Microsoft Brings Preview Versions of Office 2016 to the Windows Store

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With the release today of the Windows 10 S-based Surface Laptop, Microsoft has brought preview versions of Office 2016 to the Windows Store as well.

“Windows 10 S runs the rich desktop Office apps including popular productivity apps like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook,” Microsoft notes. “The full suite of Office apps in preview are currently available to download today with Office 365 in the Windows Store for Windows 10 S. On Surface Laptop, you can simply open the Start menu and click on any of the Office app icons like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint to launch the download from the Store.”

In the off chance you’re not aware of what this all means, Surface Laptop is the first PC to ship with Windows 10 S, Microsoft’s restrictive new version of Windows. Excluding the apps bundled in-box, Windows 10 S only runs Windows Store apps, meaning that you can’t install traditional desktop applications like Chrome, iTunes, or Photoshop. But that means you can’t install Office 2016 either, since that suite of applications is designed for desktop PC technologies.

But as Microsoft revealed at the Surface Laptop announcement a month ago, it is bringing those applications to the Windows Store via its Desktop Bridge (“Centennial”) technologies. But this will happen over time, with just four apps today—Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2016—in preview, and as part of Office 365 Personal and Home bundles. (Office 365 for Education Plus and Office 365 Education E5 are coming, too. And Office 365 plans for business customers will also be supported started in 2018.)

Over time, more desktop apps in the Office 2016 suite will be added to the Windows Store, Microsoft says. (It has committed to at least Access, OneNote, and Publisher 2016.) And Microsoft will make standalone Office 2016 suites, like Office Home & Student 2016 and Office Home & Business 2016 available over time. These other apps, suites, and Office 365 bundles should all be out of preview later this year or by early 2018.

For more information, please refer to Microsoft’s Office on Windows 10 S FAQ, which notes a few interesting tidbits:

• During the preview period, customers who buy a Surface Laptop (or, later, a Surface Pro) with Windows 10 S will get one year free of Office 365 Personal, a $70 value.
• If you already have an Office 365 Home subscription, you can use the free Office 365 Personal offer to extend your existing subscription by 9 months.
• Over time, the Office 2016 apps in the Store will be made available to customers in all markets supported by the Windows Store.
• The Office 2016 apps in the Store do not currently support Office 365 business plans or volume licenses. (Again, that is coming in 2018.)
• The Office 2016 apps in the Store are of course the 32-bit versions that we all use today because they are compatible with a broad range of Office add-ins. (Older COM-based add-ins are not supported, however.)
• Windows 10 S users can, of course, use the Office Mobile apps if they’d like. OneNote Mobile is included as part of all Windows 10 product editions, including Windows 10 S.

Microsoft Office 2017 Product Key Free Full Version

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Microsoft Office 2017 Product Key is the newest individual applications that you recognize and enjoy. It allows newer editions of MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint and MS Outlook with cloud services that give you the office whenever and wherever you require. Simply log on and you can go to your Office files, applications, and settings from anywhere.Microsoft Office contains the touch capability to offer fine work in Windows 10 for their customers. It also offers a new phase of cooperation. It has full email serviceable with integrated calendar, Internet access.

MS Office 2017 will bring all-time reception your data smooth in the classroom or on the travel. Quick Start and then refining your work with new tools. So you can read the screen effortlessly. You can work more simply by it.

Microsoft Office 2017 Keygen has a variety of training route and video tutorials, information base and FAQ sections for Microsoft Office users. The program itself has a complete integrated help section, greatly reducing the need to seek outside help through the official website of the company.

Microsoft supplies a variety of methods to communicate with his support team directly, including instant chat, conversation forums, phone support and a comments portal comments and inquiries.

Microsoft Office 2017 License Key has been an integral division of the work of further than a decade. The proposal of an MS Web Conferencing tool within MS Office and its faultless assimilation with the desktop software looks the perfect web conferencing solution. The idea of gives this newest version an advance in the line of MS Office products.

It has all the standard tools with multi-device support and online storage, the new office is made to deal with all achievable requires of the users by provided that six diverse products, one-time procurement services, and subscription.

