Many people are describing the 2016 upgrade to Microsoft’s Office Productivity Suite as an evolutionary progression from the last major upgrade in 2013. However, there’s a lot to be excited about behind the scenes. Sure on the surface there’s a few visual tweaks and a couple of new colorful themes, but beyond the fresh coat of paint Microsoft’s increasingly adept understanding of the power of the internet is starting to shine.
With Smart Lookup, Microsoft is finally starting to bring some of its data retrieval prowess into the workplace. Starting with the newest version of Office, users can move beyond simply defining words within the program and start conducting full web based “research” as Microsoft is calling it. This includes images, relevant news and articles from Wikipedia, as well as a list of the top several web links on Bing.
To activate Smart Lookup, users can look to the newly added Tell Me field in the ribbon. Simply start typing a word or phrase and select “Smart Lookup” from the dropdown options that appear. Additionally, users can simply highlight any word or phrase from right inside the document, right click, and select “Smart Lookup” from the provided menu.
It will be interesting to see what else Microsoft includes in this new feature as the initial feedback starts to roll in. Regardless of the future however, it’s nice to see genuinely useful features like this continuing to stream out of Redmond.
“Sean Bugler is an Instructor at Learn iT! specializing in desktop class application usage. When he’s not teaching you can often find him reading up on the latest news in software and technology. Connect with him on Twitter @sbglr.”