Microsoft Launches ‘Loop’ — Making Files & Folders No Longer Necessary For Work
Image via Microsoft
Microsoft has had a very busy week, from its charging headfirst into the metaverse to resurrecting Clippy in Teams. Well, it looks the tech giant is not quite ready to slack up just yet: it’s just debuted a new app.
Loop is a “flexible canvas app” that might conjure up some déjà vu with its interface. Don’t worry, you’re not alone; it does indeed bear a slightly uncanny resemblance to Notion, another similar digital workspace.
Image via Microsoft
Built to enhance the hybrid working experience, it aims to provide a flexible workspace that won’t require the user to sift through folders and documents any longer.
For example, when a quick spreadsheet needs to be drawn up, users won’t need to fire up Excel and twiddle their thumbs while waiting for it to all boot up. Instead, one can be created right within Loop via a portable “component,” which the team describes as “atomic units of productivity.” These fit into neat grids in the canvas and can be reused in other pages as well.
Image via Microsoft
When collaborating on a project, a concept that has suffered perhaps the greatest changes over the last couple of years, a component can be dragged and dropped straight into the messages thread so everyone can edit it at the same time.
So instead of what might usually happen in this situation with multiple apps—messages for communicating, notes for a personal to-do list, and a Google Docs tab open for collaborative editing—users are now able to get everything done in one.
Image via Microsoft
It’s sort of like open-plan living, but for documents, files, and folders. Lifewire likens it to being like a desk that users can spread their documents out on to work on a project, except that desk is somehow synced to someone else’s own desk too.
Image via Microsoft
Given that Microsoft has been a leading name in workspace apps like Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, creating Loop to effectively do away with these apps is indeed a pivot. However, in the way productivity has evolved over the last 18 months, tools need to evolve, too.
Image via Microsoft
Everyone, please meet #MicrosoftLoop! 🥳
— Nando Costa (@nandocosta_art) November 2, 2021
Loop is a new app that combines a powerful and flexible canvas with portable components that move freely and stay in sync across applications. 😍https://t.co/Dkn6uBv9Re pic.twitter.com/FKfXmr0fUG
[via Lifewire, all images via Microsoft]
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