Microsoft brings unified Office app to iPad

Microsoft Office for iPad is now one single app, which includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote, within a unified look and feel.

Following its iPhone release in February 2020, Microsoft has now updated the iPad version of Microsoft Office to be a single, unified app. From within the one start screen, users can elect to create Word, Excel, or other documents.

"Office is now available on iPad," says Microsoft in its App Store listing. "We're combining the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps you know into a single, iPadOS-optimized app."

Microsoft Office for iPad is free to download, but to use Office 365's sharing or collaboration features, users still must have a subscription. From within the new Office for iPad, Microsoft offers various in-app subscription options from $6.99 per month.

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint currently remain available as standalone iPad apps in the App Store. It's not clear whether Microsoft intends to remove those, and they do not appear to have any functionality that is lacking in the new unified version.

What that new unified version provides is the ability to get into any of the Office apps with a single tap on the one icon. It also means that the Office apps share a common introductory screen and access to recent documents.

14 Comments

crowley 10431 comments · 15 Years

About 3 years ago

AppleInsider said:

What that new unified version provides is the ability to get into any of the Office apps with a single tap on the one icon. It also means that the Office apps share a common introductory screen and access to recent documents.

Seems to me that it's now requiring two taps to get into the exact Office app you want, whereas previous it was one. I'm very rarely so confused about whether the file I was recently editing was a spreadsheet, a document or a presentation deck that having this unity would be useful.

I'll stick with the standalones for as long as they're available.

MaxLe0p0ld 34 comments · 6 Years

About 3 years ago

I wonder, why they still not bundle TEAMS into the Package - and also in TEAMS the eMail Lookup remains a Challenge -
as long as an Address is not in Active Directory, the App will not find it - it will not check your own Contacts for matches, such a Bug for over a year now...

And why will TEAMS not update via AutoUpdate on the Mac?

p-dog 136 comments · 14 Years

About 3 years ago

MaxLe0p0ld said:

I wonder, why they still not bundle TEAMS into the Package - and also in TEAMS the eMail Lookup remains a Challenge -
as long as an Address is not in Active Directory, the App will not find it - it will not check your own Contacts for matches, such a Bug for over a year now...

And why will TEAMS not update via AutoUpdate on the Mac?

“Search“ in general within Microsoft Windoze has been a bug for over 30 years now, so no surprise there regarding TEAMS.

freediverx 1421 comments · 16 Years

About 3 years ago

What that new unified version provides is the ability to get into any of the Office apps with a single tap on the one icon.
No, this just means users will be required to make at least one additional tap (plus the associated cognitive load) to access the app they want. this is a classic case of Microsoft placing product marketing above the user's needs.

StrangeDays 12959 comments · 8 Years

About 3 years ago

I don't really use Office on iOS, I recall years back it was free to open but you had to pay if you wanted to save changes. Looks like now you can also save. The mentioned subscription is only for collaboration? Like multiple users editing a document? If so, great -- I've never had to collaborate on a document file in my life. (Emailing a document for others to work with, sure)