For anyone who works on the go, Microsoft’s latest office app is probably your dream come true. Up till now, users have had to download three separate apps should they want to use Microsoft word, excel and powerpoint. The brand new Office app however, puts all of those apps under one roof and so much more!

The new app is now available as a public preview for Android phones and as a beta through Apple’s iOS test flight programme. The best part about the announcement is that combination of three of Microsoft’s most essential apps into one seems to be just the appetizer.

The main course, to me at least, is the the new features the app will come with. Document editing on the go will now be a whole lot easier with a new actions pane. On top of that, the creation and signature of PDFs,and sharing of files is apparently a whole lot easier thanks to it’s simplified and streamlined nature. What is probably the coolest feature of the new app though is that it allows users to take a photos of physical documents or printed out excel sheets and turn it straight into a word or excel file, just like that.

This should add some extra spice to the competition between Google and Microsoft for the crown of productivity suite king. Whether you use Googles G Suite or Microsoft Office, a rise in the level of competition can only be a good thing for end users.

If you’re wondering whether or not this new app will be replacing the 3 existing ones, the answer is no.

“We know some users may only need to use one of the apps, and it is the consumer’s choice to install the app that best fits their needs,”

“However, if you use all of the core apps, we recommend using this new Office app, as it means you only need to install one app – and it will actually take up less space.”

Microsoft spokesperson speaking to CNET

The official release of the app is yet to determined but if you’re interested in trying it out, click HERE if you’re an Android user and HERE if you’re on iOS.