There is little doubt as to which office productivity software is the most popular – Microsoft’s Office. While the cloud-based version of Office – Office 365 – is growing and constantly evolving, many business are finding that Office Web Apps are also quite useful. These ”light’ versions of Office come standard in all Office 365 subscriptions, and Microsoft has recently updated Word Web App, making this version more appealing than ever before.

Here is an overview of the recent functions updated in the Office Web Apps version of Microsoft Word

Updates to Word with Office Web Apps

Because so many people work in teams these days, collaboration is key, and cloud-based services have really enabled this teamwork. Take for example Microsoft Word documents – if you were working on a document as a team, you traditionally each worked on your own versions which were shared amongst members and which would then have to be updated to a newer version. This makes it difficult to keep track of different versions.

With the Office Web Apps version of Word, users can work on the same document at the same time. The only problem is that the document has always had to be saved in order for the changes to show on all versions. This isn’t the best solution where teams need to collaborate in a fast-paced environment.

Microsoft’s answer to this issue was to introduce what they call ‘real-time co-authoring’. According to the announcement, “You will be able to contribute and edit documents simultaneously in the Word Web App, PowerPoint Web App or Excel Web App. New real-time presence helps you see where your co-authors are working in the document so that you don’t create conflicts as you edit.”

You can also see any changes being made to the formatting and the text in real-time which can really help keep all members of the team on the same page, quite literally, with successful collaboration.

The second change introduced, specifically to Word Web App, is that documents are now saved in real time. This makes it even easier to work on documents as a team, largely because you will no longer have to keep track of versions of documents and worry about whether the changes or updates you have made are saved.

Finally, Microsoft also introduced enhanced editing features to Word Web App. This includes the ability to find and replace words in a document, format and style tables, and insert headers and footers.

With these updates and extended features, Office Web Apps, and more specifically the Word Web App, have become more powerful tools and many businesses should find these platforms more useful.

If you are looking to learn more about how you can use Office Web Apps in your company get in touch with us today.