Microsoft has recently announced its plans for the upcoming new version of the Office application. The Office 2019 is set to be released in the second half of 2018.

As reported by The Verge, the Redmond-based tech giant made the Office 2019 announcement at the Microsoft Ignite Conference in Orlando, Florida, this week. The company targets to release the new set of Office tools next year, complete with the usual apps such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook. The Office 2019 will also feature the Microsoft server versions of SharePoint, Skype for Business, and Exchange.

Microsoft revealed that the Office 2019 will have a release preview version to be launched mid-2018. After which, the final Office version will be available for purchase via online download and hard copies.

It was also highlighted by Microsoft at the Ignite event that the upcoming Office 2019 will not be like the current Office 365 version, which is known for its usual service updating. Office 365 customers who are not yet willing to move to Microsoft's cloud service will benefit from Office 2019.

According to CNBC, Office 2019 will introduce new features which will be a big help for the users' work. For one, it will include new "inking" options such as tilt effects, ink replay and pressure sensitivity that will let users to write down notes and draw right above their documents. As for the new Excel, the Office 2019 will be adding new formulas and charts, giving way to more concise and powerful data interpretation and analysis.

Meanwhile, Office 2019's PowerPoint will include the morph and zoom animations, which were first featured in the Office 365 version. Microsoft also boasts that customers from the IT industries will enjoy the next Office version due to its improvements on "IT manageability, usability, voice, and security."

More details regarding the Office 2019 are expected to drop in the coming months, although Microsoft has still been working on the new Office 365 updates this year. The company released a new Office 365 feature earlier this month that permits guest users to access all Office 365 commercial and educational services, NDTV reported. With this, current Office 365 subscribers can now add people not related to their company to their team chats, meetings, conversations, as well as letting them view and edit company documents.