Microsoft adds printing to Office 365 for iPad

Microsoft has released a second major upgrade to Office 365 this week, adding the capability to print directly from the app.

The upgrade will work with AirPrint printers, with Word able to print with or without markup and Excel able to print a selected range of fields, a single worksheet or a whole spreadsheet. 

The upgrade comes a little over a month after Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella unveiled the iPad version of Office 365 during a major press conference in San Francisco.

The lack of printing capabilities was a widespread complaint about the initial release of the software.

The update also includes a number of other significant changes, including the introduction of SmartGuides around shapes in PowerPoint to help users align objects in presentations.

A new feature in Excel called AutoFit allows users to adjust the width or height of multiple columns at the same time and the update includes bug fixes and improved stability, with the tech giant promising users the next update is already underway.

Earlier this month, Microsoft director of program management Eric Wilfrid promised iPad users frequent upgrades of the software.

“Office for iPad is unlike any release in my career and unlike any Office release to date. The difference is that we’re just getting started. Being part of a cloud service drives us to continuous engineering, where updates and improvements just keep coming. We plan to ship again before you know it—in weeks, not years,” Wilfred said.

The update will mark the second major upgrade for business users of Office 365 in the past week, with OneDrive for Business and Office 365 ProPlus accounts from 25 gigabytes to 1 terabyte of storage per user.