Jul 31, 2013 Last November, we delivered a brand new version of Office Mobile, preinstalled on all Windows Phone 8 devices. In June, we released Office Mobile for iPhone as a unique benefit for Office 365 subscribers. Today, we are launching Office Mobile for Android phones in the United States at no additional charge for Office 365 subscribers.
Guy Gilbert is a senior product manager focused on Office apps across Windows Phone, iPhone, and Android phones.
- If you're having trouble using the Outlook for Android mobile app, Open an in-app Outlook support ticket. If you have a work or school account that uses Office 365 for business or Exchange-based accounts, there may be additional requirements set by your IT admin.
- The new Office mobile app combines Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single app and introduces new mobile-centric features to make it your go-to productivity app on a phone. How your mobile number or email address is used. Microsoft will use your mobile number or email address only for this one.
We are thrilled that Office Mobile for Android phones is available in the U.S. today. Office 365 subscribers will be able to download the app from the Google Play store and activate it. The release of this app shows that we’re committed to keep providing additional value for Office 365 subscribers. Office 365 subscribers will now be able to access, view, and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents with Windows Phone, iPhone and Android phones. Here is the official announcement of the news.
Update 3/27/2014: You no longer need an Office 365 subscription to edit documents with Office Mobile for Android phones. You must update to the latest version of the Office Mobile app to enable free document editing and creation.
I will provide some more detail about Office Mobile for Android phones, and answer some questions that you might have.
If you aren’t already an Office 365 subscriber, you can visit www.office.com to learn more about Office 365 and sign up for a free 30 day trial.
Signing in
When signing in to Office Mobile for Android phones, you can use either a Microsoft Account associated with your Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 University subscription or an Organization account for all other Office 365 accounts. You can find the full list of eligible Office 365 subscriptions later in this blog post. Don’t worry if you have both types of accounts. You can access cloud storage places, for example SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro, after you sign-in.
On the recent documents tab, the last documents you worked on from either your PC – running the new Office – or phone will automatically show up here. This is made possible by Office 365’s roaming documents feature so that you always have quick access to the most up to date version of documents you worked on.
On the Locations tab you can see all of your connected cloud storage locations and add additional locations, such as SkyDrive, SkyDrive Pro or SharePoint sites.
Getting around Office Mobile
From the home page you can easily move between your recent documents, your cloud storage locations, and creating a new Word or Excel document. Let’s take a look at each area.
The New Documents tab lets you create a new Word or Excel document from your phone and provides templates to get you started quickly
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Word
You can read, edit and create new Word documents with Office Mobile. Word is optimized for the small screen of your Android phone, making your documents look great. When you open a Word document from SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro, it will open at the exact place you left off on your PC or phone. The menu bar disappears a few seconds after opening the document, so that you can truly focus on the content of the document.
The document outline helps you navigate the document outline and comments, which is handy for when you want to review just a particular section of a long document
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Tap the pencil on the menu bar and you get access to the most common editing, commenting and formatting options.
Once you’re done making changes to a Word document, you can share it via email or save the document to SkyDrive.
Excel
Excel worksheets, tables, and charts are beautifully scaled to fit your phone screen. When you update numbers in the spreadsheet, the entire workbook will recalculate. You can also create charts, utilize AutoSum features and filter data in tables.
The Outline View lets you jump to the worksheet, chart or table of your choosing. From the Outline View, you can also quickly navigate to comments.
You can also filter or sort data in tables, in order to get new insights.
Select any range of cells and using the AutoSum feature you can instantly view the total, average, count, maximum and minimum values for that range.
With that same selected data, you can quickly create a chart.
Finally, you can format cells to clearly highlight the most important data.
PowerPoint
Preparing for your upcoming presentation is now more convenient with Office Mobile for Android phones. You can review your slides and edit speaker notes, move and hide slides, and make text edits directly from your phone. In the navigation bar, the Slide Navigator replaces the Viewing Tools from Word and Excel.
In Portrait mode you can see your slides and notes, edit your speaker notes, and practice your presentation.
In Landscape mode, swipe through your presentation and view it.
With the Slide Navigator, you can quickly jump to any slide.
Tap the pencil on the menu bar and you can make changes to the text on the slide.
Settings
When you click the options button while on the Office Mobile home screen, you can access the settings for Office Mobile. The settings page lets you reset Office Mobile and add an identity for comments made on your phone. Resetting Office returns the app to initial state and deletes all your documents and cloud storage locations from the phone.
You can also access help documentation, see the version number, read the Terms of Service and Privacy policy, and select Improve Office Mobile settings.
Frequently asked questions
What are the requirements to use Office Mobile for Android phones?
There are two key requirements:
- You need a qualifying Office 365 subscription plan that includes the Office 2013 desktop applications (see list below). After you download and install Office Mobile for Android phones, just sign in with your Office 365 username and password to activate the app.
- A phone running Android OS 4.0 or greater.
What Office 365 subscriptions include Office Mobile?
Any Office 365 subscription plan that includes the full Office 2013 desktop applications also includes Office Mobile. Specifically, these plans are: Office 365 Home Premium, Office 365 Small Business Premium, Office 365 Midsize Business, Office 365 Enterprise E3 and E4, Office 365 Education A3 and A4, Office 365 ProPlus, and Office 365 University. There are also Office 365 government plans that include Office Mobile.
Additionally, Office 365 trial subscriptions will activate Office Mobile. Please visit Office.com to get a 30 day trial.