Microsoft Office 2017 has created a multi-user, multi-device suite that permits you to the right to use your documents and all of your information while on the go as if you were sitting down in face of your home office.

What facility Microsoft Office 2017 will provide you?

The look and feel of all those well-known applications have been redesigned to look more Windows 10, even if they continue to follow the ribbon interface design. Lines were making softer, the main menu selections were capitalized for enhanced visibility, and new options have been perfectly integrated into the previous layout of different applications to avoid traumatic changes.

Overall, the new interfaces for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and etc. look rather lighter while keeping a ribbon structure which is still too new to be replaced. MS Office needs to change all assumptions you had about this suite of tools. Times are modifying, “and thus office and the entire perception of mobile business, cloud computing, online storage, and company privacy.

What are new features of Microsoft Office 2017 latest version:

• No VPN necessary for contacting from anyplace.
• Provide new security strategies.
• New MS Office available On Mobile and Tablet.
• Provide the installation of MS Hosting.
• Now can run any time everyplace on any device.
• Word Excel PowerPoint One Note.
• You can carry your business and personal documentation with you when you travel.
• Multi-device hold.
• Carry multi-user load.
• Online storage.
• Your desktop applications are frequently and routinely updated.
• A high level of flexibility.

Microsoft Office 2017 Product Key:

• FCMXC-RDWMP-RFGVD-8TGPD-VQQ2X
• B9GN2-DXXQC-9DHKT-GGWCR-4X6XK
• MT7YN-TMV9C-7DDX9-64W77-B7R4D

Microsoft Office 2017 License Key:

• P8TFP-JGFMM-XPV3X-3FQM2-8K4RP
• H746C-BM4VK-TZBB8-MVZH8-FXR32

Office 365 vs. Office 2016: Which Is Cheaper in the Long Run?

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Many have derided Microsoft’s decision to offer the subscription-based Office 365 next to Office 2016, but I think it’s great. Contrary to what most think, Office 365 is not a greed-driven move to wring more cash out of gullible users. The two serve different audiences, and they both provide value.

But which one is the better value?

In this post, we’ll compare Office 365 to Office 2016 and help you decide which one is actually more cost-effective for your needs. For the comparisons, we’ll be using the cheaper year-to-year plans instead of the month-to-month plans because there aren’t many situations where you’d only need Office for a month.

Key Differences in Office 365 vs. Office 2016

The two varieties of Microsoft Office are fundamentally different in terms of what you’re buying, who can use the apps, and how long you get to keep access.

Office 365 is a per-user subscription. Not only can you install the Office apps like you would normally, you can install them on as many devices as you want: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, etc. All installed apps are tied to your account. All apps receive updates while your subscription remains active.

Office 2016 is a per-PC one-time purchase. You purchase a single suite of apps that can only be installed on one machine, but anyone who has access to that machine can use the Office apps. The installations are not tied to an account. Future versions of Office will still need to be bought as they are released

Value Comparison for Home Users

As a home user, you have four potential options:

• Office 365 Personal ($70 per year)
• Office 365 Home ($100 per year)
• Office 2016 Home & Student ($150 one-time purchase)
• Office 2016 Home & Business ($230 one-time purchase)

What You Get With Office 365

If you opt for Office 365, the main difference is that the Personal plan is for one user while the Home plan is for five users. They both come with seven Office apps in desktop and mobile versions with no limitations or restrictions:

• Word 2016
• Excel 2016
• PowerPoint 2016
• Outlook 2016
• OneNote 2016
• Publisher 2016 (PC only)
• Access 2016 (PC only)

The Office 365 plans also come with OneDrive and Skype. If you’re on the Home plan, these benefits apply to each of the five users:

• 1 TB of OneDrive storage (compared to 5 GB for free users)
• 1 hour of Skype credit per month

What You Get With Office 2016

On the other hand, you don’t get nearly as much with either version of Office 2016. You get up to five desktop Office apps but none of their mobile versions, and you miss out on the extra OneDrive storage and Skype minutes. The five Office apps you get:

• Word 2016
• Excel 2016
• PowerPoint 2016
• OneNote 2016
• Outlook 2016 (Home & Business version only)

In essence, Outlook 2016 costs $80.

