Microsoft Office Lens is coming soon to Word and PowerPoint; digitising documents to be made easier

By tech2 News Staff /  25 Jan 2017 , 08:58

Microsoft will soon update its mobile apps to better support the ability to digitise documents and improve image capture.

The software giant currently uses Microsoft Office Lens, originally a stand-alone app, for this purpose. Microsoft has announced that this app is now going to be integrated into the Word and PowerPoint apps for mobile.

Digitising documents will happen via OCR (Optical Character Recognition). You will be able to take a photo of your presentation or notes and the app on your device should be able to convert into searchable/editable text and images. This will also apply to handwritten text as well.

Better image capture will help Office clean up images that you capture. Whiteboards and paper will feature enhanced contrast, for example.

Alongside this, the company has also announced an Office Insider program for iPhone and iPad. Microsoft’s Insider programs allow users to beta test software for Microsoft and give feedback on bugs, usability, etc.

These are beta programs so if you sign up, be aware that the software will be buggy and that data loss is a remote, but distinct possibility.

PCWorld points out that Office Lens for Android already supports OCR features, but that it’s limited to scanning business cards. Strangely enough, scanned business card data is not synced with Outlook.

Microsoft’s Macro-Malware Defense Extended to Office 2013

By Luke Jones -
October 27, 2016 5:19 pm CET 

In March, the company rolled out more macro access control to Office 2016, an ability that now comes to Office 2013 as Microsoft combats increasing macro-borne threats.

While Office 2016 is Microsoft’s lead productivity suite, millions of users are still back on Office 2013. The older service is more open to threats, especially in an increased macro-borne threat environment. To help secure Office 2013, Microsoft has drafted in a feature from its newer Office 2016 suite.

Microsoft says macro-borne threats are a real problem. The company says macros are actually a legitimate way to automate tasks in Office. It is hardly a surprise that they have also become a way to deliver malware to Office 2016/2013.


This type of attack is usually hidden in a piece of software, such as a Word document or Excel. Microsoft said “In response to the growing trend of macro-based threats, we’ve introduced a new, tactical feature in Office 2016.”

Earlier in the year, Microsoft rolled out a new feature for Office 2016 that allowed admins to block macros. The company admits that the amount of macro-malware attacks targeting Office is a concern. Indeed, 98% of all Office targeted attacks come through macros.

The feature gives more control over macro access, while alerts about suspicious emails are now more robust.

Macro-Malware Protection in Office 2013

Microsoft has now brought this feature to Office 2013. Announced in a blog post, the company says admins will need to use Group Policy Templates.

“We are pleased to announce that, as of September 2016, this feature is now part of Office 2013 – and it works in the same way as it does in Office 2016. Administrators can enable this feature for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint by configuring it under the respective application’s Group Policy Administrative Templates for Office 2013.”