What is Office 365?As a product line, Microsoft Office dates back nearly three decades, with early versions essentially combining Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a discounted bundle. Office 365, which has been available since 2011, differs from that old-fashioned bundle in two respects: First, it's licensed as a monthly or annual subscription rather than as a perpetual license. Second, it combines a suite of online services, including business-class email and cloud file storage, along with the traditional desktop apps.Because it's a subscription offering, those desktop programs are updated automatically when a new version is available. If your subscription is current, you get the latest versions, which are typically updated every six months, on the same calendar as Windows 10.Office 365 is available in Home and Personal editions that are aimed for use by families, students, and individuals. In this guide, we cover the multitude of Business and Enterprise editions; these editions offer … [Read more...] about Microsoft Office 365 for business: Everything you need to know
When was microsoft office 365 release
Untangle OneDrive and SharePoint integration in Office 365
The good news: Microsoft has finally brought SharePoint file synchronization to OneDrive. The bad news: Some details may confuse you and your users about how it all works.Businesses have very different approaches to data sharing among users: Some love the idea of a single portal to shared files, while others hate it. Plus, SharePoint can be more than a project file repository (it’s also meant to support discussions and workflow via project websites), and other value becomes invisible when accessed via OneDrive.Microsoft’s goal is to consolidate its various file managers into one, says Seth Patton, Microsoft’s general manager for OneDrive and SharePoint. That way, OneDrive and SharePoint stores are treated the same as network and local drives for both the operating system and applications. That’s exactly the right goal.But a few differences from platform to platform can confuse both IT and users to taking full advantage of Office 365’s new all-in-one … [Read more...] about Untangle OneDrive and SharePoint integration in Office 365
Office 365: Enterprise usage doesn’t translate into enterprise value
Although enterprise subscribers to Office 365 typically use a large number of the in-the-cloud-and-on-premises suite's components, only two – email and the Office applications – provide significant value, a recently-released survey showed.The disconnect between usage and value was portrayed by research firm Gartner, which in mid-2017 polled more than 160 IT professionals to collect opinions on Office 365 in the enterprise."There's a baseline of value to switching to the cloud, especially if things were expensive to manage [on premises]," said Craig Roth, a Gartner research vice president and the author of a report capitalizing on the survey. "But the real value comes when you start changing your work processes to take advantage [of Office 365] to its full extent." In his report, How to Work With (or Compete Against) Microsoft Office 365, Roth reported that companies were widely using more than just the Office ProPlus applications - Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the like - and … [Read more...] about Office 365: Enterprise usage doesn’t translate into enterprise value
Office 2019 release calendar: Mark these dates
Microsoft has pledged a new Office suite, tagged Office 2019, for next year. But other than a nod to the vague "second half" of 2018, the Redmond, Wash. developer has said nothing of dates.But because Office 365 is, even more than Windows 10, as much a service as software - and because that model requires a predictable schedule of releases, maintenance milestones and support expiration dates - we can anticipate many of the important dates in the transition from present (Office 2016) to future (Office 2019).To prepare for Office 2019, circle these dates on the enterprise IT calendar.Summer, 2018Six weeks ago, Microsoft said, "Previews of the new products [Office 2019 applications] will start shipping mid-year 2018."Computerworld's best guess for the beta? July 10, 2018. That's the scheduled date for the release of what will be coded as the "Semi-Annual Channel" of Office 365 ProPlus. (ProPlus is the suite that provides rights to the locally installed applications, including Excel, … [Read more...] about Office 2019 release calendar: Mark these dates
Office 365: A guide to the updates
Office 365 subscribers always have the latest version of Microsoft Office — currently Office 2016. They also get more frequent software updates than those who have purchased Office 2016 without a subscription, which means subscribers have access to the latest features, security patches and bug fixes. But it can be hard to keep track of the changes in each update and know when they’re available. We’re doing for you, so you don’t have to.Following are key updates to Office 365 for Windows since Office 2016 was released in September 2015 — all the 2017 updates and the most important ones from 2016 and late 2015, with the latest releases shown first. We’ll add info about new updates as they’re rolled out.Note: This story covers updates released to regular Office 365 for Windows subscribers. If you’re a member of Microsoft’s Office Insider preview program or want to get a sneak peek at upcoming features, see the company’s … [Read more...] about Office 365: A guide to the updates