To equalize Office 2016 with Office 365, you’d need to purchase Publisher 2016 ($110) and Access 2016 ($110) separately in the Microsoft Store, as well as a OneDrive plan and Skype credits. Note that OneDrive only offers a 50 GB storage-only plan, so that’s what we’ll use.The previously-available 100 GB and 200 GB plans are gone. The 1 TB plan is only available with Office 365.

Note that mainstream support for Office 2016 ends in October 2020 (i.e. stops receiving feature and performance updates) and extended support for Office 2016 ends in October 2025 (i.e. stops receiving security and reliability patches). Keep this in mind as you’ll probably want to upgrade to the next version of Office around then.

Over 1 Year

Office 365 Personal costs $70 for one user.

Office 365 Home costs $100 for five users.

Office 2016 Home & Student costs $150 for one PC. OneDrive 50 GB costs $24 for one year. Skype costs about $17 for 12 hours. Total cost is $191 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (or $411 with Publisher and Access).

Office 2016 Home & Business costs $230 for one PC. Same annual costs for OneDrive and Skype. Total cost is $271 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook (or $491 with Publisher and Access).

Over 5 Years

Office 365 Personal costs $350 for one user.

Office 365 Home costs $500 for five users.

Office 2016 Home & Student costs $150 for one PC. OneDrive 50 GB costs $120 for five years. Skype costs about $85 for 60 hours. Total cost is $355 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (or $575 with Publisher and Access).

Office 2016 Home & Business costs $230 for one PC. Same annual costs for OneDrive and Skype. Total cost is $435 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook (or $655 with Publisher and Access).

Over 10 Years

Office 365 Personal costs $700 for one user.

Office 365 Home costs $1,000 for five users.

Office 2016 Home & Student costs $150 for one PC. OneDrive 50 GB costs $240 for 10 years. Skype costs about $170 for 120 hours. Total cost is $560 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (or $780 with Publisher and Access). Want to upgrade after five years? Add another $150.

Office 2016 Home & Business costs $230 for one PC. Same annual costs for OneDrive and Skype. Total cost is $640 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook (or $860 with Publisher and Access). Want to upgrade after five years? Add another $230.

Final Verdicts on Office 365 vs. Office 2016

If you only need Word, Excel, and/or PowerPoint:

• Office 365 is best value for one year.
• Office 2016 Home & Student is best value for five or 10 years.

If you only need Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook:

• Office 365 is best value for one year.
• Office 2016 Home & Business is best value for five or 10 years.

If you also need Publisher and Access without OneDrive or Skype:

• Office 365 is best value for one year.
• Both are about the same for five years.
• Office 2016 is best value for 10 years.

If you also need OneDrive or Skype without Publisher or Access:

• Office 365 is best value for one year.
• Without Outlook, both are about the same for five years. With Outlook, Office 365 is best value for five years.
• Office 2016 is best value for 10 years. Unless you upgrade at the five year mark, in which case Office 2016 is only better value without Outlook.

• 
  

6 Ways You Can Use Microsoft Office Without Paying For It

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Microsoft Office remains the gold standard in office applications. Sure, Office alternatives exist, but Microsoft’s file formats dominate. People with access to Office tend to have an easier time than those who lack it, because while alternatives like LibreOffice can export to .doc or .xls, the formatting isn’t 100% compatible.

Still, many people flinch at buying Office because it’s expensive. A home version is $99, which is significant to most consumers. There are a few ways to dodge to the retail price and use Office for free, however – within limits.

Use Office Online

Microsoft itself offers a collection of free Office utilities formerly known as Office Web Apps and now called Office Online. They are essentially browser-based versions of the latest Office suite. You can use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint without paying a dime.

Restrictions apply, of course. The online versions only provide the most basic features of each respective application. Word Online, for example, does not include text boxes, WordArt, equations, charts and more. You can still write a term paper, but you won’t be able to compile a company report.

Still, the web versions can open, save to and print Microsoft’s popular file formats with accuracy, which is what most will probably use them for. Users who only need Office to print or send documents once every few months, yet still need reliable formatting, finally have a solution.