What languages and markets will Office Mobile for Android phones be available in?
Office Mobile for Android phones will be available in 33 languages and in 117 markets. Initially, it will only be available in the United States. We will gradually expand to additional markets and languages.
- Office Mobile for Android phones will be available into the following languages: Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (US), Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian , Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Latin), Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian.
- Office Mobile for Android phones will be made available in the following markets: Albania, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong SAR, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
When will Office Mobile for Android phones be available outside of the United States?
Office Mobile for Android phones will be available in other markets over the next several weeks.
Can I purchase Office Mobile for Android phones in the Google Play store?
The app is available free of charge for Office 365 subscribers only. Office Mobile is a subscription benefit and demonstrates our commitment to add new value to the Office 365 subscription service.
Customers can buy an appropriate Office 365 subscription through regular channels, for example www.office.com. Office 365 subscriptions will not be available for purchase in the Google Play store.
How does Office Mobile for Android phones compare to Office Mobile on Windows Phone 8?
Office Mobile on Windows Phone 8 provides a richer, more integrated experience. Specifically, on Windows Phone 8:
- Office Mobile comes preinstalled;
- Office Mobile is pre-activated, so it will function without an Office 365 subscription;
- Office 365 setup combines the setup of email, Office Mobile and Lync, with a single entry of credentials;
- Office documents received as attachments in email will open directly with the Office Mobile app, not with viewers that may not render the documents correctly;
- Office Mobile has support for saving documents locally on the phone;
- Office Mobile includes searching and filtering for documents;
- Office Mobile supports opening IRM-protected email and documents.
What is the difference between Office Mobile for iPhone and Office Mobile for Android phones?
The functionality of both apps is very similar. The main differences are:
- Office Mobile for Android phones does not include an option to purchase an Office 365 subscription from within the app. Office Mobile for Android phones only has a “sign in” option.
- When accessing documents on an on-premises SharePoint Server, the URL to the document needs to be fully qualified for Office Mobile for Android phones to be able to open it. For instance, https://contoso/monthlyreport.docx will not open, but https://contoso.corpnet.northwind.com/monthlyreport.docx will open in Office Mobile.
How many phones can I install and activate Office Mobile for Android phones on?
Most Office 365 subscriptions grant you the license to install Office Mobile on up to 5 mobile devices, not including Windows Phone devices (which come with a pre-activated version of Office Mobile preinstalled). An Office 365 University subscription grants you the license to install Office Mobile on up to 2 mobile devices.
Is Office Mobile for Android phones available on other devices like Android tablets?
We built Office Mobile for Android phones to ensure a great Office experience when using a small screen device. Therefore, you will not be able to download and install Office Mobile for Android phones on an Android tablet from the Google Play store. If you have an Android tablet, we recommend using the Office Web Apps which provide the best Office experience on a tablet.
Where can I get more information on Microsoft technical support?
Microsoft technical support information on Office 365 subscription is available here: http://support.microsoft.com/get-support/office/office-365-home-premium/mobile/
We hope this new app will be very valuable for Office 365 subscribers with Android phones. Please let us know what you like and what you’d like to see added in the comments below.
— Guy Gilbert
Last November, we delivered a brand new version of Office Mobile, preinstalled on all Windows Phone 8 devices. In June, we released Office Mobile for iPhone as a unique benefit for Office 365 subscribers.
Today, we are launching Office Mobile for Android phones in the United States at no additional charge for Office 365 subscribers. This means that Office 365 subscribers can now work on their Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents from virtually anywhere–using their Windows Phone, iPhone or Android phones.1
Office Mobile for Android phones can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. To use the app, you need a qualifying Office 365 subscription, including Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 ProPlus (you can find the complete list of qualifying subscriptions here). Office Mobile for Android phones is initially available in the United States, with more countries coming on board over the next several weeks.
So what’s great about Office Mobile for Android phones?
A true Office experience
Office Mobile is the official companion to Microsoft Office. Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents look great on your phone, thanks to support for charts, animations, SmartArt Graphics, and shapes. When you make edits or add comments to a document, the formatting and layout remain intact. When you return to your PC or Mac, your document looks like it should.
Easy access
Office Mobile is designed for people on the go. We made it easy to access your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents in the cloud on SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro. When you’re on your phone, you’ll see the list of documents you recently opened on your computer in the Recent Documents panel–no searching needed. And of course, you can view and edit documents you receive in email.
Designed for the phone
Office Mobile has been optimized for the small screen of your phone so you can get things done efficiently. When reviewing Word documents, the Resume Reading feature takes you to the exact point in the document where you left off on your PC so you don’t waste time searching. The new Slide Navigator lets you browse through PowerPoint presentations fast while Speaker Notes help you practice on the run.
Sharing built-in
Download Microsoft Office For Android Phone
Edit documents and share them right from your phone. You can review comments in Word and Excel documents on your phone and add your own. When you’re done, you can save the file back to SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro or just send it as an email attachment.
Go ahead and download Office Mobile from the Google Play store.
If you want to try Office Mobile for Android phones, but don’t have an Office 365 subscription, you can sign up for a free 30 day Office 365 trial at http://www.office.com/. And of course, if you’re already using a Windows Phone, then Office Mobile is already installed on your phone.
Want to learn more? You can find more details in the Office 365 Tech blog.
–Julia White
Download Microsoft Office For Android Mobile
1Compatible phone and WiFi or mobile network connectivity required. See office.com/mobile.