We’ve reworked how empower® starts up – because we know that every second counts, especially when you're just opening a document or presentation to quickly review or make a few edits. In many everyday use cases, the full feature set of empower® isn’t needed right away. So, we’ve redesigned how our software loads to stay out of your way when speed matters most.
Behind the scenes, we introduced a modular architecture and asynchronous loading, so only the essential components are initialized up front. This dramatically reduces the time it takes for Microsoft Office applications to become usable after launch. We’ve also optimized our binaries to minimize the delays sometimes caused by security software like Windows Defender.
The result: the duration until Office apps become usable after startup is approximately 60% shorter on average across a wide range of configurations – meaning you can get to work noticeably quicker.
This release reflects our commitment to continuously improving performance where it makes the biggest difference to you.
A new Backend CLI tool (CLI = command-line interface) is available for efficient bulk import of images, Word documents and PowerPoint presentations into the empower® Library:
-
Import files from a specified folder and replicating the existing folder structure within the empower® Library
-
Define target folders and include additional metadata for each file through a .csv file
-
Skip unsupported files, archive the source folder post-import and perform incremental uploads to ensure only modified files are re-imported
-
Periodically update large amounts of assets in the empower® Library from other file-based sources (e.g. to keep systems in sync)
-
Simplifies the customizing or migration process
Asset Usage Tracking now records the following actions via the empower® Library:
-
Inserting, downloading and opening an element via the empower® Library
-
Using library content as part of specific functionalities
-
Inserting an agenda
-
Changing master during conversion
-
Changing master during Corporate Design Check
-
Inserting translations using the translation feature
-
-
Count increases for each of the above-mentioned actions
-
Admins can export usage data as a report via the Backend CLI Tool
The new admin roles replace the previous Corporate Design Admin.
-
Customizing Admin: Responsible for system customization and configuration.
-
Content Admin: Responsible for managing and maintaining content. This includes the creation, editing, and deletion of content without access to critical system settings.
-
Overlay Change Format in PowerPoint Retired
Due to low usage and significant measurable performance impact, the overlay Change Format has been removed.
Users can continue to replace a text element by applying a different one from the sidepane or library to the selected text element.
The corresponding setting in the User Settings has been removed.
-
Sidepane behavior streamlined:
The sidepane can no longer be displayed in a collapsed state.
Users can now access its sections through their respective ribbon icons, which open the full pane on demand.
The sidepane can no longer be displayed permanently.
-
Consistency across all Office applications improved:
The option to customize the ribbon tab name has been removed to support greater consistency in navigation and to reduce edge-case complexity during updates and support scenarios. The ability to change the UI accent color – which previously affected highlights across the interface – has been removed. This aligns with our goal of delivering a cohesive and predictable user experience, while simplifying branding and theming across deployments.
-
Option Insert Text Elements in Context Menu retired:
The context menu option Insert Text Elements in PowerPoint has been removed to minimize startup delays.
To insert a text element or to change the type of a text element, choose the option Text Elements under Elements in the empower® Ribbon. The sidepane opens and you can choose the required text element.
-
Reference Object Behavior changed:
The logic for the selection of the reference shape for the layout tools has changed. For further information, hover over the layout tool option or refer to our manual.
We recognize that some of these changes may impact specific configurations or workflows. If you have questions or require assistance adjusting your deployment, please contact your Customer Success Manager.
For further information regarding empower® Charts, see empower® Charts 9.7.0.
-
Significant User Interface Enhancements
-
Added empower® Ribbon to the Office tabs in PowerPoint, Word, and Excel Online for easy access to the library and other shortcuts
-
Updated icons, buttons and item cards including distinct thumbnails for documents and automated documents
-
Introduced enhanced preview functionality for items within the library
-
-
Changed workflow to create a new presentation by adding the button New
-
Replaced pop-up library view with sidepane library view
-
Removed feature Cart and the Online indicator in the status bar
-
These features are no longer required because slides can now be inserted directly into the presentation instead of opening them in a new tab, and the status bar now shows metadata for single selected items.
-
The Customizing Center is a module in the existing empower® Admin Center but can still be accessed via the button Help and Settings in the Windows applications.
-
Replaced previous desktop-only Customizing Tools by the new functionally equivalent web-based (cross-platform) Customizing Center
-
Workflow change: When creating a new design during a master upload to the empower® Library, design-specific corporate design elements (subfolders per design in the respective corporate design elements folders) need to be enabled separately in the Customizing Center.
For further information regarding the options in the Customizing Center, refer to our empower® Admin Center manual.
-
Custom user notes in linked copies are now preserved if the root element is updated as long as the root element does not contain any notes.
-
Automated templates created with empower® Document Automation can now be saved via the usual saving dialog to the empower® Library.
-
Automated templates created with empower® Document Automation can now be saved to the Corporate Design Templates folder Corporate Presentations in the empower® Library.
-
The order of the buttons in the group Automate has been changed to reflect the natural workflow of template creation.
-
The asset usage tracking functionality has been updated, so that using slides from translation groups in the empower® Library in the context of a translation also increases the usage count.
-
In the Suite Installer, a new parameter has been introduced. This parameter can be used to decide whether the user data should be cleaned up during an uninstallation of empower®.
-
Fixed an issue in the Conversion feature that caused an incorrect layout mapping if the number or position of layouts in the masters was different. The fix only applies after a new layout and/or placeholder mapping has been done.
-
Fixed an issue that caused the search to not work properly in environments containing an extremely large amount of data.
-
Fixed an issue which prevented presentations from older empower® Versions from being saved to the empower® Library via the button Save.
-
Fixed an issue that caused a reset of the Outlook default signature after updating empower®. In this case, an empower® Signature was set as default automatically.
-
Fixed an issue that caused empower® to be initialized in Outlook when opening a .msg file while Outlook was not opened.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.