Use Office Mobile

Office Mobile is basically the mobile version of Office Online. Originally available for Windows Phone, the suite can now be used on Android and iPad as well. The same core apps of Word, Excel and Powerpoint are represented, along with OneNote and OneDrive, which aren’t bound to Office, but complete the package.

Most of these apps are available to download and use for free and have restrictions similar to their Office Online counterparts. Basic tasks can be completed with ease but more advanced formatting options are not present. However, the iPad version requires a Microsoft Office 365 subscription to edit documents.

Sign Up For The Office 365 Trial

Microsoft has made many changes to Office in its latest edition, Office 365, so you may want to give it a spin before buying/subscribing. Microsoft provides that opportunity with a free one-month trial.

Like most trials of subscription services, you’ll need to enter payment information and you will be charged if you continue beyond your free month. With that said, though, this 30-day trial is the easiest way to try the current version of Office and the quickest way to obtain full access if you need it in a pinch.

Then Sign Up For The Office Professional Plus Trial

Done with your Office 365 trial, but not ready to pay up just yet? There’s one more place you can turn. Microsoft offers a trial of Office Professional Plus 2013 that lasts 60 days. The package is aimed at business users, but offers everything a home user would expect.

Unlike the other trial, this one does not require payment information. You do have to provide some information about your “business” but don’t worry – Microsoft isn’t going to check up on you. Speaking of checks, be sure to un-check the boxes that give Microsoft permission to contact you regarding promotions.

Buy Hardware With Office Bundled

Office is not bundled with desktop computers but there are a few other devices that provide a free version of office. Here are your options.

Select convertibles: A few small convertibles, like the Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 10 and Asus Transformer Book T100, come with Microsoft Office Home & Student 2013 installed.

Select laptops: Microsoft sometimes runs a limited-time offer that bundles Office with a select laptop. The current offer provides a free version of Office University to students who buy a certain Toshiba touchscreen laptop at Staples.

Ask Your School Or Employer

Everything I’ve covered so far allows you to grab Office for free, but also comes with limitations, such as availability, functionality or a need to buy new hardware. There may, however, be a way to grab Office for free with no strings attached.

This chance may come from your employer or, if you’re a student, the school you attend. Many companies offer a low-cost or no-cost version of Office for a fairly obvious reason; the people working or studying there need it. Academic institutions often participate in Microsoft’s DreamSpark program (formerly MSDNAA), allowing them to offer professional software to their students and employees for free.

Not every employer or college provides this chance, of course, but it’s worth looking into before you go elsewhere. You may find Office is readily available for free or, if not free, at a very drastic discount.

Conclusion

Grabbing a full version of Office for free may not be possible for some, but at the least you can expect to use it for 90 days by checking out the Office 365 and Office Professional Plus trials. Throw Office Online into the mix and you’ve got a nice selection of options. Users not worried about document formatting and printing may never need to buy the full edition.

How to Legally Download Office 2016 & 2013 Free From Microsoft

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If you own a product key for Microsoft Office, but don’t have the installation files available, it’s really simple to download them direct from Microsoft. Whether Office was included with your system purchase, you’ve lost the disc, or just want a copy of the files, we’ll show you the different methods available.

Don’t forget that if you have an Office 365 subscription, you’re entitled to Office 2016 for free. Regardless, these steps will work, whether you’re on the latest auto-updated version or the slightly older Office 2013

If you think we’ve missed a legal method to download Office for free from Microsoft, please do share it in the comments.

How to Obtain Legal Office Installation Files

1. From an Office 365 Subscription

If you have an active Office 365 subscription, you’re entitled to download the full versions of some of the most popular Office applications, like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This is also applicable if your business has an Enterprise license.

Navigate to the Office account page and log in with the email address your Office license is tied to, whether that’s a personal or organization account. Fill out your details, click Sign in, and click Install Office to navigate to your account. To begin the download click Install.

An alternative method would be to go to your account page, where you can choose to purchase a disc, and have it shipped to you, or alternatively you can download an ISO which you can burn to a disc yourself.

Installation Process

The installation process will be essentially the same across all the methods. It’s incredibly simple and quick. First, open the installation file from the disc or download. A window will appear to detail that Office is being installed.

