Microsoft offers several different ways to run the various Office programs—as desktop apps, as mobile apps for Android or iPhone/iPad, and online in a web browser. As you might imagine, the online and mobile app versions aren’t as robust as the desktop version, but you might still find them useful. And for some of you, they might be all you need. Here’s the breakdown.
To download Office Web Apps Server you must have a license, under a Volume Licensing agreement, for Office Professional Plus 2013, Office Standard 2013, or Office for Mac 2011. The download is located under those Office products on the VLSC portal. Windows 10's new free Office app: Microsoft Store PWA now open to all. Office progressive web app, or PWA, replaces the pre-installed MyOffice app. Running the Office Web Apps through a Web Browser. The main difference between the Office Web Apps and the Microsoft Office software is that you run an Office Web App through a Web browser window. Here’s how it works: Using your browser, you go to a Web site, start the Web application, open a file, and get to work.
Microsoft Office Web Apps is an online version of the Microsoft Office suite that provides global and free access to Microsoft Office solutions. Rather than being installed on a user's computer, Microsoft Office Web Apps are hosted and executed at Microsoft's data centers. Microsoft Office Web Apps provide access to office productivity. Mar 28, 2014 Use Office Web Apps Server to provide browser-based file viewing and editing services for Office files. Office Web Apps Server works with products and services that support WOPI, such as SharePoint 2013, Lync Server 2013, and Exchange Server 2013. An Office Web Apps Server farm can provide services to multiple on-premises hosts, and you can scale out the farm as your organization's. The app itself is free and can be used with any Office 365 subscription, Office 2019, Office 2016, and Office Online - the free web-based version of Office for consumers. It’s not available for.
The Different Versions of Microsoft Office
Outlook Web App
Microsoft’s offerings can sometimes be a little, shall we say, perplexing. Office is no exception. You can buy or subscribe to the full desktop version. The subscription option also offers access to their mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, and (in turn) Chromebooks. And you can use an online version for free in your browser.
Office 365 (or Office 2016) Desktop
The desktop version of Office is the full featured version you’re most likely familiar with from years past. These are the full desktop apps that you install on your Windows PC or Mac. You can buy this version in one of two ways:
RELATED:What’s the Difference Between Office 365 and Office 2016?
Office 2016: This is the traditional standalone app. You pay the upfront cost, get a license, and install it on your computer.
Office 365: This is the newer subscription model. You pay a monthly (or yearly) subscription fee. As long as you keep your subscription going, you always have the latest version of Office—including major new updates. The subscription also comes with some extra perks, like a large amount of OneDrive storage, a monthly allotment of Skype minutes, and access to the mobile app versions of the Office apps.
We’ve covered the difference between Office 365 and Office 2016 in detail before, so if you want to learn more about which version may be better for you, we suggest giving that guide a read.
Office 365 Mobile Apps (for iPhone, Android, and Chromebooks)
RELATED:The Best Android Apps You Should be Using On Your Chromebook
The Office 365 Mobile Apps include versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook for the iOS and Android platforms. You can also use most of the Office Mobile Apps for Android on a Chromebook, assuming you have a Chromebook that supports Android apps (though a few don’t support PowerPoint).
To use the mobile apps, you’ll need to have a paid Office 365 subscription. That subscription gives you access to both the desktop and mobile apps—you don’t need a separate subscription.
The mobile apps offer a more limited feature set than their full desktop counterparts (more on that in a moment), but the look and feel is largely the same. The mobile apps also offer offline access, meaning you can view and edit documents even when you’re not connected to the Internet.
Office 365 Online
Office 365 Online lets you view and edit Office documents for free in your web browser (like Google Docs, but from Microsoft). All the same apps—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote—are available. You do not need a subscription to use the online apps, although you will need to sign in with a free Microsoft account.
Did you install all the updates on the computer?2. What is the Bluetooth device are you trying to connect?This behavior may occur when there is a compatibility problem between the transceiver and the Microsoft Bluetooth stack. Or, it may occur if the computer is using a non-Microsoft stack, and this stack is incompatible with the device the Bluetoothdevices.For reference:Please reply with the required information, I will be glad to help you further.Thank you.
The Office 365 Online apps offer pretty much the same set of features you’d find in the mobile apps. The big difference (aside from being free) is that Office 365 Online does not offer offline access; you must be connected to the Internet to view and edit documents.
All three versions (desktop, mobile apps, and online) offer seamless integration with OneDrive, so keeping track of documents is easy when you move between platforms.
Are the Non-Desktop Versions Good Enough?
Let’s be clear up front: the non-desktop versions of Office are no replacement for the full desktop version. Office 365 Online and the Office 365 Mobile Apps both offer a feature set similar to what you’d find in their Google Docs counterparts. They’re great if you just need the basic features, or if you occasionally need to view or make minor edits to documents (without the compatibility issues you’d run into using Google Docs, LibreOffice, or another suite of programs).
For example, some of the major features you’ll find missing in the online and mobile apps include:
Word: You cannot create captions, citations, bibliographies, tables of content. You cannot create or apply styles. And you won’t have access to some of the more advanced reviewing, proofing, or page layout tools.
Excel: You cannot create pivot tables, apply conditional formatting, create external data connections or references, or access many of the advanced formulas.
OneNote: You cannot edit embedded files, use optical character recognition (OCR) to translate handwriting into text, use Outlook task integration, or take advantage of template support.
