Microsoft brings Skype to Office Online to improve productivity

Skype logo 780 wide

Skype comes to Office. Microsoft announces that Skype for Office Online is now available on Word and PowerPoint Online. The new communication enhancement will help users to collaborate in real-time with other people without having to leave the web browser to write long emails about a particular document.

Microsoft says that features will “Speed up and simplify document editing with quick Skype group chats instead of long email threads. Keep track of which co-authors are online as well as messages you might have missed.”

The chat is available right next to the content and you only need to have your Skype account linked to the Microsoft Account. What’s interesting is that it seems you can only do chat and not voice and video conversations. In which case, you’ll have to launch the Skype app for those types of conversations (at least for now).

Skype for Office is not the first integration Microsoft is implementing, recently Bing arrived to Office Online with the new “Insights” feature and Skype already integrates with Outlook.com. This is another step from the company to integrate its products closer together and improve productivity. And we can only expect that Microsoft will continue to integrate its products and services even further in the coming years.

Source Microsoft

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.