Microsoft Office Mobile
Encyclopedia
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 PC
s 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.
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. Accompanying the release of Microsoft OneNote 2007, a new optional addition to the Office Mobile line of programs was released as OneNote Mobile. 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. 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. Office Mobile 6.1 is compatible with the Office Open XML specification like its desktop counterpart.
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
.
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 file
s. 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. 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. Additionally, Word Mobile includes a spell checker
, word count
tool, and a "Find and Replace" command. Footnote
s, endnotes
, headers
, footers, page break
s, certain indentation
of lists, and certain font
s, 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.
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. As a means of dealing with limited screen resolution, Excel Mobile also has the ability to use a full-screen mode. In addition, it supports filtering of data and split panes to view different parts of a worksheet at one time. 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. Microsoft dropped password protection to Excel Mobile after Pocket PC 2000.
capable of reading presentation documents from Microsoft PowerPoint
. Unlike Word and Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile is unable to create or edit new documents. Although essentially only a PowerPoint viewer, PowerPoint Mobile also allows for a zooming option to deal with limited screen resolution.
program that synchronizes with Microsoft OneNote. 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 hyperlink
s within documents. Pictures and audio recordings may be taken directly from within the program using a built-in camera and microphone respectively.
. 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.
Office suite
In computing, an office suite, sometimes called an office software suite or productivity suite is a collection of programs intended to be used by knowledge workers...
by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
for Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
and Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
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
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
of the office suite. Office Mobile originally debuted as Pocket Office on Windows CE 1.0
Windows CE
Microsoft Windows CE is an operating system developed by Microsoft for embedded systems. Windows CE is a distinct operating system and kernel, rather than a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows...
Handheld PC
Handheld PC
A Handheld PC, or H/PC for short, is a term for a computer built around a form factor which is smaller than any standard laptop computer. It is sometimes referred to as a Palmtop. The first handheld device compatible with desktop IBM personal computers of the time was the Atari Portfolio of 1989...
s 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
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
. Microsoft also released OneNote Mobile for iOS on the App Store on January 18, 2011.
History
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 SmartphoneSmartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
and Pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
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. Accompanying the release of Microsoft OneNote 2007, a new optional addition to the Office Mobile line of programs was released as OneNote Mobile. 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. 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. Office Mobile 6.1 is compatible with the Office Open XML specification like its desktop counterpart.
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
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
.
Word Mobile
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 processorWord processing
Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter.-External links:...
program with similar functions to its desktop counterpart, Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
. Word Mobile allows for basic formatting of documents, and has the ability to save documents in multiple formats including Rich Text Format
Rich Text Format
The Rich Text Format is a proprietary document file format with published specification developed by Microsoft Corporation since 1987 for Microsoft products and for cross-platform document interchange....
, Microsoft's DOC format
DOC (computing)
In computing, DOC or doc is a filename extension for word processing documents; most commonly for Microsoft Word. Historically, the extension was used for documentation in plain-text format, particularly of programs or computer hardware, on a wide range of operating systems...
for reading on desktop versions of Word, and simple Text file
Text file
A text file is a kind of computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines of electronic text. A text file exists within a computer file system...
s. 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. 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. Additionally, Word Mobile includes a spell checker
Spell checker
In computing, a spell checker is an application program that flags words in a document that may not be spelled correctly. Spell checkers may be stand-alone capable of operating on a block of text, or as part of a larger application, such as a word processor, email client, electronic dictionary,...
, word count
Word count
The word count is the number of words in a document or passage of text. Word counting may be needed when a text is required to stay within certain numbers of words. This may particularly be the case in academia, legal proceedings, journalism and advertising. Word count is commonly used by...
tool, and a "Find and Replace" command. Footnote
Footnote
A note is a string of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document or at the end of a text. The note can provide an author's comments on the main text or citations of a reference work in support of the text, or both...
s, endnotes
Footnote
A note is a string of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document or at the end of a text. The note can provide an author's comments on the main text or citations of a reference work in support of the text, or both...
, headers
Page header
A page header or simply header in typography is text which is separated from the main body of text and appears at the top of a printed page...
, footers, page break
Page Break
A page break is a marker in an electronic document that tells the document interpreter that the content which follows is part of a new page. A page break causes a form feed to be sent to the printer during spooling of the document to the printer.-Form feed:...
s, certain indentation
Indentation
An indentation may refer to:* A notch, or deep recesses; for instance in a coastline, or a carving in rock* The placement of text farther to the right to separate it from surrounding text....
of lists, and certain font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
s, 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.
Excel Mobile
Like Word Mobile, Excel Mobile was one of the original programs included in Office Mobile at its release. It is a spreadsheetSpreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells usually in a two-dimensional matrix or grid consisting of rows and columns. Each cell contains alphanumeric text, numeric values or formulas...
program that is compatible with Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...
, 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. As a means of dealing with limited screen resolution, Excel Mobile also has the ability to use a full-screen mode. In addition, it supports filtering of data and split panes to view different parts of a worksheet at one time. 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. Microsoft dropped password protection to Excel Mobile after Pocket PC 2000.
