WATCH: Microsoft’s mobile Office 365 app redesign aims to improve user productivity

As smartphones and other mobile devices continue to be equipped with increasingly intelligent technologies, users are becoming progressively reliant on such tools for various professional demands, social obligations and entertainment needs. To address this evolution, Microsoft announced Thursday in a blog post that it has redesigned its mobile Office 365 apps to “take mobile productivity to the next level.”

Outlook, OneDrive, Word, Excel and PowerPoint have been redesigned, and updates for Teams, Yammer and Planner will be arriving “soon.”

The most significant change made to the apps is the integration of the company’s Fluent design philosophy, which “ensures experiences will feel both distinctly Microsoft and at home on mobile devices.” This allows for any updates made to the system to be applied to all apps utilizing Fluent components like app icons, splash screens and file lists; they all appear distinctively branded now. According to the company, these similarities between the interfaces improve users’ productivity, as they do not have to “re-learn app patterns and navigation.”

In the blog post, Microsoft also admitted that it is privately developing the interface experience of dual-screen devices like the upcoming Surface Duo smartphone-tablet hybrid. Naturally, this software will also utilize Fluent elements so that users are familiar with the user interface no matter which device they are using.

Overall, the redesign improves the visual coherence throughout the Microsoft mobile apps to improve productivity and the completion of microtasks. RGA

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