Microsoft Office for Mac gets Touch Bar support

The February updates in Microsoft Office will now enable owners of the Macbook Pro with Touch Bar to work with the LCD strip Apple introduced with its latest laptop.

A post written by Kirk Koenigsbauer, Corporate Vice President for the Office team on Thursday, noted that the updates to Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Mac include a new object rotation slider on the Touch Bar, which provides a more intuitive and precise rotation experience.

"Now from the Touch Bar you can enter Word Focus Mode, a brand-new experience that hides all of the on-screen ribbons and commands so you can simply focus on your work," Koenigsbauer wrote about the update in Word.

A one tap quickly applies a new style to a heading or paragraph and a user can also insert comments, photos or hyperlinks directly from Touch Bar.
The Touch Bar commands in PowerPoint will now allow a user to easily manipulate graphic elements.

"The Reorder Objects button produces a graphical map of all the layers on a slide, making it easy to find the right object and move it where you want it. And by sliding your finger across the Touch Bar you can easily rotate an object to get just the right angle," Koenigsbauer added.

Also, typing an equals sign into a cell in Excel immediately pulls up the most recently used functions in the Touch Bar. The Touch Bar in Outlook now provides quick access to the most commonly used commands as one works on email and manage calendar.

"When composing a new mail, the Touch Bar displays a list of recent documents. One tap and you can add a file-either as an attachment or a link. And from the Today view on the Touch Bar you can not only see your calendar events for the day, but even join a Skype for Business meeting," Koenigsbauer noted. This is the latest app to get Touch Bar support and joins other apps like Adobe's Photoshop and Apple's Final Cut Pro.