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Microsoft Office 15 apps to include 'touch mode' with easy typing and enlarged ribbon

Microsoft Office 15 apps to include 'touch mode' with easy typing and enlarged ribbon

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Office 15 will include a special "touch mode" to active tablet features of Microsoft's next-generation Office suite.

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Office 15 touch mode
Office 15 touch mode

Microsoft's upcoming Office 15 suite will include a "touch mode" to enlarge the ribbon interface and other UI elements in the apps. So say a few people with access to an early Technical Preview of Office 15. Microsoft has introduced a "touch mode" button on a number of Office 15 applications that activates features of the new "Office Personality" plans for Office 15. The mode, noted first by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, will include an animation of a number of Office features, and bigger icons and spacing in the ribbon.

The new touch mode does not work fully in the latest Technical Preview version, but it is also expected to adjust the interface to allow for easy typing in Office 15 from a tablet device. There is no word on the rumored radial menus in the latest technical preview builds, although we have heard that this new style menu is designed for the OneNote Metro style application and not the desktop versions of Office 15. Microsoft's Office 15 applications are currently in Technical Preview with a beta scheduled for summer, and some will be packaged as part of Windows on ARM.