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| Office for Android apps won't work on Chrome OS |
As of September 18, Microsoft will end support for Office and Outlook for Android apps on Chrome OS and begin rolling out Chromebook users into their web apps.
The company's July 31 support document recommends installing the Android versions of Office, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive. However, these files now indicate that Chrome OS users do not support these applications.
Microsoft said, “To provide the best experience for Chrome OS and Chromebook customers, Microsoft apps (Office and Outlook) will be migrated to Web Experiences (Office.com and Outlook.com) on September 18, 2021.
"This change gives Chrome OS and Chromebook customers access to additional and enhanced features." Customers must sign in with their personal Microsoft account or an account associated with their Microsoft 365 subscription.
The transition to web applications made it difficult for Office users to go offline.
Some Office web applications (such as Outlook) have a dedicated offline mode. However, when offline, it is difficult to open existing documents using Microsoft's Progressive Web App for Chrome OS from Microsoft.
Although Chrome OS originally provided offline editing capabilities for Office files. But it can't provide a true Office experience like Android apps when the internet goes down.
For those who are still online, switching from an Android app to a web app might not make much difference. The web version of Office provides many of the features required for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.
The reason for the change was not mentioned in the company's statement. Although it says that it allows Chrome OS users to access additional and advanced features.
Office for Android apps won't work on Chrome OS
Note that Chrome OS users can use the Office web applications.
This change does not mean that Office for Android will no longer be available to mobile users.
Ironically, the company is urging Chromebook users not to use Android apps on their laptops because Windows 11 supports running Android apps.
However, the OS's functionality over Chrome OS for Android apps has been criticized, and even Google has replaced some of its apps with cross-platform progressive web apps.
Progressive web applications are very useful when you are directly connected to the Internet. However, this is not the case with applications such as Office.