Access your SharePoint and OneDrive documents from a browser
You don’t need to use installed MS Office desktop apps. You can create and modify SharePoint and OneDrive documents from any browser.
O365 provides online versions of the MS Office apps and makes them available to you through your O365 license. This means that the MS Office Online apps are available to everyone who can use SharePoint and OneDrive. If you have the full desktop versions of the MS Office apps installed on your computer, you can also choose to use them to work with your documents.
This post will make the distinction between the Online apps (i.e. Online Word) and the Desktop apps (i.e. Desktop Word).
NOTE: When referring to the Desktop apps, this post is referring to those apps installed using the O365 subscription license. If you are using MS Office desktop apps through Volume licensing or a box product purchase, then your experience may be different.
Article Index:
Initial Setup:
Sending/Receiving files:
IMPORTANT!
This tutorial demonstrates the steps in Word, but the same steps can be followed for Excel and PowerPoint.
This tutorial demonstrates the steps with SharePoint, but the same steps can be used with OneDrive.
Open an existing document from a browser
LOG INTO O365 AND CLICK THE APP LAUNCHER
Click the App Launcher icon (
)Launch OneDrive
Click the OneDrive icon (
).Select the site/library from Shared Libraries
Select the desired site/library from the Shared Libraries list. In this example, we are selecting RFJ Team
Open the desired document
Drill down to locate the desired document. Then hover your cursor over the area to the right of the document to display the Menu icon (
). Once displayed, click the menu icon, then click Open and Open in browser.
Work on your document in the browser
Your browser will now display the Online Word app. You can modify the document as necessary.
Note: by default AutoSave will be enabled, so all changes will automatically be saved to the document. Please review the AutoSave feature if necessary.
Open the full Word ribbon
By default the Word ribbon may be displayed minimized. If you wish to see the full Word ribbon, click the downward-pointing caret at the right side of the ribbon.
Note: in this screenshot, the caret is upward-pointing. It changes direction when it is clicked.
)
).
). Once displayed, click the menu icon, then click Open and Open in browser.
FAQs:
How do I save a new version of a document under a new filename?
As soon as you open the document, select File > Save a copy. This will let you save a copy under a new file name without making changes in the original document.
If you have questions about this, please let us know and we will be happy to assist you.
Take care,
