Microsoft Hides ‘Open In Desktop App’ Option From Online Office

The Office package is an important pillar of the Redmond group and Microsoft also offers various solutions for this. This also includes a free online version, which is constantly being expanded. Now there is a small but important change.

Anyone who wants to use Office programs such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint usually uses a variant that is available locally on the computer. This comes either via the conventional Office suite or as part of the Office 365 package. But there is also another option, namely as a freely accessible online version.

This online variant was certainly also an answer to the Google solutions, the search engine giant offers its own alternatives to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Microsoft’s answer was initially a half-hearted attempt to counter that, but the Redmond company soon realized that no flower pot can be won with quick shots. As a result, the online version of Office has also been expanded and in the meantime, a more than competitive solution is available here.

These versions are now full-fledged Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) that are also integrated into Windows 10. In addition, Dr. Windows noticed that Microsoft is now going a step further and making a small but significant adjustment.

“Open in desktop app”

Because in the web version of the Office apps you could see a prominent notice in the title bar that you can open a document you have just edited in a desktop app. This will also be possible in the future, but users will have to search for this “link” a little: Instead of the title bar, it will soon be found under “Edit” in the menu.

This adjustment has already been made in end-user versions, whoever is using the business version of Office 365 will get it in the course of the next few weeks.