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MICROSOFT ANNOUNCED THAT IT WILL BE RELEASING THE MICROSOFT 365 PERSONAL AND FAMILY PLANS

Keeping in mind the outbreak of novel coronavirus, we still have to keep up our pace. Almost every company has declared work from home and the educational institutions are also teaching through online classrooms. In this time of sheer need, we need proper resources to carry out our work smoothly. So, Microsoft declared the news of new plans for Microsoft 365 subscription yesterday. It will be of great benefit to access all features, especially for students, teachers, and employees. This will also attract many new subscribers as it will allow using Premium office apps, extra cloud storage, advanced security, and many more such features. Microsoft will make these plans active on 21st April.

What Microsoft is providing?

The Microsoft 365 plan is not new to consumers. But, now the company is releasing a more enhanced version of it along with many new features. The new Microsoft Personal and Family Plans will be charging $6.99 per month for Personal subscribers and $9.99 per month for the Family pack. The family pack allows a maximum of six people. Everything will be available from 21st April. The subscribers will have access to all the new and existing features, which the company has not revealed yet.

Microsoft through its powerful set of features and services will not help us create and organize. We can share our works and connect with family and friends as well. So, it is just trying to build a stronger community through the web and collaborate across the world. Any user with this subscription plan can access it from Windows, iOS, macOS, and Android. The applications like Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Skype, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive are also available in these plans.

Moreover, all the applications will be up-to-date. Every subscriber will get 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage. For a single person, it is more than enough to store all the important files. Apart from this, Microsoft 365 will provide 60 Skype minutes and not to mention constant technical support.

What are the new features of Microsoft 365 plans?

Microsoft is planning to add two new features to its subscription plans. The first feature is the Microsoft Family Safety app. It is very important for parents to track their children’s location. Moreover, every family member can get a notification when another family member leaves for work, etc. The app will generate notification along with a sharing location. The family members can also manage screen time across multiple devices.

The Safety app is not only limited to this feature. The company has also incorporated a driving report feature in it. This feature is especially to track a new driver in the family to keep updated about the driving habits. This is a not-so-good-news for the kids but it is beneficial for the parents. This safety app can be accessed through Windows PCs, Android devices, and Xbox consoles. The limit has to be set centrally. It will also add some new features to the Microsoft Team of Consumers.

Communication through Microsoft

Skype has always been the most important application for communication. But, Microsoft is adding some new home features for the Microsoft team which will help connect one’s friends and family. It can be via a group chat, video calls, and anything from one location. All these new features will be available as a preview in this summer and then will be launched as a completed package later this year.

Microsoft Editor

This feature is for anyone who loves writing to anyone for whom it’s a job. With the enhancement of 365 plans, Microsoft is making an expansion to its Editor. It is now available in twenty different languages and most importantly can be accessed through Word, Outlook.com, Microsoft Edge, and Google Chrome. The paid subscribers will be experiencing additional features like advanced grammar, style refinements, etc.

Other features 

PowerPoint is also getting a makeover with the advancement in Presenter Coach Feature. Another most important feature that Microsoft is adding is finance management. It will connect your bank and credit card details and Microsoft Money will act as your finance manager. It will help you track and analyze transactions in Excel and will also send alerts for monthly spending. This feature will be first available in the US and then other locations.

Currently, 38 million people are subscribers to Office 365 Personal and Home. Microsoft is currently trying to make existing things better rather than launching something completely new.

Personal Vault

Microsoft Launches the Personal Vault for its Worldwide Users

Having enough data storage is the biggest issue today. Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft’s OneDrive, being the biggest player in the field, try to provide better services to its users. Recently, Microsoft added extra security to its OneDrive with a new feature called OneDrive Personal Vault. The feature, on its release, was only available for some selective markets, but from today onwards, the company has made it available to its worldwide users.

The Personal Vault feature enhances the security of the user’s account by allowing them to enable various security functions to their accounts. These security functions include two-step authentication that can be through fingerprints, facial recognition, a pin sent to one’s email address, to mobile number through SMS, or even through Microsoft Authenticator.

Though the feature has been opened for the public worldwide, it will be first available in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. And, it is earlier than the date that was scheduled for its worldwide release. So the users from the other countries do not have to worry as the feature will reach them as soon as the year ends.

Personal Vault
Image Source: trustedreviews.com

The feature is available for every user, but won’t provide the full-fledged experience to all of them, as some of the users are not the paid ones. There are limitations for free users. The ones who have subscribed for the free version of Microsoft OneDrive, do have access to the Vault, but they can only put only three files in it. Whereas, the ones who are Office 365 users, they do not have to worry about the number of files, as they can put as many files in the Personal Vault as they want to, based on the storage limit they have paid for.

Other than the secure storage, the new Vault can also scan the documents which get extra security. The Vault also gets automatically locked if it remains inactive for some time. So, the user needs to login to it again to use it. The Vault also restricts the accidental sharing of the files. If you are using the Vault on a Windows 10 PC, the files in the Vault get automatically synced to the BitLocker encrypted drive on the PC.

Microsoft along with the Personal Vault also introduced the new storage options for One Drive. That means that the Office 365 users now can expand their 1TB storage in 200GB increments, starting at $1.99 a month per 200GB. The company also revealed features like the dark mode for OneDrive on iOS, and the PC Folder backup, which will make OneDrive to backup your Windows 10 PC’s folders to the cloud.