Apple is planning to release iOS 9 to the masses today, opening the door to a key new iPad feature: multitasking. While Apple is restricting iOS 9's key multitasking feature to just the iPad Air 2 and new iPad Pro, Microsoft is ready to support it with all of the company's Office apps for iOS 9. Microsoft promised support on stage at Apple's event last week, and today the software giant is rolling out updates to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and even Outlook.

Update: Read the iOS 9 review.

If you update to iOS 9 on an iPad Air 2 then you'll be able to run apps like Word and Excel side by side. Of course, if you're used to Windows then you've been able to do that for years in various guises, with iOS 9's multitasking looking rather similar to Windows 8's. Outside of just multitasking support, Microsoft is also adding in new features across the apps.

Other improvements include native spotlight support

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are all getting the ability to see keyboard shortcuts by tapping the cmd key from an external iPad keyboard. If you're a fan of keyboard shortcuts, then Outlook for iPad now has them for composing new email or tabbing between email, calendar, files, people, and settings. Both Outlook and OneNote also pick up Spotlight search support for iOS 9, allowing you to search through your notes and email from the iOS search interface. OneNote also now supports iOS handoff to let you work on a note from an iPhone and easily pick up and continue on an iPad.