Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • Cloud

    Microsoft Office Online Gains Some Bing-Powered Insight

    By
    Pedro Hernandez
    -
    December 12, 2014
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Bing

      Microsoft is making it easier for Office Online users to craft content without switching browser tabs.

      Insights for Office in Word Online is “a brand new feature that brings information you want into your document, in a seamlessly integrated experience that lets you explore as you are working,” said Rukmani Gopalan, a Microsoft Office program manager, in a statement. The feature is an upgraded, Web-based version of the Search with Bing right-click option in the Word client for Windows.

      “In Word Online, when you right-click on a word and select Insights or use the Tell Me box, Insights for Office uses the power of Bing to neatly present relevant information—from a variety of sources like Bing Snapshot, Wikipedia, Bing Image Search and the web—right in your document,” explained Gopalan. Users looking for dictionary definitions will learn the meaning of words “from one of the very best sources,” she added, namely the Oxford English Dictionary.

      Screenshots published by Microsoft show how results appear in the Insights panel situated on the right side of the main document editing area. The productivity-enhancing feature is aimed at helping users remain focused on their documents, regardless of how deep they drill down into a topic.

      “You can use the Insights experience to do a quick look up or a detailed exploration,” said Gopalan. In addition to at-a-glance snippets, users can “explore interesting articles that are related to the information you are looking for in the Wikipedia section, learn the definition of a word, get interesting facts in the Quick Insights section, drill into the Images section to look at pictures from Bing Image Search or see what the web has to say in the Web results section—all from right within the document,” she asserted.

      Powering the new Insights capability, in part, is Microsoft’s machine learning technology, revealed Ryan Gavin, general manager of Bing Product Management.

      “Insights for Office utilizes Bing’s ability to index the world’s knowledge and our machine learned relevance models to semantically understand the most important content in a user’s document and then return the most relevant results,” he stated in a Dec. 10 blog post. The company’s research arm also lent a hand. “This capability is derived largely from patterns of text analysis developed in collaboration with Microsoft Research.”

      Insights for Office and Bing Image Search in Sway “are the most recent examples of our Bing as a Platform vision,” said Gavin.

      In recent months, Microsoft has been de-emphasizing its search rivalry with market leader Google and has focused on positioning Bing as a cloud-enabled foundation for smart services. The new Office Online capabilities join “a growing list that includes voice-powered web search on XBOX One, more personal search with Cortana on Windows Phone, SmartSearch in Windows 8.1, and Bing Search Suggestions in Internet Explorer,” as part of Microsoft’s vision.

      Pedro Hernandez
      Pedro Hernandez is a contributor to eWEEK and the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Previously, he served as a managing editor for the Internet.com network of IT-related websites and as the Green IT curator for GigaOM Pro.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×