An update Microsoft posted today now lets you open Word, PowerPoint and Excel files directly in their respective apps instead of sending you to a simplified viewer. After almost a decade, I’ve finally moved my personal email away from Google’s service. Microsoft’s goal with the deeper integration is to make it easier to share and collaborate on Office documents on the go.
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With today’s update, clicking on a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file in Outlook will immediately open the file in its corresponding iOS app. Outlook will automatically display which Office apps are installed from within Outlook and if the required Office app is absent, a small notice will display with a link to the app in the iOS App Store.
With the update, attachments are displayed with blue text under the file name offering, for example, “Open in PowerPoint”.
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Similar integration is expected for Android in the coming months. That option only appears if the app is installed. Those other Office apps for iOS devices include Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This feature gives Outlook an even bigger edge than it already has over Apple’s Mail app, particularly when it comes to sharing attachments like Word files. This is for the cases where you’re starting in the document, not in an email: Selecting “Send with Outlook” brings up Outlook’s “Compose New Email” pane with the document attached and ready to share. Now, when you open an Office document from Outlook and finish making your changes, you can tap on the Back button to close the document and return to Outlook. Many such documents are shared using Outlook. And the now-updated file is added an attachment in your reply.
