The free version of Office can only save files on OneDrive. (Image Source: Microsoft)
Microsoft has reportedly started testing a new version of Microsoft Office that lets you create and edit documents without having to buy a Microsoft 365 subscription or a license key.
According to a recent report by Beebom, the free version of Microsoft Office for Windows comes with ads that appear when you open any document in Word, Excel and Powerpoint. While you can create and edit documents, they can only be saved on OneDrive and there is currently no way to save them locally on your computer.
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The publication also noted that the Office app will automatically play a 15-second muted app every couple of hours and that the free tier misses out on some features like the ability to install add-ins, add watermark, analyse data and others are missing.
How to download and use Microsoft Office for free?
To use the free version of Microsoft Office, install it by downloading the setup from the official website.
When done, open any Office app and when it asks to sign-in, tap the “Skip for now” button that appears below.
Now, proceed to click on the “Continue for free” button and on the next screen, choose the “Save to OneDrive” option.
As it turns out, this free ad-supported version of Microsoft Office is only available to a handful of users. Also, in a statement to PCWorld, a Microsoft representative said that the company has been “conducting some limited testing” and that there are currently “no plans to launch a free, ad-supported version of Microsoft Office desktop apps.”
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