During the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2019, Apple demonstrated Office for iPad Split View, which basically allows you to have two Microsoft Word or Powerpoint documents side-by-side on the iPad. However, in the year since, iPad users have had to continue to use cumbersome workarounds, with the demonstration not actually coming to anything.
But now, Microsoft has announced that support for Split View for Microsoft Office has finally arrived for iPadOS—thankfully. In a blog post, the company shared that the multiple documents can be simultaneously opened side-by-side on Word and PowerPoint, although support for Excel is still conspicuously absent.
In the past, iPad users have been opening documents in pages or via the browser—just to have Split View available. The update is certainly one that users have been asking for; if you’ve used Split View on the iPad (or Snap Window on Microsoft Windows PCs), you’ll know how convenient the multi-tasking feature can be.
To open multiple documents in Split View, follow these steps from Microsoft:
- Touch, hold, and drag a file from the Recent, Shared, and Open file list in the app to the iPad screen edge to open it side-by-side.
- In Word or PowerPoint, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and open the dock. Then touch and hold the same app’s icon and drag it off the dock to the left or right edge of the screen. Then tap the document to open it.
- In Word or PowerPoint, access the Recent, Shared, and Open views in the app start screen, tap the “…” menu for a file in the list, then tap Open in New Window.
To use Microsoft Office in Split View, you’ll need to ensure that you’re on the latest version of the app via the App Store. Additionally, support is only available for devices running iPadOS 13.
We don’t have any details on when support for Excel is arriving—or if it’s even coming at all. That’s fairly disappointing, especially when you consider how important Excel documents are to the day-to-day running of most professionals in most industries. Still, iPad users are sure to be happy with the long-awaited support for Split View on Microsoft Office.
