Over the past few version updates, Microsoft has slowly been polishing their flagship software suite, offering a wealth of methods to collaborate and share across different platforms. The many enhancements mean you might not always get the most out of the Office 2016 update, so we’ve pulled together the best features to help you along.

1. Collaborate in Real Time.
A real-time co-editing feature has been added into Office documents, allowing colleagues to work on the same Word document or PowerPoint presentation that is saved on SharePoint or OneDrive without overwriting changes. Word also supports a ‘real-time typing’ feature to view what other individuals are working on.

2. Data Loss Protection.
Security has been taken to the next level in Office 2016 with tools enabled to prevent data being leaked as well as being able to manage file permissions. Administrators are able to enable and set Data Loss Protection policies for Word, Excel and PowerPoint; choosing whether a document can be copied, printed or forwarded. A separate app can also be downloaded to stop a document being opened by setting an expiry date.

3. Send Large Files.
File attachments added to an email message in Outlook are automatically converted into a link for recipients to download, assuming they’re already synced to a OneDrive account or SharePoint folder. Although not a novel feature, this definitely shouldn’t be overlooked from a productivity point of view.

4. Outlook Desktop Groups.
This new tool essentially offers a way of eliminating distribution lists and email chains for collaboration within teams and project groups. Create groups for colleagues and friends, with each having their own shared inbox, calendar and file repository.

5. Smart Lookup
By highlighting a word and selecting ‘Smart Lookup’ from the menu, this feature pulls up related information without having to leave the Office app. You can look up definitions of words or gain context of those that are unfamiliar. These results are all powered by Bing.

6. ‘Tell Me’ Query Box
To help users become more constructive and make use of all tools in Office, the Tell Me query box has been developed. This opens a search box allowing you to type what you want to do, and a menu appears with the best matches and tools to use. From bigger tasks to smaller things like watermarking the document, this tool is your go-to.

7. Clean Up Your Inbox
Clutter is a tool that determines whether or not an email is of high priority based on content and sender. These messages gets moved from the inbox to a file suitably name Clutter. You have the choice to activate this and it can be viewed on smartphones and tablets as well as online desktop versions of Outlook 2016.

8. Menu Options.
Menus in Office have been given a revamp, resulting in the ease of saving, opening and browsing for files. The Open and Save As tabs in Word have been modernised to improve ease of access when trying to find out where to want to save a file – be it locally or on your OneDrive.
Another update can be viewed in Outlook when attaching files. Menu options now include recent files – saving the possible time-consuming step of looking for the file you just closed.

9. Skype Integration.
Thanks to a tighter integration with Office 2016, users can now jump straight into a Skype call from within Word or Excel. All the capabilities in Skype are still available such as IM, voice and video calls as well as screen sharing without having to launch the actual client.

10. Stories with Sway.
The newest app in the Office portfolio, Sway allows making presentations easier and more visually appealing. Your new creations look more like an e-book or magazine than a traditional slide. Drag and drop files, photos and videos from your Facebook, YouTube, desktop or OneDrive onto a web browser, smartphone or tablet.

Once again, Microsoft has proved that their Office suite is the prime choice amongst competitors by offering a range of features to help aid your productivity. For further information on upgrading to Office 2016, contact OmniCom Solutions today by email, by giving us a call on (0191) 386 6222 or by requesting a quotation.