Microsoft announces plans to bring MacBook Pro Touch Bar support to Office suite

Less than 12 hours after Apple's announcement of the late 2016 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, Microsoft has detailed future functionality of the new input method across the entire range of Office products.

In a blog post, Microsoft detailed the additions, including Word Focus mode, where the formatting tools for a document are taken off the screen and put on the Touch Bar.

In Powerpoint, the company has implemented graphic rotation tools, as well as a graphical map of all the slide layers.

Microsoft Excel has added an auto-fill formula bar, pulling up the most recently used functions in the Touch Bar when a cell is selected. The bar will also include formatting options, like cell colors, and borders.

Outlook provides quick access to the user's most commonly used commands. While composing a mail, the Touch Bar displays a list of recent documents for inclusion in an email, with communication facilitation through Skype possible through a single touch.

Microsoft has not yet revealed when modifications to Office bringing the new features would be implemented.

Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions begin at $69.99 per year for a one-user personal license, or $5 per month per user for businesses.

The 2016 MacBook Pro family, announced Thursday, is a major redesign to Apple's flagship notebook, and comes in screen sizes of 13 and 15 inches, with core models starting at $1,799 and shipping in two to three weeks. AppleInsider was at the event, and was able to spend some time with all the latest hardware.

To grab the lowest prices on Apple's new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, see AppleInsider's Mac Price Guide.

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14 Comments

anderkh

said about 7 years ago

Maybe they can make the current software work better first?

randominternetperson

said about 7 years ago

Good for MS. At least they seem to be willing to put forth their best effort in software for Mac and iOS even though strategically they'd rather favor Windows 10 offerings. Of course within MS, they are likely different teams, so it makes sense.

thewhitefalcon

said about 7 years ago

anderkh said:

Maybe they can make the current software work better first?

As someone who uses Office 2016 for Mac daily, I call bull. What problems do you claim exist?

urahara

said about 7 years ago

anderkh said:

Maybe they can make the current software work better first?

First, please restart your PC which runs Windows XP.

MacPro

said about 7 years ago

It must be making Microsoft twist a wee bit. As I watched the Touch bar in use I couldn't help but think how much better this is then simply adding a touch interface to the OS on screen. Apart from the obvious arm and back ache that's inevitable from the Windows 10 approach, it is just so much less powerful. You gain absolutely zero from touching the screen on a desktop or laptop other than loss of time plus everything is simply doable either from the mouse or the finger. The Touch Bar adds a whole new dimension plus full screen mode at last becomes useable.

I take my hat off to Apple (yet again) as upon reading rumors it sounded lame to me and I was truly expecting to be underwhelmed. Seeing it in action, and the phrase from of all people the Adobe representative, "It's like playing a musical instrument' summed it up perfectly. Sheer genius. I just hope Apple come out with a 'Super Keyboard' for those of us that ponied up for a high end new Mac Pro. After spending over $10K on a Mac set up I don't want to start over for a few more years! Adding a new keyboard with a Touch bar and integral trackpad is a no brainer for me.

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