When complete, a message will read “You’re all set! Office is installed now” and you’ll see an animation of where to find the Office programs on your computer. It’ll depend on your operating system exactly where they are stored, but they will be in the Start Menu and you can always do a Windows system search if needed.

When you open an Office program for the first time, it will ask you to agree to the license agreement, so click Accept if you do. You might also see the Microsoft Office Activation Wizard; follow the instructions for this. It’s always best to select I want to activate the software over the Internet for the speediest activation.

Not Free Enough?

These methods are all well and good if you already own Office, but perhaps you’re looking for a free Office alternative. If that’s the case, check out our guide on how to get Word for free – and yes, it’s completely legal!

If you need a full office suite package and aren’t willing to pay out, you might want to look into alternative products. We’ve rounded up some comparisons that you should read, like our review of FreeOffice and analysis of the new LibreOffice.

Office 2016 for Mac now supports Touch Bar on new Apple MacBook Pro

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When Apple announced the newest version of its MacBook Pro back in 2016, the most exciting new feature turned out to be the Touch Bar. It’s a small touchscreen area below the main screen that can be used in conjunction with the keyboard to perform several tasks.

It didn’t take very long for Microsoft to come out in support of the Touch Bar, as the company announced that its Office products for the Mac would make use of it in the future. Well, that future has come, but only for those who are a part of the Office Insider program.

Here’s a short rundown of what’s new, according to Microsoft:

“Help us shape the future of Office: Become an Office Insider on your iPhone and iPad, get early access to new Office releases, and tell us what you think. To apply, click here. Touch Bar support on the new MacBook Pro: The most relevant commands to what you’re working on are at your fingertips. (Compatible with MacBook Pro with Touch Bar only.)”

According to the company, Office Insiders in the slow ring will be able to test the new Touch Bar features across products such as Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook.

What Will Users Be Able To Do?

In Microsoft Word, users will have the option to activate the Focus Mode directly from the Touch Bar. Furthermore, it should also be possible to change font styles and document format. When it comes down to PowerPoint, users should see a graphical slider of all slides, giving them the option to reorder from the Touch Bar instead of using the mouse and keyboard.

As for Excel, users can select recently used color cells and functions. Not only that, they can pick out charts as well. From our point of view, Excel’s Touch Bar features are more useful than Word and PowerPoint, but that’s just an opinion for you might have a different perspective on the matter.

Not An Office Insider? Here’s How To Become One:

Becoming an Office Insider on the Apple Mac is pretty easy. Just fire up Office 2016 and select Check for Updates via the Help menu. Now, Office Insider has two levels, Office Insider Slow, and Office Insider Fast. Bear in mind that the Slow Ring is late to deliver new features, but when it does, these features are usually stable. However, the same cannot be said for the Fast Ring due to providing new features quickly, so expect bugs.

Microsoft will no longer release updates for Office 2013

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The Microsoft team announced that they would no longer be releasing feature updates for Microsoft Office 2013. Apart from that, Office 2013 client applications and language packs will no longer be available from the Office 365 self-service portal and Admin Center, effective since February 28.

This decision comes as a normal announcement from the company as it plans to focus on its latest Office 2016. Office 2016 will work only with mail servers that are Microsoft Exchange Servers 2007 or later. This support limit applies to all subscriptions of Office 2013 – Office 365 Pro Plus, Small Business Premium, Business, Project Pro, and Visio Pro. All feature updates to these subscriptions will cease, but critical security updates will continue till April 10, 2018. Despite that, Microsoft advises on making the change to avoid any future incompatibilities.

Effective since February 28, Office 2013 client applications and language packs will no longer be available from the Office 365 self-service portal and Admin Center. On top of that, Microsoft will no longer release feature updates for Office 2013 and will focus solely on upgrading the recent 2016 version, posted a Microsoft Sales Specialist on LinkedIn.

For migrating to Office 2016, Microsoft has a minimum system requirement checklist; it requires a 1 GHz processor, 2GB RAM, 3GB of free hard disk space, Windows 7 and later, and a screen resolution of 1280×800. To make the transition process smoother, Microsoft offers FastTrack migration, a service providing organizations with the tools to help them make a move from one Office version to another.

