Microsoft Office for Mac Gets Touch Bar Support

In an official blog post, Microsoft has confirmed that Office for Mac is getting support for the new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar. Microsoft notes that with the help of Touch Bar, Office for Mac will intelligently put the most common commands at your fingertips, all based on what you’re doing in the document, be it Word, PowerPoint, Excel or Outlook.

Office for Mac Adds Touch Bar Support 1

In Microsoft Word, users can enter ‘Word Focus Mode’ from the Touch Bar, hiding all of the on-screen ribbons and commands so you can simply focus on your work. “The Touch Bar is perfect for this moment, putting the most relevant Word features at your fingertips”, notes Microsoft. A single tap will let you quickly apply a new style to a heading or paragraph. Similarly, Touch Bar commands in PowerPoint allow you to easily manipulate graphic elements. 

In Excel, typing an equals sign into a cell in Excel immediately pulls up the most recently used functions in the Touch Bar. For example, with a tap (for the formula) and another tap (for a named range) in the Touch Bar, you can quickly sum a range in your spreadsheet. The Touch Bar also provides quick access to borders, cell colors and recommended charts—making it easier than ever to organize and visualize your data.

Finally, the Touch Bar in Outlook provides quick access to the most commonly used commands as you work on email and manage your calendar. When composing a new mail, the Touch Bar displays a list of recent documents. One tap and you can add a file—either as an attachment or a link.

The Touch Bar will also support Skype, allowing users to join a Skype for Business meeting with a single tap from Touch Bar’s Today view.

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