News

Microsoft Launches Windows Phone 8 'Office Remote' App

• By Gladys Rama
• November 18, 2013

Microsoft on Monday announced the availability of an app that would let Windows Phone 8 users remotely launch, control and interact with Office 2013 files from their smartphones in a presentation setting.

Developed by Microsoft Research, the Office Remote app is available to download for free in the Windows Phone Store. It requires a Windows Phone 8 device and a Bluetooth-enabled PC with Office 2013 installed. Users must also install Office Remote on their PC desktop by dowloading this add-in. The app does not work with Office 2013 RT.

The app effectively turns a Windows Phone 8 device into a "smart remote" for projected Office presentations, according to this Microsoft Research blog post. From their Windows Phone 8 device, users can access Word, Excel and PowerPoint files saved on a linked PC and then manipulate them as their presentation requires.

During a presentation, users can navigate between PowerPoint, Excel and Word from their phone. They can highlight different charts or and graphs in Excel, scroll through Word documents and zoom in on particular sections or comments, and jump from slide to slide in PowerPoint.

The app also enables a laser-pointer function in Windows Phone 8 so users can highlight specific parts of their Office presentation. Users can also read their speaker notes off their smartphone and keep track of their presentation length using the timer feature.

This Microsoft Research page lists more features in the Office Remote app, and also has a short demo video.

"All this is a result of an ongoing collaboration between Office and Microsoft Research intended to enable more natural, seamless interaction across multiple screens and devices to help people create and communicate content more effectively," the Microsoft Research blog notes.