Microsoft announced at its Ignite conference last week that a new Microsoft 365 app will soon replace the existing Office app on Windows and mobile devices. We hadn’t really seen the new app in great detail so far, but if you’re curious, Microsoft has just published a one-minute video overview of this new Microsoft 365 app.

Compared to the existing all-in-one Office app, this new Microsoft 365 app will keep the left navigation bar but will simplify it. The Home section is still there, but it now has a Recommended section at the top to highlight content that may be relevant to you. Down the page, the Quick Access section will let users open recently opened documents and shared files.

All your content has also been consolidated in the new My Content page, which will also surface third-party content and files shared during meetings. On this page, you’ll also be able to use tags to better organize your content.

The Create tab is where users will be able to create new Office documents. Here, the Microsoft 365 app will offer a selection of templates for presentations, task lists, calendars, and more. On the separate Apps tab, users will find shortcuts to install the desktop versions of the Office apps, as well as shortcuts to third-party apps.

Lastly, this new Microsoft 365 app will add a Feed tab showcasing upcoming meetings, important emails, as well as other updates from people in your organization. All in all, there are various new features that should make this app more useful than the existing Office app for Windows, though there will be a Microsoft 365 web app to replace office.com as well.

The switch to the new Microsoft 365 web app on the web will happen in November 2022, and the new app will replace the all-in-one Office app on Windows and mobile in January 2023. Microsoft also said that Microsoft 365 will replace the Office brand going forward, though the company will keep offering perpetual Office licenses and existing Office 365 subscriptions.

Tagged with Microsoft 365, office