Office 365 AI & You - Microsoft Word Ideas

The new Microsoft Word AI feature Ideas packs a punch: Finally, Word can now do more than just improve on grammar and spelling! Is Artificial Intelligence able to make your texts more impactful? Our expert takes a closer look at the handy tool.

“Why do you need the latest version of Word if 1.0 is perfectly sufficient?” - I hear this kind of claim again and again.

It’s true in a way – at least if you only need a simple text editor. Get rid of the odd careless mistake or add some punctuation here or there. Word has been taking care of that for years. And experienced authors may not even want Word to do anything else. After all, writing is their expertise, and they don’t want artificial intelligence meddling with their business.

But probably you don’t work full-time as an author. If that’s the case, the new Ideas feature can make your work at the computer a whole lot more efficient.

Ideas is a new feature within Microsoft Word Online. You might say it’s a text editor+, whereby the plus sign stands for support from artificial intelligence (AI).

Even while you are writing, Word Ideas suggests how you can use simpler structures that make your text easier to understand and more precise. One example: The program indicates the estimated reading time, instead of just showing the word count.

There is also a function that helps you to convert text into a gender-neutral form.

A new help function in Word Ideas (Word AI) explains acronyms or ‘translates’ impenetrable jargon. You can also add acronyms from your company, which are imported from Microsoft Graph.

What do you prefer reading: A well-structured text with paragraphs of varying lengths? Or an A4 page with the words crammed together without a hint of punctuation?

Thought so. Short, memorable sentences are in short supply in the business world. Often you have to wade your way through the documents.

But thanks to Word Ideas, help is at hand if you get lost in endless, meandering sentences. The program is able to recognize the key arguments contained in a text, which it then automatically assembles in short paragraphs that are perfect for speed reading. This way you can obtain the vital information in a fraction of the time.

Word Ideas will only be available to Office 365 Word Online users. Microsoft has not yet announced whether an integration within the Office 365 ProPlus version is planned.

Users of the Office Insider program will be able to test the feature from around June 2019. It is scheduled to go on general release for all Office 365/ Microsoft 365 subscribers in fall 2019.

The AI add-on for Word turns the text editor into a weapon for office workers. Anyone who deals with longer documents on a regular basis will be able to save a few minutes or even hours every week thanks to Ideas – time that can be better invested elsewhere.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can therefore help to boost productivity in everyday office life. But only if you use it correctly – and I’ll be too glad to help!