Mac OS X Lion Will Bring Office File Viewing To Preview.app

In Apple’s upcoming Mac OS X version 10.7, also called Lion, we’ll see a lot of improvements in the system. The newest reports from AppleInsider says that Preview 5.5 will see some facelifts.

The most exciting and anticipated new feature is that users without Microsoft Office or iWork will be able to use Preview to view Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Preview will be the default application in Lion for viewing such documents if the user has not installed Office or iWork.

In addition to this feature there will be a lot more. We will see a range of new buttons and functions in Preview, which now will be a full-screen application. For example, a magnifier tool will make it possible to zoom in a specific area for a closer look. We will see an expanded range of annotation options, such as “thinking bubbles”, outlined text and filled shapes.

But maybe one of the coolest new features is the ability to make personalized signatures. In the preferences, users will have the option to take a photo of a written signature and in that way “scan” their signature for use in PDF documents.

Pretty cool, huh?

[Via AppleInsider]

Jakob Hultman

Jakob is the Swedish, blonde, handsome writer at MacTrast. He is based in Southampton, UK, and has been an Apple fanboy ever since his brother introduced him to the third generation iPod in 2003. He owns more Apple products than he can name and is a hardcore Bruins fan. Follow him on Twitter - @Raekob.