Microsoft makes it easier to use pictures from your Android phone in Word or PowerPoint

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft’s rolling out a feature to Office Insiders that lets you insert images from your Android smartphones directly into a web-based Word or PowerPoint file. While Microsoft already offers ways to transfer content between Windows PCs and Android devices via the Phone Link app Microsoft revamped back in March, this marks the first time it’s building the functionality into one of its apps.

To get started, open a web-based Word or PowerPoint document, and then hit Insert > Pictures > Mobile Device. If you haven’t yet linked your Android device to your PC, you’ll have to take the extra steps to do so.

Image: Microsoft
You can also replace a document’s existing picture with one from your phone.

This involves scanning the QR code that appears on your computer screen and then downloading the Link to Windows app from the Google Play Store (if you haven’t already). Once all that happens, you can browse through your Android device’s photos from your PC and choose which ones you want to add to the Word or PowerPoint document.

Microsoft says the feature is getting “released over some time to ensure things are working smoothly.” It seems like a pretty handy addition to the app, and (whenever I decide to actually dust off my Microsoft 365 subscription) I could actually see myself using it as a way to quickly grab and insert screenshots into the document I’m working on, all without actually having to leave the app.