Microsoft Office is the world's most widely used collaboration and efficiency suite.

Transformed into a de facto standard in companies and administrations, the company markets it in editions for local installation and single payment, and also as a subscription model (Microsoft 365), which is the enormous present and future commitment once this form is established. of distribution that reached the program after winning with the services of continuous use of music or video.

Aside from the paid commercial editions, Microsoft gives the suite away for free and on other interfaces, like Android where downloads pile up in the millions.

But it also has a free desktop version that includes Simplified editions with the essentials for a good part of individuals.

We are going to leave you certain causes to use it and we are also going to comment on its restrictions in case you need much more.

Office Online is free

The much cheaper version of Office 2021 costs 149 euros, while Microsoft 365 for consumption is priced at 69 euros each year.

In front of the commercial editions, it is clear that the biggest benefit of Office Online is that it's completely free.

Previously known as Office Web Applications, it includes the three main apps of any office suite: the Word content processor, the Excel spreadsheet tool and the PowerPoint sampler.

Microsoft adds others for free such as OneNote, Teams and Outlook, apart from Microsoft Teams, Forms and Sway.

Using it is as simple as entering your website, sign in with a Microsoft ID account (or create one if you don't have one), and start working in any browser.

Access to documents anywhere

Beside the indicated apps, Microsoft gives 5 Gbytes of free storage space on your OneDrive cloud service.

Enough to hold documents, spreadsheets and samples.

The moment you work in Office Online, any and all changes will be saved to OneDrive instantly. 

This means that you will not lose hours of progress if something goes wrong and you have not manually saved the files.

Another essential point to emphasize is that Office Online works independently of the device and the interface, and can be used from any matching browser (any and all essentials) on Windows, Linux, or Mac operating system machines.

It is also connected to the applications for smart mobile interfaces, iOS or Android, which work really well and are also free.

Collaboration Simplicity

Several customers continue to distribute Microsoft Office documents through mail or mail services.

With Office Online it is much simpler and more malleable, since you can use the Communicate function to send a link whose online opening enables its use by another user.

The menu lets you choose any contact or add multiple of them out of the box.

You can also choose to have editing or read-only privileges.

This version also allows multiple people to work on the exact same file simultaneously, and only requires that both have the file open with the corresponding privileges.

Workflow made simpler

Unsurprisingly, Office Online doesn't provide as many features as its commercial desktop or Microsoft 365 subscription counterparts.

They don't have the much more powerful tools in the suite, like Word's advanced formatting and Excel's explained charts or macros.

That may scare this version away for expert purposes, but it's still quite capable for personal use.

In addition to this, there are individuals who have the possibility of being overwhelmed by the proportion of tools and also work platform of the finished editions.

Office Online gives you the essentials with everything at hand to work.

And it does not load the elements of the system so much, which can be a virtue when working on computers with a lower level of hardware.

Office Online also provides organizational virtues.

Thanks to the fact that it supports each and every one of the files in OneDrive, they will not take up storage space on the local machine, although it also allows it to be carried out if you choose to do so.

Finally, indicate that Office Online works with standard Office file formats, such as DOCX and XLSX, essential to ensure compatibility.

continuous update

East office for website receives continuous updates from Microsoft, work platform, functionalities, security and popular bugs.

Not as much as Microsoft 365 on which it bases its performance, but considerably more than the local Office 2021 suite that will not have a feature update until the next version.

If Microsoft manages to generate it, it has now warned that this would be the last.

So Office Online will be perfectly up-to-date, shortly after the new features have been rolled out for the commercial cloud suite.

Office Online is not special

At this point, we must also comment on the less strong points of this suite.

Or restrictions much rather.

If you need the much more outstanding functionalities of the commercial suite, you will not find them.

There are also no free editions of apps like Access, Visio and Project.

In addition to this, it is an online suite with what this means, you need to be connected and it may not be possible in all cases to access a reliable Internet connection.

On the other hand, the industry provides elections to Office high quality and some free.

Example Google plus Docs / G Suite that nothing should envy the Microsoft solution and if you are looking for a program to install locally, there you have the fabulous Libre Office, open source, completely free and with plenty of possibilities for the vast majority of users.

And Office Online?

attracts us. Fast, with a simplified work platform, simple to use, regardless of gadgets and interfaces, and that provides the essentials of the considerable apps of the Microsoft suite for free.