Microsoft Announces Major Office Update

Microsoft has announced a major update to its Office 365 suites, which will be renamed to Microsoft 365. The updates will roll out on April 21st.

Word gets some notable changes.

Moving on to Word, Microsoft (finally) added the ability to give you comprehensive edits on whatever you write, similar to the way Grammarly works. Now called Microsoft Editor, it offers suggestions beyond simple spelling and grammar corrections: acronyms, clarity, formality, and even inclusiveness. For instance, if you write ‘mailman,’ it should suggest something like ‘mail carrier.’ Microsoft claims it even offers rewrite suggestions of entire sentences. I doubt it will be helpful with purposeful misspellings, unique syntax, and non-standard grammar, but for getting rid of excess ‘verys’ and ‘justs?’ Sure.

There’s also a “similarity checker,” which will tell you if your text is too close to your source material and help you cite your sources correctly. Editor will also be available in Outlook and as a stand-alone browser extension for Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome, too. According to Microsoft, the new Editor will start rolling out today, with general availability by the end of April. You will have to manually download the browser extension, though.

I am still using Office 2013 and have no reason to upgrade so I won't be doing any sort of review. At some point I suppose I'll be forced into upgrading, but for my current needs, I could probably be perfectly happy with Libre Office.