Microsoft Office is one of the most trusted productivity suites ever to be developed!
Among their services, you’ll find programs like Word, the go-to word processing environment for millions of users, PowerPoint, a presentation creator that has become a staple of business meetings and more, Excel, a spreadsheet organizer so popular it’s studied in college classes for the enormous range of uses, from personal finance to data analysis, and finally, Outlook, a personal information manager that acts as an efficient email, calendar, and organizer.
Chances are, you use one of these programs!
And if that’s the case, you should be aware of the recent 2019 update, which brought excellent new features along with updated logos. If you don’t check into them, the new features may fly under the radar. Give them a try, and they might become your new best friend!
Best Microsoft Office Updates for 2019
Microsoft Translator
Compatible programs: Word, Excel, Powerpoint
It’s a wonder we haven’t seen this in other iterations of Microsoft Office! With a few clicks, you can translate text within your document to other languages, something we’ve had to use Google Translate for over the years. Luckily, there’s no need to go to the internet any more: you can perform the action from your laptop!
For most of the Office programs available, you’ll highlight your text of choice, go to the “Review” tab, then choose “Translate Selection” and select your language destination. After that, your request is fulfilled!
NOTE: Word allows you to translate an entire document! No need to select a piece of text, simply go to the review tab and proceed to translating. If you’re sending messages to people around the world, this can be a huge help. Still, we recommend asking someone who speaks the language to proofread, since translation errors can have huge consequences!
3D Models
Compatible programs: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook
Office now supports the inclusion of 3D models, which can be manipulated in the document in real time! Need a reference in Word? No problem. Want to show off your SolidWorks creation for a college course? Absolutely!
Thankfully (amazingly, really), this works much like inserting graphs, clip art, and more: simply go to the “Insert” tab. Near the shapes and icons tabs, you’ll now discover an option to include 3D models.
Not only that, Office took their idea one step further: as with other Inserts, you already have a small library of models available for insertion. If you’re teaching a group of students about space, the astronaut seen in the picture above will be available with the click of a button, along with other cool files!
VISUALS, oh yeah!
Compatible programs: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook
It’s about time we could use emojis!
Except, these aren’t simply emojis: these are Scalable Vector Graphics (SVGs). That means they can be infinitely sized up and down without any pixelation, or loss of focus. Also, you can recolor them as you wish and add graphic effects with relative ease.
Once again, like 3D models, you’ll find a large bank of them in the Insert Tab at your disposal.
Inking
Compatible programs: Word, Excel, Powerpoint
Finally, we can draw on these files!
The new drawing tools allow you to choose from a number of different pens and markers, with a good range of colors and effects available. The applications are limited only to your imagination: use them for grading papers, highlighting segments, adding personal notes, and more!
We should note: with the limited brush and color options, this isn’t going to replace Procreate, Photoshop, or other art programs. Yet…
Precision Select
We needed this feature in Excel for a long, long time.
Before precision selection came around, you had to choose the exact area of rows and columns, on the first try. If that didn’t work, you were required to reselect from the very beginning, and anybody that has dealt with Excel knows that spreadsheets can sometimes become ENORMOUS and difficult to work with.
With the new change, you simply hold the CTRL button and re-click any undesired spaces. Boom: they’re unselected!
This is one small step for Excel, but one giant leap for Excel users.
Learning Tools
Word’s new Learning Tools could fill a whole page by themselves: there are a large number of small details and changes that could revolutionize the way you use this processing program. Let’s talk about a few:
- Page Color. If that sounds like code for “Dark Mode,” you’re exactly right! Word no longer forces you to use a glaring white screen, you can choose a number of options along the grayscale, making the viewing process far easier at night (and less annoying for others in your room).
- Read Aloud. Personally, we don’t use this option much, but we recognize the potential for fans of audible feedback! If you’re looking to have your page read back, it’s now a possibility.
- The Rest. Change column width to improve focus and comprehension, alternate text spacing for easier reading, and even break words into syllables for better recognition and pronunciation!
NOTE: some of these text tools aren’t available yet for certain languages and versions of Word. But it’s only a matter of time…
Morph
PowerPoint 2019 includes a number of animation features that make it easier to shape and move objects during a presentation; you can change size, composition, and color.
Frankly, it isn’t the most revolutionary alteration on this list, but combined with the inclusion of new SVG icons, there is a good range of applications for a discerning, creative user.
Time Zone Specificity
Finally, Outlook has a small detail added that we really enjoy: time zone-specific event logs! True: this might be completely worthless most of the time, for most people. But, hey…
For anyone that commutes to work, plans to go on vacation soon, or has an important business trip in another part of the world (the type of person most likely to use Outlook anyway), this could be a huge help! All to-do notifications are linked to the time zone in question, so you never have to worry about making it to that important meeting.
And that’s nothing to thumb your nose at, folks.
Conclusion
If you want to see the entire retinue of updates to Microsoft Office 2019, visit their page here to get the full list. There are a lot of great things coming down the line! Keep in mind: they have the potential to enhance how you use Office, as long as you give them a try!
Dive in, take a chance; there are great new tools to love.
(Final side note: wondering what separates Office 365 and Office 2019? Users with 365 are part of Microsoft’s subscription service, which means the 2019 version will simply be an update for them until (potentially) the 2020 update releases. Now you know!)