PowerPoint: You cannot create custom animations, use headers and footers, or integrate Excel charts. You also cannot take advantage of advanced design or reviewer tools.
And there are a lot more, somewhat minor, features you won’t be able to take advantage of in the online or mobile app versions of Office, as well. For a complete list, check out the Office Online Service Description on Microsoft TechNet. While that list specifically talks about the Office 365 Online experience, most of the same exclusions apply to the mobile apps, too.
NOTE: Some of these features we mentioned are viewable in the online and mobile app versions of Office; you just can’t create them there. For example, you cannot create a table of contents form in the online or mobile app versions, but you will be able to view one that was created in the desktop version.
Which Version of Office Should You Use?
What version of Office is best for you depends on your needs. If you need the full desktop version, decide whether you want to go with the standalone Office 2016 or the subscription-based Office 365. Note that if you also want to use the mobile apps, you’ll need that Office 365 subscription, anyway.
When it comes to using Office 365 Online or the Office 365 Mobile Apps, we find that they really are good enough if you only need access to basic features, or if you mostly need to view (and maybe perform minor edits to) documents created with the full desktop version.
If you already have an Office 365 subscription, we recommend using the mobile apps primarily because they offer the ability to work offline. You can use them just fine on Android, iPhone or iPad, or even on the Chromebook. Delphi event management software.
If you don’t already have a Office 365 subscription and don’t really care about offline access, we recommend sticking with the free online app—it’ll let you at least do the basics, for free, with nothing but a web browser.
READ NEXT
› Wi-Fi vs. ZigBee and Z-Wave: Which Is Better?
› What Does “FWIW” Mean, and How Do You Use It?
› How to Automatically Delete Your YouTube History
› What Is “Mixed Content,” and Why Is Chrome Blocking It?
› How to Manage Multiple Mailboxes in Outlook
In the kerfuffle over the pricing and licensing for Office 2013 and Office 365, a lot of people seem to have overlooked one salient fact.
Over the past few years, Microsoft has steadily improved its free Office Web Apps to the point where they represent a credible threat to .. Microsoft Office.
Those of us who use Office apps daily tend to rarely see the Office Web Apps. And yet, they play an increasingly important role in the new Office ecosystem. The current Office Web Apps lineup includes the exact same programs as you'll find in Office Home & Student 2010 or 2013: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. But instead of costing $149 (MSRP) for three installations of Office 2010 or one of the 2013 flavor, the web apps are free. And they include 7GB of SkyDrive storage.
I took a much closer look at the Office Web Apps today, as well as revisiting my Google Drive and Google Docs account. (Please check out the screenshot gallery, including my carefully crafted captions, to get the full story.)
Now, let's get one thing clear right at the outset: If you think anyone will rigorously compare feature lists and specs for these two online services before choosing one, you are missing the point. Internet advantages and disadvantages pdf. People choose a free online productivity suite for two reasons:
It's free.
It can be used on any PC or Mac (and on many mobile devices) with any modern browser.
The tiebreaker is usually a quick count of how many friends, family members and co-workers are already affiliated with one system or the other. If your company has gone Google, that's going to sway you firmly in the Google Apps direction. If your company relies on Office apps like Word and Excel and uses an Exchange Server, that should tip you firmly in the Office direction.
Office 365
Spoiler alert: Both of these online productivity suites pass the 'good enough' test for casual home and student use, and even for most simple business documents. I'm not going to try to talk you out of using whichever one you've previously pledged allegiance to.
But still, I'm impressed by what I see in the latest Office Web Apps. Although these programs are technically web apps, they feel like desktop programs, with snappy performance and a real user interface. The Office Web Apps have adopted Microsoft's ribbon, so when you open a document in the Word Web App, it feels like you're running Word. You have to look closely at the ribbon to see the features that are missing.
Using Free Office Web Apps
By contrast, Google's interface is downright Spartan and decidedly old school, with a black-and-white theme and lots and lots of pull-down menus.
Microsoft Office Application Free Download
With its emphasis on round-trip formatting fidelity, the Office Web Apps are a natural for anyone who has to work with native Office file formats regularly. I found the process of converting documents to Google's formats cumbersome and far from perfect. On the other hand, you can open, edit, and save an Office document in the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint web apps and know that you won't lose any formatting.
I was also pleased to see that every Office Web App now supports simultaneous editing. If you share a document with someone from a free SkyDrive account, anyone with edit permissions can work on that document simultaneously, with your changes showing up nearly in real time.
The other edge that Office Web Apps have is on Windows 8 tablets. I was pleasantly surprised when I tested Office Web Apps in the modern (no plugins) browser on a Windows 8 tablet. The browser is smart enough to notice that touch-capable hardware is available and offers both a Touch Mode icon (identical in effect to the one in Office 2013) and a special touch-optimized quick formatting toolbar.
Office Web Apps Server Free
I was not so impressed by Google's performance with touch. Perhaps having a touchscreen on the pricey new Chromebook Pixel hardware will inspire Google's engineers to pick up their game a bit.
My point with this exercise, as always, is to help give you enough information to make an informed decision about which of these products is right for you. There's no right or wrong answer, only an answer that best satisfies the criteria that you consider most important.
But if you're unwilling or unable to pay the high prices that desktop software commands, it's good to know that there are solid free alternatives.
Office Web Apps Server 2013 Free Download
Related story
SkyDrive and Office Web Apps versus Google (gallery)
Microsoft Web Apps
Related Topics:
Cloud Big Data Analytics Innovation Tech and Work Collaboration Developer