Use Your Windows Phone 8 as an Office Remote for Your Next Presentation

Turn your Windows Phone 8 into a presentation remote with the help of an app from Microsoft called Office Remote. Currently, the app supports PowerPoint, Excel, and Word. Some of the actions that the Office Remote app allows you to do are jump through slides, and use as a remote laser pointer in PowerPoint. For Word and Excel presentations, you can use it to navigate through documents, as well as perform zoom in and out functions. Now, all these are possible if you have met the following setup requirements: a Windows 7 or Windows 8 (RT not included) computer with Office 2013 installed, and Bluetooth. Once you have those checked, you may now proceed in setting up your Windows Phone 8 as your next presentation remote. Excited to know how? Just read on folks.

Download and install the Microsoft Office Remote Setup software onto your computer. Simply follow the on-screen prompts and you're done installing it in no time. Next, make sure that your computer's Bluetooth function is enabled or turned on, and that it is properly paired with your Windows Phone 8. If you're not sure how to do this, check out this article.

Once you have successfully paired the two, launch the office document that you want to access on your computer. Once it's open, click the Office Remote tab, then click on Office Remote, and then select the Turn On option.

Install the Office Remote app on your Windows Phone 8, and then launch it. Connect your paired Windows 7/8 computer from the list. You will see your open Office documents right after you made a connection to the computer. Select the document that you'll be using for your presentation, and you will now be able to navigate it using your Windows Phone 8. Below is a more detailed list of supported actions that Office Remote can do based on the type of Office document:

PowerPoint

• Jump to the next, previous, and last slide
• View slide thumbnails and jump to a slide
• View speaker notes
• View presentation timer and slide numbers
• Laser pointer using touch on your phone

Excel

• Change worksheets by swiping
• Use Slicers, PivotTable, and Filters
• Jump to any named object in your workbook
• Move up or down the worksheet
• Change the zoom level

Word

• Jump to headings
• Jump to comments
• Screen up/down
• Line up/down
• Change the zoom level

The interface on your Windows Phone 8 will also vary depending on which type of Office document you are accessing. For example, you will see the interface below on your phone if you are communicating with a PowerPoint presentation. Tapping the arrows on your smartphone will correspond to the page movements on the main computer that runs the presentation. Using your Windows Phone 8 is far better than a plain USB pointer because it allows you to view the notes you've made on the PPT file, if there's any.