Microsoft Office now supports the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar

By

Word-Focus-Mode
The new Focus Mode in Microsoft Word.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft is now rolling out support for the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar in Office for Mac.

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint users will get to take advantage of it first, but Microsoft will be adding shortcuts and other features for Outlook and Skype later on.

Microsoft announced it would be supporting the Touch Bar soon after Apple unveiled it last October. The company then began testing its update with users in the Office Insider program just over a week ago — and now it is rolling it out to everyone.

In Word, MacBook Pro users will see shortcuts for formatting functions, like font sizes and styles, plus the ability to quickly add comments, hyperlinks, and images. The Touch Bar also allows for a new Focus Mode, which lets you hide the Ribbon and focus on your document.

In Excel, the Touch Bar will display recently used functions, color cells, and charts. Users of PowerPoint will get a mini overview of all the slides contained in their presentation, as well as the ability to reorder them simply by dragging them back and forth.

Later on, Microsoft will add shortcuts for Outlook and Skype, like a today view that will provide an overview of upcoming appointments, and buttons to end and mute calls.

To enjoy Touch Bar functionality in Office for Mac, simply open one of the apps, click Help in the menu, then select Check for Updates.

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.