The company recently announced that it will begin making some changes to the design of Office.com and Office 365, to make them simpler and more user-friendly.
The biggest change comes to Microsoft Word, where the toolbar at the top of the screen will be reduced in size. Fans of the classic design, however, will still be able to expand the toolbar if they choose.
The changes fit into Microsoft, which can be found in most features of Windows 10. The update will also include new animations, icons, and some minor color changes.
The company appears to be initially testing the new designs on its online applications and will take user feedback into account to see if other changes need to be made for the desktop versions.
Microsoft is also making Search more powerful by adding artificial intelligence to the backend. After the new update, the Search field in Office 365 apps will start recommending results based on what it thinks you’re looking for. This should theoretically make it easier to find things in apps like Outlook.
The update will also include many other small changes that users won't immediately notice, such as cleaner, more modern icons in the toolbars. The icons, like all other parts of the update, will appear first in the web versions of the apps and then on the desktop.
Microsoft's big Office update comes long overdue, given that Windows 10 has been a huge success and has generally been well-received by users. And while this certainly isn't the biggest news coming from Microsoft these days, it will certainly be a welcome update to the products for anyone who uses them on a daily basis.
