Here, we will primarily talk about Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Now that we have got the basics, let’s now move to the missing features. Microsoft Office Web vs Desktop Apps: Missing Features Considering all the points, opting for the monthly plan seems a much better value. Along with that, you get many perks on the web version of MS Office too.įor instance, you get offline access to Office Android apps on Chromebooks, Microsoft Editor for grammar checking on the web, AI-powered tools like Audio Transcribe on the web, 1TB of OneDrive storage, advanced formatting options on the web, and more. The paid plan starts at $6.99 per month and it offers you the offline desktop version of Microsoft Office as well. In case, you don’t want to buy a one-time license then you can get a monthly subscription plan called Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365). You will have to buy separate licenses for using the desktop version of Microsoft Office on different platforms.

Also, note that you can’t transfer an Office license between your PC and Mac. Having said that, keep in mind, the one-time license doesn’t bring additional perks like OneDrive storage and newly-added features like Audio Transcribe. The desktop apps bring a full set of features (which we have discussed below in detail), that lacks on the web version of Microsoft Office.

Currently, you will get the whole suite of Office 2019 and you can use it while being offline as well. You need to purchase a one-time license (costs $249.99) for your PC or Mac and then you can install the desktop versions of Microsoft Office. What I like more about the web version of MS Office is that it automatically saves all your changes so you will not have to worry about losing your progress.Ĭoming to the standalone desktop apps of Microsoft Office, well, unlike the web version that has a free tier, it does not have one. Also, you can save files on your local disk and not just on OneDrive. You can save a document in PDF format on the web without installing any add-in which is great. It sure becomes a hassle when you are dealing with large Office documents - be it Word, PowerPoint, or Excel.Īpart from that, the web version is primarily free to use, and you can get almost all the things done through a browser. Instead, you will have to first upload the document on OneDrive, and then only you can edit an Office file on the web. Next, you can’t directly select and edit an Office document that is available on your local disk. It does not support offline editing or viewing. As it’s self-explanatory, the Web version is online only meaning you can access Microsoft Office on the web only when you are connected to the internet.

First and foremost, we are going to discuss the basic differences between the web version of Microsoft Office and the desktop apps.

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