Microsoft Office Remote : Control PowerPoint Presentations from Android Smartphone

Microsoft PowerPoint is the premier presentation software for office, school and other places where you have to make a presentation of a report using the slide shows. Until now you had to control the power point presentation on your notebook PC either through the usual touchpad, mouse or a very long cable attached to it. But now Microsoft has brought forward Microsoft Office Remote using which you can turn any Android smartphone into a remote control for various Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. Although it is of little use for controlling Word and Excel applications remotely, it is mainly geared towards controlling PowerPoint presentations.

You can switch PowerPoint presentation slides back and forth using Microsoft Office Remote app easily. The app is connected through the Bluetooth connectivity, so it can easily cover a distance of 10-20 meters away from your computer.

In order to use the Microsoft Office Remote, you need an Android smartphone, a Windows PC on which you have installed Microsoft Office 2013 and the Microsoft Office Remote add-on for PC. Here is how you can go about setting up and using Microsoft Office Remote:

  1. First of all you should download and install Microsoft Office Remote on your PC. You can download it from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=41149.Microsoft Office Remote
  2. Now open any PowerPoint presentation file on your Windows PC. In the PowerPoint window, switch to the Office Remote tab, click on Office Remote and select Turn On.Microsoft Office Remote
  3. On your Android smartphone, install Microsoft Office Remote app from the Play store. You can get it from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.officeremote.
  4. Turn on Bluetooth on your Android device and your PC. Start the Microsoft Office Remote app and choose your PC’s Bluetooth connection. It actually takes you through all the steps necessary for connection.Microsoft Office Remote
  5. Upon the establishment of the connection between your PC and smartphone over Bluetooth, you would be able to see the currently open Office document in the list. Touch the document on the list and you would be able to access the available controls for it.Microsoft Office Remote

Conclusion: Microsoft Office Remote allows you to remotely control various Office applications (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) from your Android smartphone via the Bluetooth connection. Since many newer notebooks do not come with Bluetooth built inside, you may have to invest in a cheap Bluetooth USB dongle. It would have been better if there was an option to connect through WiFi in addition to the Bluetooth.