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New apps and features in Microsoft 365 for individuals and families this fall
Since we introduced Microsoft 365 to individuals and families earlier this year, we have continued to deliver new innovations across our apps and services to help you and your family save time and stay connected. See what’s new below.
Locate your loved ones and build better driving habits with Microsoft Family Safety
Stay connected even when you’re apart with the Microsoft Family Safety app. Share your location with loved ones, spot them on a map, and save places they visit the most, all with a free Microsoft account. With a Microsoft 365 Family subscription, you also get alerted when your family members arrive or depart from a specific location.1 Plus, get insights on how your family is doing on the road, including how many times the driver uses their phone, their top speed, and even the number of times they brake hard. Location alerts are available to Microsoft 365 Family subscribers on Android and iOS worldwide, except for Japan, China, and countries where right-to-left languages are used. Drive safety reports and driver history are available to Microsoft 365 Family subscribers in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia on Android and iOS.
Get a more holistic view of your spending in Money in Excel
Money in Excel now pulls up to two years of transaction history to get a better picture of your spending habits, a big increase from the three months of transaction history it launched with. Plus, Money in Excel now supports multiple credentials per financial institution so you and your partner can get a unified view of your accounts. Available now to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers in the US in Excel for Windows, macOS, and web.
Get started quickly with new templates for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
Over the last couple of months, we’ve published over 30 premium templates for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that help you get started faster and look your best. Check out the Family Budget Planner template, the Mood Board template for your next creative project, and the Emergency Contacts template, a must-have for every home. Available now to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for web, Windows, and macOS.4
Stay in your flow with Your Phone app and Link to Windows on Galaxy phones
In August, Microsoft and Samsung announced new experiences that will help you stay productive wherever you are. Today, we’re rolling out a new multi-app5 experience in Your Phone app, so you can run multiple Android mobile apps side by side on your Windows 10 PC. Apps will launch in separate windows enabling you to interact with multiple apps at the same time even if Your Phone app is not open. Pin your apps to Favorites, Windows 10 taskbar, or Start menu for quick and easy access. And moreover, you can now search for your previously pinned apps via Windows search from within your Start app list.
Whether you are staying connected with family and friends, keeping up on your social feed, or ordering food, you can do it all simultaneously from the comfort of your PC, with no need to install apps or sign-in again. The Your Phone multi-apps experience is now rolling out to supported Samsung devices. Learn more here.
Sync Samsung Notes and Reminders on Galaxy phones with Outlook, OneNote, and To Do
Also rolling out, Samsung Notes can automatically sync with your OneNote feed in Outlook on the web. And Samsung Reminders can automatically sync to Microsoft To Do, Outlook, and Microsoft Teams. Now you can take notes or set reminders while on the go with your Samsung Galaxy phone, and then access them on your Windows 10 PC when you return home. Samsung Note sync to OneNote feed in Outlook on the web is available now for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers and to anyone with a Microsoft account by the end of this year. Learn more about this experience on Samsung.com.
Easily share your photos and files with OneDrive family and group sharing
OneDrive has always made it easy to share docs, photos, videos, albums, and folders. But until now, sharing to a group of people meant typing in the names of all the people you wanted to share with. Last month, we simplified the process with one-click sharing to family and groups. Once you predefine your family or friend group, you’ll be able to share a photo, album, or important document to your group with one click. Family and group sharing is available in OneDrive for web to anyone with a free Microsoft account.
Formal or casual? Specify your writing goals in Microsoft Editor
Now you can choose the level of formality you would like Microsoft Editor to consider when providing relevant critiques for your writing. You can choose between “formal,” “professional”, or “casual” styles to help ensure your writing hits the right tone. This experience is rolling out now to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers in Word for web. Writing goals is currently only available for English language users; however, it will support additional languages in Word for web in the coming weeks.6 For languages outside of English, you can choose between two goals: “formal” or “casual.”
Focus on your conversation instead of your notes with Transcribe in Word for web
Whether you’re interviewing a family member to chronicle your family’s history, running a virtual parent-teacher association meeting, or “attending” a college lecture via any major video conferencing platform, you want to focus on the conversation without worrying about taking notes. Now you can record your conversations directly in Word for the web and transcribe them automatically. Transcribe detects different speakers so after you finish recording, you can easily follow the flow of the transcript. Available now to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers in Word for web. Currently only available for English language users using Microsoft Edge or Chrome web browsers.
Survey or quiz your friends and family with Microsoft Forms
In October, we made Microsoft Forms available for personal use. With easy-to-use tools and clear design suggestions, you can gather input and make plans for a variety of activities—survey your neighborhood friends for a weekly running time, coordinate your virtual holiday gathering with family, or even host a virtual trivia night with friends from any location. Available now for web and within the Office mobile app for anyone with a Microsoft account. Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers can poll an expanded number of respondents and get access to more templates.
1Requires location alerts to be enabled and active.
2This feature is currently available in preview only in the US and Canada and is currently available only in chats with three or more participants. Standard SMS data charges apply.
3To help ensure the privacy of our users, this feature will only work if you are already sharing your location with the person setting up a location alert for you. Additionally, anytime someone sets up a location alert on you, Teams will notify you. To disable this feature, you can simply stop sharing your location.
4Premium templates are available in the following languages: Chinese (simplified), Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, and Spanish.
5Users must link their Galaxy device to their Windows PC through ‘Link to Windows’ on phone and Your Phone app on PC, follow the set-up prompts, including being signed into same Microsoft account. Link to Windows is preloaded on select Galaxy devices. Your Phone requires latest Windows 10 Update on the PC. For Apps experience, Galaxy device must be on and connected to the same Wi-Fi network as the PC. Some mobile apps may restrict content to be shared on other screens or may require a touch screen to be able to interact with them. Ability to run multiple apps simultaneously is rolling out to select Samsung Galaxy devices running Android 11 and requires Windows 10 May 2020 Update or later.
6Writing goals in Microsoft Editor will support the following languages in the coming months: Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (European), Russian, and Spanish.
Brought to you by Dr. Ware, Microsoft Office 365 Silver Partner, Charleston SC.
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