Collaboration is significant update in Office 2016. Word 2016 now has a real time co-authoring tool, allowing multiple people to simultaneously update the same document. This is intended to work similarly to Google’s Docs collaboration tools, a favourite feature for many businesses.
Also in this new version of Office are a set of new themes and styles. Colour options are nice, however one in particular is considered especially significant: Office 2016 now comes with a dark theme. People who prefer to work at darker screens or struggle with eye strain with white themes now have the option to use this dark theme to get a better experience of using Office.
There have also been a multitude of smaller updates, which you will likely only discover over time. These smaller changes include new chart and graphing options, new keyboard shortcuts, a new search functionality for finding the tool you want, and support for small and large screens.
In terms of file compatibility, Office 2016 closely resembles its 2013 and 2007 predecessors. You can save files in the modern .docx style format, which is only compatible with Office 2007 and later, or you can still use the less feature-complete .doc style formatting that includes full compatibility for previous Office suites.
Third party applications built for previous generations of Office may not be immediately compatible with Office 2016, however many developers are already upgrading their apps to work with the new system. Microsoft have proudly displayed their new and more open API and development tools, which will allow for greater scope in development and increased compatibility out of the box.
Thus far we haven’t had any issues with Office 2016, however as always we expect there will be a plethora of security and bug fixes in the next few days.
But should you upgrade? We feel that if you have Office 2013, there may not be enough changes yet to justify the upgrade cost and process, however if you are still using Office 2007 or earlier, it may be worth your while taking the time to upgrade. Ultimately Kogo always recommends contacting us when considering upgrading, but thus far we are all happy with Office 2016.
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