PowerPoint Mobile
PowerPoint Mobile was included with the release of the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system. It is a presentation programPresentation program
A presentation program is a computer software package used to display information, normally in the form of a slide show...
capable of reading presentation documents from Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint, usually just called PowerPoint, is a non-free commercial presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X operating system...
. Unlike Word and Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile is unable to create or edit new documents. Although essentially only a PowerPoint viewer, PowerPoint Mobile also allows for a zooming option to deal with limited screen resolution.
OneNote Mobile
Originally released with the Microsoft office 2003, OneNote Mobile is a notetakingNotetaking
Notetaking is the practice of recording information captured from a transient source, such as an oral discussion at a meeting, or a lecture. Notes of a meeting are usually called minutes. The format of the initial record may often be informal and/or unstructured. One common format for such notes is...
program that synchronizes with Microsoft OneNote. 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 hyperlink
Hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
s within documents. Pictures and audio recordings may be taken directly from within the program using a built-in camera and microphone respectively.
Outlook Mobile
Outlook Mobile is a personal information managerPersonal information manager
A personal information manager is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. The acronym PIM is now, more commonly, used in reference to Personal information management as a field of study...
. 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
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, appointments, contacts, and tasks from the desktop version
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
of Outlook. It is not compatible with Windows Calendar
Windows Calendar
Windows Calendar is a calendar application that is included with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. It natively supports the iCalendar file format, and has the ability to publish and subscribe to web-based calendars by using HTTP and WebDAV...
, Windows Mail
Windows Mail
Windows Mail is an email and newsgroup client included in Windows Vista, that was superseded by Windows Live Mail. It is the successor to Outlook Express. Microsoft previewed Windows Mail on Channel 9 on October 10, 2005....
, or Windows Contacts
Windows Contacts
Windows Contacts is a contact manager which is included in Windows Vista and Windows 7 which replaced and retained most of the functionality of Windows Address Book. Windows Mail integrates with it. Windows Contacts uses a new XML-based schema format where each contact appears as an...
. Outlook Mobile is also capable of bypassing synchronization with its desktop counterpart by interacting directly with Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
. This direct interaction allows for an always-on E-mail connection, commonly referred to as Push e-mail
Push e-mail
Push email is used to describe email systems that provide an always-on capability, in which new email is actively transferred as it arrives by the mail delivery agent to the mail user agent , also called the email client...
. Push e-mail is also available to users with a Windows Live Hotmail account while logged onto Windows Live
Windows Live
Windows Live is the collective brand name for a set of services and software products from Microsoft, part of their software plus services platform. A majority of these services are Web applications, accessible from a browser, but there are also client-side binary applications that require...
via their phone.
Messaging
Outlook Mobile's Messaging application includes the following features:- Push e-mailPush e-mailPush email is used to describe email systems that provide an always-on capability, in which new email is actively transferred as it arrives by the mail delivery agent to the mail user agent , also called the email client...
using Microsoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products... - Microsoft OutlookMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
folder synchronization - SMSShort message serviceShort Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
messaging on phones - MMSMultimedia Messaging ServiceMultimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from...
messaging on phones - Windows Live HotmailHotmailWindows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...
support - POPPost Office ProtocolIn computing, the Post Office Protocol is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern...
support - IMAPInternet Message Access ProtocolInternet message access protocol is one of the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval, the other being the Post Office Protocol...
support - E-mail attachmentE-mail attachmentAn email attachment is a computer file sent along with an email message. One or more files can be attached to any email message, and be sent along with it to the recipient. This is typically used as a simple method to share documents and images...
support - HTML e-mailHTML e-mailHTML email is the use of a subset of HTML to provide formatting and semantic markup capabilities in email that are not available with plain text.Most graphical email clients support HTML email, and many default to it...
support - ExchangeMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
searching
Calendar
Outlook Mobile's Calendar application includes the following features:- vCalVCalvCal is an open source calendar standard for Vision PIM. VCal can export itself to an RSS/RDF/WDP feed or publish itself to the internet using WebDAV and PHP. It can be exported to the iCalendar or vCalendar formats as well...
support - Agenda, Day and Monthviews
- Category support
- Microsoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
support - Reminders and Alarms
Contacts
Outlook Mobile's Contacts application includes the following features:- vCardVCardvCard is a file format standard for electronic business cards. vCards are often attached to e-mail messages, but can be exchanged in other ways, such as on the World Wide Web or Instant Messaging...
support - Category support
- Contact searching
- ExchangeMicrosoft Exchange ServerMicrosoft Exchange Server is the server side of a client–server, collaborative application product developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Servers line of server products and is used by enterprises using Microsoft infrastructure products...
searching - Contact photos
- Ringtone assignment for contacts on phones
Tasks
Outlook Mobile's Tasks application includes the following features:- Category support
- Priority status of tasks
- Sensitivity status of tasks
- Reminders
See also
- Microsoft OfficeMicrosoft OfficeMicrosoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
- Pocket PCPocket PCA Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
- SmartphoneSmartphoneA smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
- Windows MobileWindows MobileWindows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
- Comparison of office suites