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Google has shown the way: You can offer typical Office programs such as word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation programs online. Free of charge and with a range of functions that is completely sufficient for most users.
Google first introduced its “Google Docs Editors” suite in 2006, and Microsoft responded with its own online office suite in 2009. As with Google’s competitors, you only need a user account to use it, and the technical requirements are limited to a browser and an internet connection.
On the Online Office homepage, you can select the desired application on the left-hand side or start directly with a new, blank document.
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The central point of contact for the Office programs is the portal . There you can log in with your Microsoft account or create a new account. As soon as you have logged in, you can access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, Teams, OneNote, and To do as well as Family Safety, Calendar, and Skype via the bar on the left and the square symbol with the nine dots.
A number of other programs such as Forms or Loop appear in the “Apps” overview, but you will need a paid Microsoft 365 subscription to use them.
Please note that the browser opens a new window each time you switch to another Office application via the square symbol and the previous application continues to run. To avoid using too much memory, simply close the window with the previously used Office program if necessary.
If you have activated “Start page” in the left-hand column, you can create a corresponding empty document via “Document,” “Presentation,” and “Workbook” and start the appropriate application. Alternatively, click on the icon of a program and then on “Empty document,” “Empty presentation,” or “Empty workbook.” Ready-made templates are also available for each application.
Further reading: 6 reasons why a Microsoft 365 subscription is worth the money
OneDrive is your online depository for files you can access from anywhere.
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Office files saved locally on your computer cannot be loaded directly into the free online office. You can only access files stored in the cloud storage OneDrive. Every user who has a Microsoft account automatically receives 5GB of free storage space there.
To do this, open the overview of available apps via the nine-dot icon and click on “OneDrive.” The following window shows the available files and folders. Click on “Upload” at the top and then on “Files” or “Folders.” In the following Explorer view, select the directory with the local files or folders to be edited, select the desired content, and click “Open” to save it to OneDrive.
Saving edited documents also works slightly differently than with a desktop application.