As is with every Office version, the interface on the Office 2016 is quite different compared to the one on Office 2013. It thus becomes a tough task for all employees in the business to cope up with the change, each doing it at their own pace.

Office 2016 has a number of upgrades over its predecessor. One of the exciting new features is TellMe. It is a smart command software that takes you to your desirable task between all Office components – Word, Excel, Powerpoint et al. It also offers OneDrive cloud storage that lets you save your files and switch from one device to the next without missing a beat. Office apps pick up right where you left off, regardless of the device you were using.

Outlook 2016 for Mac is Updated with Top Requested Features

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Microsoft is adding four major new features to Outlook 2016 for Mac, each of which was a major customer request.

“Outlook for Mac is adding several highly requested features for Office 365 customers, including the ability to send an email at the time of your choice and request delivery notifications and read receipts,” the Outlook team explains. “These additions deliver on four of our top 10 requested features, and are designed to help you get more done quickly and stay in control of the day ahead.”

There’s a confusing matrix of availability to ponder, but here’s a list of what you can expect:

Send Later. Send Later lets you write an email now and schedule it to be sent automatically at the preferred date and time. Send Later is available to Office Insider Fast users today on version 15.36 (170606) and will be available to all Office 365 subscribers in July, Microsoft says.

Request Delivery and Read receipts. Outlook for Mac now supports both read and delivery receipts. “A delivery receipt confirms delivery of your email message to the recipient’s mailbox, but not that the recipient has seen it or read it,” Microsoft notes. “A read receipt confirms that your message was opened.” This feature is available today to all Office 365 subscribers on version 15.35 (170610).

Email templates. Now you can compose a new message and save it as a template that you can reuse when needed. This feature is available today to all Office 365 subscribers on version 15.35 (170610).

Create calendar events and tasks from email. Now you can drag and drop emails or tasks directly to your calendar to create a calendar event. This feature is available today to all Office 365 subscribers on version 15.35 (170610).

Improved account setup experience. Microsoft has simplified the Add Account experience so that you only need to enter your email address and then Outlook will detects your account settings automatically. This change is available to all Outlook Mac users on version 15.34 (170515).

Windows 10 Tip: Read, Reply To, and Send Text Notifications Via Your Android Handset

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If you’re using an Android smartphone, you can sync notifications between that device and your Windows 10 PC. This is particularly useful for text messaging.

Note: I’ll be adding this tip to my e-book, the Windows 10 Field Guide, soon. –Paul

For this to work, you will need Windows 10 version 1703 or newer, and you will need to have signed into Cortana with your Microsoft account. You will also need to install the Cortana mobile app on your smartphone, and have signed in there with the same Microsoft account. Then, you will need to do a bit of configuration in each location.

On Android, open Cortana and select the little account “weeble” (as I think of it) in the upper-right corner. Then, select Settings > Sync notifications. Here, you can select which notification types to sync.

To see (and respond to) incoming text messages, you will need to enable the option “Incoming message notifications.” You will then need to grant Cortana access to your SMS messages and contacts before you can do so.

On your PC, open Cortana and select the Settings gear. Then, scroll down to the option “Send notifications and information between devices” and enable it if it is not already enabled.

Next, select the “Edit sync settings” button and ensure that the option “Get notifications from this PC on my phone” is enabled.

Now you can do the following.

Send a new text message from your PC. Open Cortana and type “text message” or similar, and you will be presented with Cortana’s new text message UI. From this panel, you can specify one or more contacts and a message, and Cortana will send it as if it came from your smartphone.

Read an incoming text message. When you receive a text message on your phone, Cortana will display a notification on your screen so that you can read the message.

Reply to an incoming text message. As you can see from the screenshot above, the text message notification includes a Reply field. Type your reply there and then select the Send (paper airplane) button. Or, you can just select Dismiss or ignore the notification.

In my experience, text messages sent through Cortana on the PC are delayed by several seconds in each direction. But this is still a huge convenience. And if you find it easier to type on your PC than on your phone, as I do, this may just be the killer Cortana feature that puts Microsoft’s personal digital assistant over the top.

As you can see, Cortana can sync many other notifications back and forth between your PC and phone. I will examine some other interesting uses of this functionality soon.