That's about to change: Google just announced that it's adding native support for Microsoft's Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats — like . docx, . xls, and . ppt — which will let you do real-time collaboration in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Google's official name for this not-suite is now Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides—the names of its word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation apps, respectively. But most of the world still calls it by its original name, Google Docs. For the sake of convenience, I'll call it that here.
To start using Office for free, all you've got to do is open your browser, go to Office.com, and select the app you want to use. There's online copies of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote you can choose from, as well as contacts and calendar apps and the OneDrive online storage.
Google Docs is a word processor included as part of a free, web-based Google Docs suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service. Google Docs is available as a web application; mobile app for Android, iOS, Windows, BlackBerry; and as a desktop application on Google's Chrome OS.
Best of all, these alternatives to Excel are free.
- Google Sheets. Image: Google.
- Microsoft Office Excel Online.
- Apache OpenOffice Calc.
- LibreOffice Calc.
- WPS Office Spreadsheets.
How To Open Excel File Without Excel?
- Using Chrome Browser's Free Extension. You can open XLS/XLSX file easily in your Chrome browser just by using a free extension.
- Excel Viewer.
- Apache OpenOffice.
- Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack.
- XLS Viewer 2.30.
- Google Docs.
- Zoho Sheets.
- WPS Office.
Install our software extension "Open in Microsoft Excel" Once you install our software, please refresh all your existing Chrome Tabs/close Chrome browser and restart Chrome browser. Choose the XLS/XLSX/CSV file link you wish to open with Microsoft Excel via the right click context menu button.
How to Open Microsoft Word Documents Without Word
- Download Word Mobile from the Store on Windows 10.
- Upload the document to Microsoft OneDrive and open it from the OneDrive website.
- Install LibreOffice, a free and open-source office suite.
- Upload the document to Google Drive and open it in Google Docs, Google's free web-based office suite.
Simply install the Google Drive plug-in for Microsoft Office, and Google Drive will display as a file storage location in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (Figure A). From within your Office app, open a file on Google Drive, make your changes, then save the file back to Google Drive.
Edit data in a cell
- Open a spreadsheet in the Google Sheets app.
- In your spreadsheet, double-tap the cell you want to edit.
- Enter your data.
- Optional: To format text, touch and hold the text, then choose an option.
- When done, tap Done .
No editing is possible. To perform editing, choose File>Open With>Google Docs. If you want to bring the document back into Word later, you can re-export the document as a . docx file (but not .
Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It was first launched in 2006 as Google Apps for Your Domain and rebranded as G Suite in 2016.
Step-by-Step Instructions with Screenshots
- Open your Google Drive and click New.
- Select File upload.
- Select the Word doc and click Open. The file will now upload.
- Double-click the uploaded doc.
- Click Open with.
- Select Google Docs.
google,com, or click the Drive icon. Then select the file from there. Right-click on the file and select "Open with Google Docs".
How to edit PDF files:
- Open a file in Acrobat DC.
- Click the “Edit PDF” tool in the right pane.
- Use Acrobat editing tools: Add new text, edit text or update fonts using selections from the Format list.
- Save your edited PDF: Name your file and click the “Save” button.
Google offers separate apps for Google Drive, Docs, Slides, and Sheets on iOS and Android. Download the ones you need to the phones and tablets you'll use while you're offline.
Both
Android and iPhone users will be able to save
Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.
How to edit Google Docs offline: Mobile app
- Open your Google Drive app.
- Next to the file you want, tap "More" (three stacked dots).
- Tap "Make Available Offline."
It's safe to say that Microsoft Word is easily the most advanced option when it comes to functionality. That doesn't make Google Docs useless, though. For 90% of users, the word processing capabilities of Google Docs is more than enough. But for some, Microsoft Word's advanced features will be important.
There's no question that Microsoft Word has many more features than Google Docs. So, if you're looking to do serious formatting and layout work, then Microsoft Word is the app for you. But, if you're doing only basic word processing, then Google Docs may be all you need.
Office 2016, the next major version of Microsoft's desktop suite of apps, will include real-time co-authoring for Word documents. Google Docs rose in popularity thanks to its co-authoring feature and the fact it's a free, albeit simple, alternative to Office.
Best Google Docs Tips
- Enjoy Your Conversation While Writing – Voice Typing.
- Clear Formatting of the Copied Document.
- Explore Huge & Beautiful Google Fonts List.
- Image Editing Inside the Documents.
- Do Search and Insert Links Inside Documents.
- Bookmark Your Documents for Less Scrolling.
- Footnote.
- Suggestion Mode for Making Better Documents.
To do this, locate the document you want to convert in your Google Drive, then right-click it and click “Download.” Google Drive will automatically convert it to a Word format and open up a “Save As … ” window to save it.
By adding macros, Google Sheets continues to grow into a viable alternative to Excel for most spreadsheet users. And unlike Excel, Sheets is free. Still, for those who use spreadsheets for serious data analysis or visualization, Excel remains the superior product. Excel has more built-in formulas and functions.
Any document, spreadsheet or presentation you make in Google Docs is instantly shareable on the Internet with a simple “Publish” button. You can even embed the documents right into a web page, which can make for a really effective way to share information that needs to be updated from time to time.
Google Drive can automatically transform any PDF into a Google Doc, allowing you to edit the text as you will. Click Open with > Google Docs. Google Drive will automatically convert the PDF to a document you can edit.
If you can't edit a file, a few things could be wrong: The file owner didn't give you permission to view the file. You're signed in to a different Google Account. Someone else with edit access removed your permission to edit.
View and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files -- without needing Office installed on your computer. Once the extension is installed, Office files that you drag into Chrome, open in Gmail, Google Drive, and more, will be opened in Docs, Sheets, and Slides for viewing and editing.
