Microsoft today released updates to its suite of Office apps for iPad, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Notably, Excel for iPad now supports Split View, which allows you to open two spreadsheets simultaneously side-by-side to view and edit. Word and PowerPoint received support for Split View in May 2020.
Split View can be accessed by touching and holding on a spreadsheet document in any file view and then dragging it to the left or right side of the screen. To exit Split View, grab the slider in the middle of the screen and drag it to either the left or right to close one of the spreadsheet documents and take the remaining one full-screen.
Meanwhile in PowerPoint, users can now rehearse their presentations with the new Presenter Coach feature, which offers feedback on the things that keep an audience engaged, such as pacing, pitch, filler words, sensitive phrases, and more.
Microsoft has also been working to implement full support for the iPadOS trackpad controls that were introduced in iPadOS 13.4, and the latest version of Word (2.45) does just that. Following the update, users can connect a trackpad and mouse to their iPad to interact with documents. Keyboards with trackpads include Apple's Magic Keyboard and Brydge's Pro+ for the iPad Pro and Logitech's Combo for the 10.2-inch iPad and the 10.5-inch iPad Air.
Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below.
Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors.
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Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas.
The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
One thing worth...
Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:21 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of macOS Tahoe 26.1, which means the update will likely see a public launch next week.
The release candidate includes notes on what's in the update, so we have a full picture of the new features that Apple has included.
macOS Tahoe 26.1 adds AutoMix support over AirPlay, improved FaceTime audio...
Wednesday October 29, 2025 7:13 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out.
Processor and Performance
Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to...
Tuesday October 28, 2025 5:27 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is preparing to bring support for its digital car key feature to Jetour vehicles, according to evidence uncovered on Apple's backend by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris.
Introduced in 2022, Car Keys allows an iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock a vehicle through the Wallet app. A digital version of a car key is stored in Wallet, and unlocking can be done by holding an Apple Watch or...
trackpad on the ipad is so stupid. doesn't belong on a touch first device.
i knew arm MacBooks were coming out (redesigned ones are coming soon that will be far lighter and thinner than an iPad Pro with magic keyboard attached) and have said it before it even came out: you don't need a cursor on an iPad.
Totally disagree. I use my iPad 12.9 Pro with Magic Keyboard for almost everything for work and home. Barely use my work laptop. Have trackpad and touch is awesome. I am sure you are in the minority here, but that is why we have choices. :)
Totally disagree. I use my iPad 12.9 Pro with Magic Keyboard for almost everything for work and home. Barely use my work laptop. Have trackpad and touch is awesome. I am sure you are in the minority here, but that is why we have choices. :)
I agree - a touchscreen is fine for many applications, and probably better for some; but a mouse/trackpad and cursor make using the iPad much more viable as a laptop replacement for many use cases.
excel still cannot handle date before 1900? shame on microsoft!
Is this a joke?
No. if you are doing analysis or work that includes dates prior to 1900 you cannot easily calculate durations, sort, etc. Granted it is a bit of an edge case but still highlights how decisions made in development (computers are a new phenomena so if develop a date code structure that starts in 1900 we'll be fine) impact software usability.
The problem is edge cases are often written off as low probability events and thus not worth addressing; I has a situation where emergency parameter logging software was not programmed to allow for daylight savings time switches, so when we has an emergency and the computer automatically adjusted for DST, the logging software went haywire. When we asked the developers about this, they said we figured the chance a serious event would occur at that exact time was too small to worry about; well guess what?
This was announced many months ago and shipped the 17th of december as per: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/microsoft-updates-office-apps-for-ipad-with-mouse-and-trackpad-support.2263715/post-29405848
Regarding Word and trackpad: anyone notice a difference in capabilities or handling compared to 2.44? I don't see any at first glance, trackpad integration was already offered with 2.44 ....
I don’t think this is a new feature to 2.45. I think MS just repeats the same recently added major features for a few updates for those who don’t update as often.
