Microsoft is hard at work getting Office for iPad up to speed with Apple’s latest iPadOS release, with plans to add cursor support for trackpad and mouse in the apps. Apple introduced the cursor to its iPad and iPad Pro line-up in iPadOS 13.4, alongside the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro that for the first time includes a trackpad.
It’s a big change for the tablet, which Apple has long maintained didn’t need a desktop-style mouse pointer. The reality, though, is that as the iPad Pro has progressively overlapped with what would traditionally be considered a laptop’s role, so too the demands for more familiar controls have increased.
Microsoft was quick to roll out iPad Split View for Outlook on iOS last year, and the company released a unified Office app for iOS earlier this year. The new Office app combines Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office mobile features into a single, smaller app.
Microsoft is still planning to keep the individual Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps available on iOS, and it’s likely we’ll see cursor support emerge in the main Office app and these standalone versions, too.
