How To Use Microsoft Office On A Chromebook

How to use Word on Chromebook

Table of Contents

If you want to use Microsoft Office apps on your Chromebook like Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, this is the article for you.

As it turns out, there are actually two different ways to use Microsoft Office on your Chromebook. Neither of them have all the features that you might find on a Windows or Mac computer, but they both get the job done and one of the options is even available for free.

Prefer to watch a video about how to use Microsoft Office on a Chromebook? Click here.

The first way you can use Microsoft Office on a Chromebook is to use the online version. The online version can’t be used without an internet connection which could be an inconvenience. But it’s completely free and really has all the basic features you would need to work with Word, Excel, or Powerpoint.

The other option for using office on a Chromebook is to use the Office Android apps. This will only be possible if your Chromebook is capable of installing Android apps but any Chromebook made in the last five or so years should be able to.

And the apps are available to download and install for free, but You’ll need to sign in to your Microsoft account and have an active Microsoft Office subscription to use them so it’s not really free.

I’m going to show you how to use the online version first, but if you want to see how to install and use the Android app version, click here to skip down to that.

Microsoft Office Web Apps

To use the Microsoft Office web apps, you’ll just need to go to office.com, And if you’re not currently signed in to a Microsoft account, you’ll see a page like this:

how to use word on a chromebook

And you’ll need to click “Sign in” and sign in with your Microsoft account if you already have one, or if you don’t have a Microsoft account, you can create one for free by clicking “Sign up for the free version of Office”.

how to use microsoft word on a chromebook

Then, once you’re signed in (or if you already were signed in, you’ll see a page like this:

how to use microsoft office on a chromebook

Now, if you have any Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, or Powerpoint Presentations stored in OneDrive, you’ll see them listed in chronological order here and you can click on any of them to begin working on them.

how to get microsoft word on chromebook

Or, if you have a document, spreadsheet, or presentation on your Chromebook that you want to upload and use here, you can do that by clicking on “Upload and open…” and choosing your file.

how to use excel on chromebook

Then, you’ll see this message while the file is uploading to OneDrive:

how to use microsoft word on chromebok

And once it’s finished, you’ll be in your document, spreadsheet, or presentation ready to make any changes to it you want.

how to create a word document on chromebook

Or, if you simply want to create a new document, spreadsheet, or presentation, you can do so by clicking on the plus icon in the menu on the left hand side of the screen…

how to install microsoft word on chromebook

And then, in the menu that appears, click on “Document”, “Spreadsheet”, or “Presentation” depending on what you want to create.

how to get microsoft on chromebook

And then you’ll have a brand new document, spreadsheet, or presentation ready to work on.

how to use microsoft office on chromebook

I won’t go into any more detail about how to use the Word, Excel, or Powerpoint interfaces as they’re fairly similar to the regular Windows and Mac apps, except they’re online and they have a few of the more advanced features missing.

Microsoft Office Android Apps

If you’d prefer to use the Microsoft Office Android apps on your Chromebook so that you can use proper apps that don’t require an internet connection. The first thing you’ll need to do is install them by opening up the Google Playstore app.

how to use powerpoint on chromebook

And then, in the search bar at the top of the screen, you’ll need to search for the Office app that you want to install.

There is a Microsoft Office app available on the play store that has Word, Excel, and Powerpoint all in one, but when I installed it on my Chromebook, I found that the app crashed within a few seconds every time I opened it.

You might have different results so you could try installing the office app on your Chromebook if you like, but I’ve found installing the specific apps for Word, Excel, and Powerpoint works much better.

So, if (for example) you just want to install Word, you could just search for the Word app and install that, or, if you want to install all three of them, you can search for them in the Google Play store one by one and install them all.

But seeing as the process for installing and using these apps is quite similar, for the purpose of this demonstration, I’m just going to install and use Word.

So once you’ve searched for the app you want to install, you’ll just need to install it by clicking on “Install”.

how to use office 365 on chromebook

And then, once it’s finished installing, the “Install” button will turn into an “Open” button, and you’ll be able to open the app by clicking “Open”.

how to get microsoft word on a chromebook

When you open the app for the first time, you will likely see a popup message asking if you want to allow it to access files on your device, and you’ll need to click “Allow” in order for it to work correctly.

how to install microsoft on chromebook

Now, you’ll be prompted to sign in with your Microsoft account. And you’ll need to have a Microsoft account with an active office subscription so you’ll first need to go and sign up for that if you haven’t already.

But as long as you do have an Office subscription, go ahead and sign in by entering your email address and clicking on the arrow.

how to open word document on chromebook

And then, enter your password and click “Sign in”.

how to add microsoft word to chromebook

Then, once you’re signed in, you’ll see this screen which is where you’ll be able to open a document or create a new one.

how to use word in chromebook

Down the left-hand side of the screen, you’ll see all your recent documents (or spreadsheets, or presentations depending on what app you’re in) that are in either your OneDrive, or the documents folder under the “Play files” section on your Chromebook.

how to download microsoft word on google chromebook

Or, if you want to open a file that’s stored in a different location on your Chromebook, you can click “Open other documents” in the bottom left hand corner.

how to put microsoft word on chromebook

And then, click on “This device” to open any of the documents (or spreadsheets or presentations) that are on your Chromebook.

how to get microsoft on a chromebook

If you want to create a new document (or spreadsheet, or presentation), you might first want to set the default location that the document will be stored.

By default, it’s set to save the documents in the Documents folder under the “Play files” section on Chromebook which is great if you want your documents stored offline.

But if you want your documents to be stored in Onedrive instead, you can do that by clicking on the drop down menu under “Create in”.

how to use microsoft on chromebook

And then, in the menu that appears, click on “Select a different location…”.

how can you use microsoft word on a chromebook

And then, select “OneDrive”.

how to put word on chromebook

And then if you want the documents to be stored in a specific folder on OneDrive, you can select a folder here, and once you’re happy with your selection, click “Select” in the bottom right hand corner to save the changes.

how to get microsoft word on google chromebook

Once you’re happy with the location the new documents are going to be saved to, you can create one by clicking “Blank document” to create a fresh blank document, or choose one of the templates below it if you prefer.

how to use microsoft word in chromebook

And then you’ll be in your new document, spreadsheet, or presentation ready to start working on it!

how to use word on chromebook for free

You’ll probably notice that the interface is quite a bit simpler and there are quite a few features missing, but all the basic ones are there so it’s enough to get the job done.

And that’s all there is to it! You now know two different ways that you can use Microsoft Office on your Chromebook.

I prefer to use Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides when doing office work on a Chromebook as I find they have a better interface with all the features I need.

But if you really need or want to use Microsoft Office on your Chromebook, you now know two different ways that you can do it.

Don't Miss an Episode

Related Posts

Subscribe On Youtube!

Categories

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe On Youtube!

Popular Posts

Categories

Latest Videos