Microsoft is now making Office apps available for free across all platforms. That means that not only can you use Office, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote for free online at Outlook.com, you can also download them for your mobile devices.
Previously the mobile app was free, but if you wanted to be able to do anything more than read documents, you needed an Office 365 subscription, which costs $99 a year.
I’ve written before about how much I like Office for Android phones.
Touch-friendly Office for iPad has also received rave reviews from a lot of users. Microsoft is even going so far as to offer prorated refunds Office Mobile for iOS customers who subscribed to Office 365 just to be able to edit documents. That refund is only good for Home and Personal subscriptions placed after March 27 and only activated on Apple devices.
Now there are still some premium features that are only available to people who purchase the 365 subscription. That subscription does allow you to install full versions of all Office applications of five devices plus it comes with unlimited cloud storage. Other premium features not included in the free version are tracking and charting abilities in Excel and advanced presentation abilities in PowerPoint.
If you have an Android tablet, you’ll have to wait a little while longer. Office for Android tablets is in consumer preview now, but expected to be available soon.
To get your free copy of Office Mobile for Android, go to the Google Play Store. To download the iPhone & iPad app, head over to iTunes. To use Office apps online for editing, go to Outlook.com.
~ Cynthia