Office 365 update brings improved inking, new features, better security

Office 365 subscribers get inking improvements, new features on OneNote and Outlook on the web, and better security with the August 2016 update.

Office 365 logo orange background

Microsoft announces a number of updates coming to Office 365 in the month of August. The new wave of updates brings a lot of improvements to Windows Ink on OneNote, Office extension for Microsoft Edge, security across Office mobile apps, Outlook, and much more.

In addition, the software giant is expanding the Office Insider program with an additional ring level.

Office 365 August 2016 update

If you have an Office 365 subscription, these are the improvements you’ll be seeing across the platform.

  • Ink math assistant for OneNote: If you use the OneNote mobile app on Windows 10 to do handwriting equations, the new update lets the app convert the text and lays out the steps to help learn how to solve it.
  • Ink Replay for Office mobile apps: You can now use the Ink Replay feature on OneNote mobile apps to follow the sequence of the handwriting in the documents to review the steps in the set of instructions, or to see how someone else marked up the document. In addition, Microsoft says that the feature will also come to Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
  • New ink effects for OneNote: The company previously announced the new rainbow, galaxy, gold, and silver ink effects. However, you can see more details about these new effects on this Microsoft page
  • Windows Information Protection (WIP) for Office mobile: Now Windows 10 tablets and phones using the latest version of Office mobile app can take advantage of this new protection technology to prevent accidental data leaks by assigning the content to be “work” or “personal”. (This feature is not yet available on desktops.)
  • Improved people experience for Outlook on the web: Office 365 subscribers can now take advantage on getting more details about contacts using Outlook on the web
  • Visio comes to the web and iPad: The popular Visio app now is available on iPad, and the company is even building a web client for the app
  • Office Online extension for Microsoft Edge: The Office Online extension lets you quickly create new Office documents, access your recent files, and open content stored on OneDrive. This extension has been out for a while, but Microsoft is just announcing it.

Office Insider Fast

Alongside the new announcements, Microsoft is also introducing a new level for its Office Insider program, which is known as Office Insider Fast. This new level is similar to the Fast ring of Windows 10, and it allows you to get new Office updates with features and improvements faster, but they may also include more bugs and things that don’t work correctly. The new level is available for Windows desktops, Windows mobile, and Mac, but the company says that iOS and Android will be included in the near future.

Source Office Blog

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.