When Apple announced the newest version of its MacBook Pro back in 2016, the most exciting new feature turned out to be the Touch Bar. It’s a small touchscreen area below the main screen that can be used in conjunction with the keyboard to perform several tasks.
It didn’t take very long for Microsoft to come out in support of the Touch Bar, as the company announced that its Office products for the Mac would make use of it in the future. Well, that future has come, but only for those who are a part of the Office Insider program.
Here’s a short rundown of what’s new, according to Microsoft:
“Help us shape the future of Office: Become an Office Insider on your iPhone and iPad, get early access to new Office releases, and tell us what you think. To apply, click here. Touch Bar support on the new MacBook Pro: The most relevant commands to what you’re working on are at your fingertips. (Compatible with MacBook Pro with Touch Bar only.)”
According to the company, Office Insiders in the slow ring will be able to test the new Touch Bar features across products such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook.
What Will Users Be Able To Do?
In Microsoft Word, users will have the option to activate the Focus Mode directly from the Touch Bar. Furthermore, it should also be possible to change font styles and document format. When it comes down to PowerPoint, users should see a graphical slider of all slides, giving them the option to reorder from the Touch Bar instead of using the mouse and keyboard.
As for Excel, users can select recently used color cells and functions. Not only that, they can pick out charts as well. From our point of view, Excel’s Touch Bar features are more useful than Word and PowerPoint, but that’s just an opinion for you might have a different perspective on the matter.
Not An Office Insider? Here’s How To Become One:
Becoming an Office Insider on the Apple Mac is pretty easy. Just fire up Office 2016 and select Check for Updates via the Help menu. Now, Office Insider has two levels, Office Insider Slow, and Office Insider Fast. Bear in mind that the Slow Ring is late to deliver new features, but when it does, these features are usually stable. However, the same cannot be said for the Fast Ring due to providing new features quickly, so expect bugs.
Source: Microsoft.