Microsoft 365 Now Available for Consumers, Office 365 plans will automatically convert to the new Microsoft 365 bundle of software and services on April 21. The software maker also announced new features for its Office apps, Teams, Edge, and more.

Microsoft 365 has long been exclusively available for business use, but that changed today, when Microsoft announced Personal and Family subscriptions, which bundles Office apps, OneDrive cloud storage, Outlook, Family Safety, and Teams for Families. Redmond also announced intriguing updates to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the Edge web browser.

If you’re an Office 365 subscriber, your plan will automatically convert to the new Microsoft 365 bundle of software and services on April 21. Pricing remains the same; $6.99 per month for Microsoft 365 Personal and $9.99 per month for Family. The Family plan lets you “share your subscription with your family for up to 6 people, and use your apps on multiple PCs, Macs, tablets, and phones,” Microsoft says. 

Microsoft Word

New for Microsoft Word are AI tools intended to improve your writing, taking inclusivity into consideration. For example, if you write the phrase “Gentleman’s agreement,” it will suggest something less gender-limited, like “unwritten agreement.” It can also check similarity with published documents to avoid plagiarism. A new Microsoft Editor browser extension also lets you extend these capabilities to web writing.

Microsoft Excel

Excel gets a new Money In Excel template for home finance use, which lets you log into financial services right in the spreadsheet and generate a personal financial snapshot. New food data types show you calories and other nutrition info when you enter them into a cell. And a College Decision template lets you compare the pros and cons of institutions you’re considering.

Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint gets a new library of premium images, including some “live” moving backgrounds. It can also determine if a text slide would look better as a graphic and automatically create one. For when you’re actually presenting, PowerPoint Presenter Coach can pop up messages telling you about delivery missteps, like if you’re saying “um” too much or reading in a monotone or too fast. Conversely, it also gives positive feedback when your pitch is well varied. A summary ties together all the feedback.

Read more: https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-365-now-available-for-consumers