Microsoft To Update Office Apps For iPad With Support For Printing Functions

Yesterday, Microsoft finally released the long-awaited iPad edition of its Office productivity suite, including Microsoft Word for iPad, Microsoft Excel for iPad, and Microsoft PowerPoint for iPad. Along with Microsoft OneNote for iPad (which was released back in December 2011), the apps have since occupied the first few spots in the App Store's top free iPad apps chart. This despite a notable omission in the apps: the ability to print.

@fraserspeirs Microsoft has supplied a workaround for printing from Office on an iPad: pic.twitter.com/nM11WQUJfn
— Mark Sweeney (@MarkSweeney) March 28, 2014

Apparently, said omission is not a big deal to most users of the app. Be that as it may, Microsoft, while highlighting the apps' touch-first design, has implied in a statement to PCWorld that the Office apps for iPad will be updated with support for printing functions. "Office for iPad was designed from the ground up for the iPad and for the productivity scenarios that an iPad is well suited for,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to update the applications based on customer feedback and needs ... Similar to other Microsoft apps (like OneNote for iPad) and the Office 365 service, we provide feature updates based on an ongoing basis." Indeed, OneNote for iPad was updated yesterday with a new iOS 7-inspired design that's in line with the newly released Office apps. The iPad editions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft OneNote are all available in the App Store for free. But to take full advantage of the apps, an Office 365 subscription, which costs as low as $99.99 per year, is required. See also: The Microsoft Office Mobile App For iPhone Is Now Free For Home Users and That's Right, Microsoft Is Paying Apple 30 Percent Of All Office 365 iPad Subscriptions.