| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Initial release | April 2000 |
| Stable release | 2010 / May 12, 2010 |
| Operating system | Windows Phone 7, Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Symbian OS (announced), iOS |
| Platform | Handheld PC, Smartphone, Pocket PC |
| Type | Office suite |
| License | Proprietary EULA |
| Website | Microsoft Office Mobile |
Microsoft Office Mobile is an office suite by Microsoft for Windows Phone 7 and Windows Mobile Professional, Classic, and Standard editions. It consists of Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, OneNote Mobile, and Outlook Mobile. It is meant to be compatible with desktop versions of the office suite. Office Mobile originally debuted as Pocket Office on Windows CE 1.0 Handheld PCs in 1996. It has since been updated several times. The latest version, Microsoft Office Mobile 2010, was released on October 21, 2010 with the initial launch of Windows Phone 7. Microsoft also released OneNote Mobile for iOS on the App Store on January 18, 2011.[1]
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Office Mobile originally shipped as "Pocket Office", and was released by Microsoft with the Windows CE 1.0 operating system in 1996. This release was specifically for the Handheld PC hardware platform, as Microsoft's Smartphone and Pocket PC hardware specifications had not yet been released. It consisted of Pocket Word and Pocket Excel; PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook were added later. With steady updates throughout subsequent releases of Windows Mobile, Office Mobile was rebranded as its current name after the release of the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. This release of Office Mobile also included PowerPoint Mobile for the first time.[2] Accompanying the release of Microsoft OneNote 2007, a new optional addition to the Office Mobile line of programs was released as OneNote Mobile.[3] With the release of Windows Mobile 6 Standard, Office Mobile became available for the Smartphone hardware platform, however unlike Office Mobile for the Professional and Classic versions of Windows Mobile, creation of new documents is not an added feature.[4] A popular workaround is to create a new blank document in a desktop version of Office, synchronize it to the device, and then edit and save on the Windows Mobile device.
In June 2007, Microsoft announced a new version of the office suite, Office Mobile 2007. It became available as "Office Mobile 6.1" on September 26, 2007 as a free upgrade download to current Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6 users. However, "Office Mobile 6.1 Upgrade" is not compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0 powered devices running builds earlier than 14847. It will also be a pre-installed feature in subsequent releases of Windows Mobile 6 devices.[5] Office Mobile 6.1 is compatible with the Office Open XML specification like its desktop counterpart.[5]
On August 12, 2009, it was announced that Office Mobile would also be released for the Symbian OS platform as a joint agreement between Microsoft and Nokia.[6]
Word Mobile, originally called Pocket Word, has been included with the Office Mobile suite since the release of the Handheld PC in 1996. It is a word processor program with similar functions to its desktop counterpart, Microsoft Word. Word Mobile allows for basic formatting of documents, and has the ability to save documents in multiple formats including Rich Text Format, Microsoft's DOC format for reading on desktop versions of Word, and simple Text files. While it is possible to open legacy PSW (Pocket Word) files on the current version of Word Mobile, such files must be saved as another supported format.[7] Word Mobile also allows for insertion of pictures, lists, and tables to documents, however pictures must be added on the desktop version of Word, and cannot be moved with copy/paste.[8] Additionally, Word Mobile includes a spell checker, word count tool, and a "Find and Replace" command. Footnotes, endnotes, headers, footers, page breaks, certain indentation of lists, and certain fonts, while not displayed nor able to be inserted while working on a document in Word Mobile, such features are retained if the original document has them.[7]
Like Word Mobile, Excel Mobile was one of the original programs included in Office Mobile at its release. It is a spreadsheet program that is compatible with Microsoft Excel, and can create, open, edit, and save in Microsoft's '.xls' spreadsheet format. Excel Mobile allows for formatting of cells, basic calculations of formulas, and the creation of charts or graphs.[9] As a means of dealing with limited screen resolution, Excel Mobile also has the ability to use a full-screen mode.[9] In addition, it supports filtering of data and split panes to view different parts of a worksheet at one time.[10] Protection settings, zoom settings, autofilter settings, certain chart formatting, hidden sheets, and other features are not supported on Excel Mobile, and will be modified upon opening and saving a workbook.[11] Microsoft dropped password protection to Excel Mobile after Pocket PC 2000.
PowerPoint Mobile was included with the release of the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. It is a presentation program capable of reading presentation documents from Microsoft PowerPoint. Unlike Word and Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile is unable to create or edit new documents.[12] Although essentially only a PowerPoint viewer, PowerPoint Mobile also allows for a zooming option to deal with limited screen resolution.[13]
Originally released with the Microsoft office 2003, OneNote Mobile is a notetaking program that synchronizes with Microsoft OneNote.[3] OneNote Mobile allows for basic formatting of text, the insertion of media such as pictures or audio recordings, creation of lists, and the use of hyperlinks within documents.[14] Pictures and audio recordings may be taken directly from within the program using a built-in camera and microphone respectively.
Outlook Mobile is a personal information manager. Unlike the rest of the Office Mobile suite, Outlook Mobile does not consist of a single application on the Windows Mobile platform, and instead has several separate programs: Messaging, Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks. It synchronizes e-mail, appointments, contacts, and tasks from the desktop version of Outlook. It is not compatible with Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, or Windows Contacts. Outlook Mobile is also capable of bypassing synchronization with its desktop counterpart by interacting directly with Microsoft Exchange Server. This direct interaction allows for an always-on E-mail connection, commonly referred to as Push e-mail. Push e-mail is also available to users with a Windows Live Hotmail account while logged onto Windows Live via their phone.
Outlook Mobile's Messaging application includes the following features:
Outlook Mobile's Calendar application includes the following features:
Outlook Mobile's Contacts application includes the following features:
Outlook Mobile's Tasks application includes the following features:
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