Windows Phone 8 users can now remotely control Office using their smartphones, thanks to a newly developed and launched app from Microsoft that goes by the name of Office Remote.
This new client allows users to navigate Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on a Windows 7 or Windows 8 PC from their handset, and currently carries a version number 1.0.23.0. This should come particularly handy for business meetings and presentations.
We all know flipping through documents and slides during a presentation is not the easiest thing in the world — this new collaboration between Redmond’s Office and Research should help in this regard.
The company has posted the details of the app on its Microsoft Research blog, with Bert Van Hoof, an Office group program manager stating:
“With Office Remote, you can start your PowerPoint presentation, advance the slides, see your speaker notes, and control an on-screen laser pointer with a touch of your finger—all from your phone. You can also navigate between Excel worksheets and graphs, and control data slicers from the palm of your hand. And you can scroll through a Word document or quickly jump to specific sections or comments.”
Office Remote actually not just requires a Windows Phone 8 smartphone, but also a PC with Bluetooth functionality that has a separate desktop program installed.
However, the app works with all versions of Office 2013, this side of Office 2013 RT. Fingers crossed the support for the RT version of Office is something that is coming soon. Using a slate and smartphone in tandem this way is the way to go.
The app is available on the Windows Phone Store here.
All Comments
This app is useless considering you cannot connect your lumia via Bluetooth to anything other then audio (IE a car radio.)
At this time, the BT profile on WP phones supports primarily audio-related functions — not file transfer, etc.
This app is useless considering you cannot connect your lumia via Bluetooth to anything other then audio (IE a car radio.)
At this time, the BT profile on WP phones supports primarily audio-related functions — not file transfer, etc.