Microsoft Office for iPad: now with Trackpad and Mouse support

Whenever someone asks me which Laptop they should buy, I ask – what are you doing on it?. Because so often, in fact more often than not – a tablet can do everything the average user needs. A new update to Microsoft Office apps for iPad makes that even more compelling.

With the latest iPadOS supporting mouse pairing, and the fancy looking Apple Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro (and new Air), you also get a trackpad, and boom – that’s supported too!

Bill Doll from Microsoft says “We know the Office experience on iPad is an important tool for the many people who use it to work, learn and create. The latest iPad Pro, iPad Air and iPad models have introduced powerful new features and capabilities to enable people to be productive in more ways. Accordingly, we have made several updates to the Office apps to take advantage of these enhancements and make it even easier to work on iPad.“

iPad gets Trackpad and Mouse Support

Updates to Powerpoint, Word and Excel apps on iPad (yes, lots of people don’t know that there even is a Word or Excel app on iPad!) have meant that cursor control is designed into the app at the core.

With trackpad and mouse support on iPad, the cursor changes depending on where it is on the screen. On a menu the word might hover with a colour, on an image corner it might become arrows to resize.

It’s not a strange new thing, it’s actually bringing a much more familiar looking experience that we know on a desktop PC or Mac, to the iPad apps.

So if you’re wondering how to make your iPad more productive, pair it up with a mouse or use the Trackpad – it’s a winner.