Afford to Miss From October

3 minute read

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October was a month of recognition, user interface updates, and mobility momentum for Office 365. New integrations in Outlook from Skype and Sunrise allow for improved productivity and more multi-tasking abilities, and many new features are now available on your mobile device.

Ignite 2016 – Rescheduled and Relocated

Microsoft Ignite 2016 was originally scheduled to be in Chicago in May, but has been relocated to Atlanta and rescheduled for September 26-30. There was some confusion on if it was canceled, however, Microsoft confirmed on their blog that the conference is not canceled. Learn more about the conference and the expected sessions at the user conference.

Microsoft Ranked as Leader for Seventh Consecutive Year in 2015 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Social Software

Gartner Research has recognized Yammer as a Leader in the 2015 Magic Quadrant for the seventh consecutive year. Social collaboration in the workplace has become commonplace and this Office 365 product has gained a robust reputation since its launch in 2008. Much of the success of Yammer is attributed to its focus on productivity that helps unite Office 365 apps.

Chrome Extensions and More Mobile Access – All Included in October Updates

In October, Microsoft released several feature updates for Skype, a new chrome extension, access to Office on mobile phones, and new features for Visual Basic Editor. In Office Online and Outlook.com, Skype voice and video are now integrated into the applications. Users can edit a document and within the same document, they can send a Skype message to a colleague without having to jump between applications. In Chrome, a new extension allows you to quickly access your Office Online applications.

Recognize Your Colleagues With “Praise” and Tag Favorites in Office Delve

Recently, Microsoft added features that allow Office 365 users to personalize their experience and complement each other on their work. In Office Delve, “people experiences” have been added that include the abilities to “Praise,” publish content to SharePoint, and tag Favorite pieces in the Delve stream.

Mobile Momentum for Outlook on Your Phone

The list of mobility features in Outlook is getting longer – and we’re excited about it. The new mobile updates include an announcement that Outlook mobile users amount to almost 30 million people. Outlook for iOS has a new interface with visual cues to guide your mobile experience. For Android, there is a new interface for the Calendar Agenda and it shares more information about your upcoming events. And with the recent Sunrise and Outlook integration, more features are forthcoming that will incorporate Sunrise’s fresh approach to mobile calendars.

New Social Media Inspired Features Available in Outlook

As social media continues to play a strong role in our personal lives, the trend continues in our work lives. In Outlook, users now have the option to “Like” and make @Mentions of others to incorporate them in related conversations.

Sway Your Way

Sway is a platform within Office 2016 that pulls multi-media into a document to create interactive content. With these recent upgrades, users are now able to take advantage of new Sway features on iPhones and iPads, and can import content rich pieces straight from OneDrive.

Office Lens – Your Enhanced Pocket Scanner App

Office Lens, a pocket scanner app, has extended its compatibility into Office 365 support for iOS. The app has a mode called “Business Card” that scans your business cards and converts the contact information into a contact in your iOS address book. The app also scans documents and photos for quick and secure sharing within your network. Learn more about the iOS upgrades and built-in security for this iPhone app.

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