Now Office applications can edit files without signing up for Office 365 …
A commendable and welcome decision by Microsoft.
Three cheers!!!
Estimated reading time 3 min
Earlier, Office for these devices was free only for viewing files. Editing required an Office 365 active subscription. Now Microsoft has removed that constraint.
It is free to edit as well. If you already have it installed, just update it. That should allow you to edit.
Contents
New option
On iPad login screen, there is a new option available. Choose the Sign In Later option. This option bypasses the sign in process.
Next step shows the new features available.
Dropbox support is also included.
Editing is FREE – it is explicitly mentioned.
It started with OneNote being made free on all platforms – including PC and Mac.
Office is free for android and Apple devices. Of course you have to pay for the full version of Desktop / Mac Office.
For details of how to use Office for iPad, refer to these articles:
Office for iPad : Finally we can work!
PowerPoint for iPad – Practical Review
I will post more articles on this subject soon as there are many new features added recently.
Download iPhone Apps
iPhone also has free Office apps now. Download from App Store.
https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/microsoft-office-mobile/id541164041?mt=8
Download links for all devices
http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/mobile/
News articles
Office Blog: Bringing Office to Everyone
Microsoft Blog: More Office. Everywhere you need it.
The importance of Desktop Office
This is indeed a great development. But that does not reduce the importance of full featured Office on desktop.
It is impossible to give all those features on these smaller, less powerful devices. Web apps will also never evolve to provide the same feature set as the desktop suite.
Therefore, real work will continue to happen using full featured desktop Office. Lightweight editing, viewing, reviewing, commenting, correction / modification, presentations and similar less demanding activities will be possible on tablets and phones.
Enjoy.
