NE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, APRIL 1
Microsoft on Tuesday announced the launch of Microsoft 365 subscriptions that replace the existing Office 365 plans for individuals and families. With Microsoft 365, the company is adding more features, which are driven by AI, to the suite of apps, such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel among other Office apps, a company release said.
Microsoft has also introduced two new features that will be rolled out in the coming months. They are the Microsoft Family Safety app and some added functionalities in the Microsoft Teams app for consumers. The Microsoft 365 personal and family yearly plans, which supports up to six accounts, start at Rs 4,199 and Rs 5,299, respectively, and will be available starting April 21.
The Microsoft 365 subscriptions will offer new features over and above the ones being provided to subscribers under Office 365 plans. These include Office apps, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more, that will be available on both Windows and macOS. The subscribers will continue to get 1TB of OneDrive storage and 50GB of storage for Outlook email. The subscription also bundles free call recording and 60 minutes of landline, mobile phone calls on Skype. Microsoft has also rebranded the Office 365 Pro and Office 365 Pro Plus plans that are available for businesses.
The Office apps have gained new features with Microsoft 365. The Editor feature provided by Word will be available to all. It is a grammar checker but with advanced proofing functions, which teaches users various writing styles also. A richer grammar and style guide will also be available to Microsoft 365 subscribers for comprehensive and coherent understanding on how different formats should be written. Microsoft has also added a rewrite option that can replace the entire text, along with tools that check the content for plagiarism.
Microsoft’s PowerPoint is also getting new enhancements under the Microsoft 365 bundle. The Presenter Coach feature that teaches users on how they can deliver presentations nicely, is getting the monotone pitch and speech refinement. The user will be suggested various tones and pitches to improve his speech. Excel is also getting new features, including Money that aims to be a one-stop solution for personal financing. Microsoft provides an option for users to connect their bank and credit card accounts for fetching transactional and balance data and create logs on expenditure. But this feature will initially be available for US customers in the coming months. There is another feature that turns plain text into interactive widgets and charts, powered by Wolfram Alpha.
Outlook is getting the ability to link work and personal calendars on the Web, in addition to receiving 300 new fonts and 2,800 new icons. The Microsoft 365 subscribers will also get exclusive access to over 200 new templates and thousands of images, videos from Getty Images without needing a separate subscription. Microsoft has added a Password Monitor to its Edge browser to inform users if their stored passwords have ever been breached so that they can change them in time. Verticals tabs on Edge browser have also been introduced for Microsoft 365 subscribers. Skype’s Meet feature is also getting an option for users to start video meetings without having to sign up or download the app.
