MICROSOFT OFFICE ON iOS

Get to your MS Office docs on the move

IT WILL TAKE

YOU WILL LEARN How to use Microsoft Office on iOS

YOU’LL NEED iPhone running iOS 12 or later

Microsoft has made some big changes to Office on iOS, at least on iPhone: instead of having separate apps for Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Notes and Office Lens, it’s combined them into a single app. That doesn’t just make it easier and faster to access your various Office documents and tools. It also reduces the amount of space needed for Office on your device.

Microsoft has done a superb job here. It still feels like Office, but this isn’t a desktop app that’s been squashed into a smaller screen. It prioritises speed, simplicity and the kind of tasks you’ll do when you’re away from your Mac. Whether you’re updating a spreadsheet, signing a contract or scanning somebody’s business card, everything you need is available within a couple of clicks.

Of course, the app syncs with Microsoft’s own excellent OneDrive app, but you can also get files from and save files to Dropbox, Box, various corporate cloud services and Apple’s own Files app.

iPad issue

It’s perfectly possible to create documents in the iOS app, but we’d much rather do that on the big screen of an iPad – ideally one with a separate keyboard.

Unfortunately, while this app does run on iPad, it does so as a phone app; you don’t get the benefit of the iPad’s much bigger screen, which is a shame. For the time being, you’ll get a better Office experience on iPad if you use the stand-alone apps. Carrie Marshall

The Actions button provides fast access to common tasks such as scanning text, creating PDFs and sharing files.