Microsoft said on Tuesday that it would release the next version of Microsoft Office, dubbed the Office 2019, in the second half of 2018. The release, which will include perpetual versions of the Office apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, and servers like Exchange, SharePoint and Skype for Business, will have its previews starting to ship mid-year.
Unlike Office 365, Office 2019 will be aimed at customers who are not yet ready to use cloud. Announced at Microsoft's Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida earlier this week, the upcoming version of Office will include several features for enterprise users who spend a significant amount of their working hours in Excel and PowerPoint.
According to Microsoft, there will be new "inking" options that will allow users to take notes and draw on top of documents. Improved inking features will reportedly also include pressure sensitivity, tilt effects and ink replay.
"New formulas and charts will make data analysis for Excel more powerful. Visual animation features like Morph and Zoom will add polish to PowerPoint presentations," the company reportedly said in a statement.
In addition, the Office 2019 will also bring "service enhancements [that] include updates to IT manageability, usability, voice, and security," according to CNBC.
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a new feature for its "Teams" service, allowing guest access to all Office 365 commercial and education customers. The features allowed group owners to add people from outside the organisation to a team, so that guests can participate in chats, join meetings, collaborate on documents and more.
