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If My Computer Crashes Do I Have to Buy Microsoft Office Again

Microsoft Office is the earth'south de facto productivity suite, but did yous know that most people don't need to pay for Microsoft Word and other apps? Thank you to Microsoft Office Online, you tin can access simplified versions of the about popular Office apps for gratis.

For the majority of users, these stripped-down versions of Office work only fine. Let's look at some of the reasons to utilize Word Online, Excel Online, and the other gratis offerings.

1. Part Online Is Free

The biggest benefit of Office Online is that you tin can use it without paying. This is the easiest way to go Microsoft Word for free and legally.

Traditionally, you lot had to pay upfront for a standalone copy of the latest version of Office (like Part 2021 or Office 2019), which could cost $100 or more. Present, Microsoft wants you to subscribe to Microsoft 365. This is more affordable at $vii or and so per month, but the subscription still adds up over time.

With Office Online, you gain access to online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Teams, and Outlook at no cost. Bottom-used apps like Microsoft Teams, Forms, and Sway are included in the list of Role Online offerings also. In that location are no online versions for Access and Publisher, nonetheless.

To try it, sign in to your Microsoft account on Office.com, and then visit your Office apps page. Hither you'll come across everything that'due south available and tin can jump to any app you like.

Free Office Online Apps

2. Admission Documents Anywhere With Cloud Storage

Having your files saved only to i computer can cause problems when you demand them on some other device. While the option of saving to the cloud is available in modern desktop versions of Office today, it's enabled by default and easy to use in Part Online.

Anybody gets 5GB of free storage in OneDrive with their Microsoft business relationship, which is enough for storing personal documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. When you work in Office Online, all changes save to your OneDrive account equally you become. This ways you won't lose hours of progress if something crashes and you haven't manually saved for a while.

Office Online Save Document

With the OneDrive app on your phone, y'all tin can easily pull up your documents anywhere. And if you demand to edit them in a pinch, you can but sign in to Role Online on whatever reckoner.

Even better, Part Online is device-doubter. You lot can access it on any device with a web browser, including Linux and Mac machines. Gratuitous Office apps for Android and iPhone allow you admission Discussion, Excel, PowerPoint, and more with similar functionality on mobile.

three. Easy Sharing and Collaboration

A lot of people share desktop Office documents with others via email. While this is fine in moderation, information technology becomes cumbersome to constantly send a certificate dorsum and forth. With Office Online, you tin can easily click Share on a file to ship a link to anyone. This card lets you cull if anyone who has the link can access it, or only people yous specify. Yous can also choose whether others have editing permissions.

Office Online Share Settings

Office Online also makes collaborating on documents a cinch. Whether you desire to edit a large paper together or both work in a spreadsheet, doing so only requires both parties to accept the document open. While a like part is available in desktop Office with OneDrive, at that place are more barriers to entry when using the desktop edition.

iv. Office Online Offers a Simplified Workflow

The online versions of Office apps aren't as total-featured as their desktop counterparts. They don't include the well-nigh powerful tools, such equally Discussion's advanced formatting and Excel'south detailed graphs or macros.

While this can make Office Online unsuitable for professional purposes, these apps are nonetheless more than capable for personal use.

Yet, Office Online lacking features aimed at power users can actually be a benefit for some. You might feel overwhelmed by the number of tools on the Ribbon and options to tweak in desktop Role. If that's the case, perhaps y'all'll love the slimmed-down approach of Office Online.

If you have an former computer with a tiresome HDD and limited RAM, Part Online may work faster for y'all, too. While the desktop Function apps are fairly beefy, the web app doesn't put such a strain on your system.

Office Online also provides organizational benefits. Because it keeps all your files in OneDrive, they won't take up storage space on your motorcar (if you cull not to sync them).

Storing all Part files in OneDrive as well means they aren't mixed in with everything else on your system. Each app shows recently edited and pinned files of their type (spreadsheets, presentations, etc.) and then yous tin open them from there instead of hunting effectually a bunch of folders.

Office Online Recent Documents

Finally, using Office Online lets y'all salvage documents in the standard Office file formats, such as DOCX and XLSX. Because so many people use Office, this is important for compatibility with others. Many free Microsoft Office alternatives don't work perfectly with these formats, which scores another point for Office Online.

v. Office Online Receives Feature Updates

If you aren't interested in Microsoft 365, you lot might consider ownership a standalone version of Office, like Role 2021. Notwithstanding, in full general, we don't recommend buying these one-off versions of Office.

The company brings new features to Microsoft 365 showtime, and every few years, it releases a new standalone version of Office with the latest features from the by few years. But these versions just receive security updates; they don't become new features equally Microsoft develops them.

While Role Online doesn't receive every new characteristic added to Microsoft 365, the web versions practice get new features more often than the standalone Office releases do. If the spider web versions practise what you need, why not stick with them for gratuitous and go new features, rather than locking yourself into a desktop version that doesn't go any new functionality?

See Microsoft's page covering Role Online updates to see what'south been added recently.

When Microsoft Function Online Isn't Ideal

We've looked at several reasons why Office Online is a cracking service you should take advantage of, particularly compared to desktop Function. Nonetheless, it's not perfect. There are some situations where you're ameliorate off with some other solution.

One of the biggest limitations of Office Online is its limited app selection. If you require anything across the basics, you'll demand the full version of Office. Apps like Admission, Visio, and Project don't have costless spider web versions.

After trying the Function Online apps, y'all may also find that they lack a feature yous need. Yous can't utilise the web versions to run a postal service merge or execute macros, for example. Those require traditional Microsoft Office (run across some ways to go an Part license for free or pick up a cheap Office license if y'all need to upgrade).

Another serious limitation of Office Online is right in the name---y'all demand an internet connection to use it. For those who often travel without net access, Function Online won't be reliable plenty. If that's the case for you, you lot tin can try a free Office alternative; check out our comparing of LibreOffice and OpenOffice to review two pinnacle choices.

Do You lot Have to Pay for Microsoft Word? No!

It'southward dandy news that Microsoft Word and other Office apps are available online for free, as you don't accept to pay for the basic functionality. If you've never tried Office Online, you should test it out to run into if it works for your needs. Y'all could end upward saving some coin by using it instead of the regular Office.

As you probable know, one of Part Online's biggest competitors is the Google Docs suite. If Function Online isn't the right fit, Google Docs might work better for your needs.

What Is Google Docs? How to Use It Like a Pro

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Source: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/dont-pay-word-5-reasons-use-office-online/

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