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Applications like Word and Excel currently lack mouse support
Microsoft adds cursor support to its Office for iPad app later this year, according to a new report.
Apple’s iPad OS added comprehensive mouse and trackpad support earlier this year, but compatibility with each app is still a long way off. Of course, if there are any iPad apps that are asking for cursor support, those would be Word, Excel, and Outlook, you know, the ones you want to write to.
The new circular cursor that changes shape depending on the context, becoming a vertical line when it is over the text, imitating the shape of an application icon, etc., is already being seen as a transformative innovation, helping customers who They want a new laptop to consider iPad-plus-Smart-Keyboard combo instead. The launch of the new iPad Pro with the fantastic Magic Keyboard accessory has made this option even more compelling. But, right now, those key Microsoft apps don’t support trackpads or mice.
Although Apple’s own Word processing application Pages and its Numbers spreadsheet are attractive and highly capable, it is Microsoft’s software that has the market.
Therefore, the news that Microsoft is working to provide cursor support for Office for iPad for the fall, as reported by The Verge, is promising.
The new Magic Keyboard with trackpad and the latest iPad Pro.
Microsoft launched an Office app earlier this year for Android and iOS that builds Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in a single unit, though separate apps are also available.
Cursor support could reach different applications at different times, so Word may get it before Excel, or vice versa. Such details as these are currently under wraps.
Apple iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard are an attractive laptop alternative.
Microsoft has been quick to support iPadOS features before, for example, by adding Split View support to its iPad Outlook app last October. That’s the handy feature where you can have two applications open next to each other and even drag text from a browser window to an email, for example.
Although there are still big differences between macOS and iPadOS, Apple’s direction of travel seems to be to make movement between the two ever more fluid, with similar features, ways of interacting, and – separate touchscreen – supplemental hardware.
As more details emerge, I’ll cover how Microsoft and other app developers tailor their apps to work with iPadOS.
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