Work with Files and Documents Online

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About this lesson

Understand the difference between Office Online and Office Desktop and how to work with files in both of them.

Quick reference

Work with Files and Documents Online

We view, open and edit files in the online version of Office whenever we want to work with documents on the go.

Instructions

Microsoft 365 comes complete with the Microsoft Office Suite of applications including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. We have access to online versions of these applications when we sign up for a Microsoft 365 subscription. 

The online versions are slightly different from the full desktop versions you might be used to using. 

The idea behind having an online version of each application is that they are accessible from anywhere, anytime via the Microsoft 365 portal. Historically, the desktop versions are software that's installed on your PC and only accessible from your PC. 

Now, we can view, open, and work on documents in Office online from wherever we have an internet connection. 

For example, I could create a document in Word at my desk, save it into OneDrive and then work on that document on the train on the way home by opening it from the Microsoft 365 portal. 

Office Online

The online version of Office looks different from the desktop version. 

We have a simplified ribbon.

Word Online

Word Desktop

We can do most things online that we can do in the desktop version. There are a few things that are not accessible in the online version such as Mail Merge. 

Despite the fact that the options we have in the online version are more limited, we have access to the commands we use most often. We can view, read and make most types of edits. 

Install the Desktop Version of the Office Suite

Every Microsoft 365 subscription comes with access to the online versions of all apps. However, we can also download the full desktop versions of each application using any subscription except the free account. 

  • Open Microsoft 365
  • Click the Install apps button

This will download and install the full desktop versions of the Office applications. We can work with files and documents in the online version and the desktop version and as long as we save into the cloud, everything synchronizes. 

When we install desktop applications this way, the Office suite essentially becomes version-less. Microsoft 365 is constantly updated and new features are pushed out perpetually to subscribers. No more upgrading your copy of Office every couple of years!

Work with Office Online

Let's create a Word document in Office Online

  • Open Word from the App Launcher
  • Click Blank document

Notice that by default, the document title is 'Document 1'. We can rename our file by simply clicking on the file name and typing a new one. 

  • Select a location where to save the file
Save a Document

When files are saved into the cloud, we no longer have to remember to continuously save. Files are saved automatically as changes are made. 

Access the file in the Desktop version

If we create a file in Word online and then decide to work on it in Word Desktop, we can access the file very simply by opening it from OneDrive. 

  • Open Word Desktop
  • Go to the File tab
  • Click Open

  • Navigate to OneDrive and the folder the file is saved in to
  • Select the file and click Open
  • Make some changes to the document

Notice that it says 'Saving' in the title bar. 

  • Close the document

We can now go back to the online portal and open the same file from within Word Online and all of the changes will be there.

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  • 00:04 In this section of the course, we're going to shift our focus towards working with
  • 00:08 documents, presentations, and spreadsheets online.
  • 00:10 Because the way that we utilize Microsoft 365 Office applications online
  • 00:15 is slightly different to when we're using the desktop versions.
  • 00:19 Now let's start out with that point right there.
  • 00:22 Because if you're fairly new to Microsoft 365,
  • 00:24 then this might be something that causes you confusion.
  • 00:28 Definitely after training this for many years,
  • 00:30 I find that people sometimes struggle with this concept.
  • 00:33 So far in this course, we've been logging in to an online portal and
  • 00:37 we've been working with our applications from here.
  • 00:40 Now what it means when we log into an online portal is that we can access all of
  • 00:43 our applications as long as we have an Internet connection.
  • 00:47 So that frees us up from being stuck at our desk and
  • 00:50 having our applications tied to one PC.
  • 00:54 I could be working on my laptop on the train as long
  • 00:56 as I have a working Wi Fi connection, I can log into the portal.
  • 01:00 I can open my applications, and because I have Office online, I can work on Word
  • 01:05 documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and OneNote notebooks.
  • 01:10 But always remember that when you are using Office within the portal,
  • 01:14 these are the online versions of your applications.
  • 01:18 Let me show you an example.
  • 01:19 If we click on the App Launcher, I'm just going to open a really common application
  • 01:23 that we all use, and that is Microsoft Word.
  • 01:26 Let's open it up.
  • 01:27 It's going to open in a new browser, and we'll load up a blank document.
  • 01:32 Now immediately, if you are a Word user and
  • 01:35 you're used to using the desktop versions, this looks very different.
  • 01:39 We have a much more simplified ribbon structure, and the commands that you see
  • 01:44 on these ribbons aren't as plentiful as when we're using the desktop version.
  • 01:48 And just so we can get a direct comparison,
  • 01:50 let's open up the desktop version of Word.
  • 01:53 So this is the full desktop version.
  • 01:56 It has a different look and feel and we have many,
  • 01:58 many more commands that we can choose from.
  • 02:01 And with the online version, there are some features that just aren't available.
  • 02:05 For example, if you find yourself doing things like mail merge,
  • 02:08 you're not going to find those in the online version of Word.
  • 02:12 So if the online versions of our applications are more limited,
  • 02:16 why on earth would we want to use them?
  • 02:18 Well, the idea behind these applications is simply so
  • 02:21 that we can carry on working when we're on the go.
  • 02:25 These aren't really designed for use when you're sitting at your desk and
  • 02:28 you have access to the full version.
  • 02:30 So again, if I'm running around and I need to quickly review a document or
  • 02:34 maybe make some minor changes.
  • 02:36 As long as I've got an Internet connection, I can log into the browser,
  • 02:40 I can open the file, and I can do what I need to do.
  • 02:42 The more complex stuff I need to leave for when I'm working with the desktop version.
  • 02:47 Another question that I get asked all the time when it
  • 02:50 comes to working with Office in Microsoft 365 is,
  • 02:53 do I need to log into the portal every time I want to work on a Word document?
  • 02:58 And the answer is no.
  • 03:00 You can install the full versions of all of your applications from within
  • 03:05 the portal.
  • 03:06 So I'm back at the homepage.
  • 03:08 If we go over to the right-hand side, notice we have an Install apps button, and
  • 03:13 we can install the Microsoft 365 versions of all of our Office applications.
  • 03:18 And the cool thing about this is that because you are now using the Microsoft
  • 03:22 365 versions, they're constantly kept up to date.
  • 03:26 So if you've been used to in the past having to buy the latest and
  • 03:30 greatest version of the Office suite every few years or so,
  • 03:34 you now don't need to do that with your subscription.
  • 03:37 Because it's always being updated, and the latest features and
  • 03:41 commands are always being pushed out to you.
  • 03:44 So let's take a look at how we can save documents up into the cloud and
  • 03:48 work with them within the portal and also in the desktop version.
  • 03:53 So we're going to go back and let's just create a Word document.
  • 03:56 I'm going to open up Word, let's create a new blank document.
  • 04:00 And one thing you'll notice with these applications is that by default,
  • 04:03 it gives it a name of Document1.
  • 04:05 Now I could go into File and Save As just here.
  • 04:08 Alternatively, I can simply click in the title area and rename the file.
  • 04:13 So let's call this, we'll call this My Life Story.
  • 04:18 Why not?
  • 04:20 Then I can choose a location to save this into.
  • 04:23 So if I click the arrow, I can actually choose to save it into document libraries,
  • 04:27 within Teams, or SharePoint, or I can save it into OneDrive,
  • 04:31 which is the default here.
  • 04:33 So if I open up the Training Files folder, I'm just going to move it there.
  • 04:38 Let's click Move Here.
  • 04:39 And another really cool feature is that as we type, and I'm just going to type some
  • 04:43 random text in here, we don't don't actually have to save as we go along.
  • 04:48 Notice that where we have the title My Life Story,
  • 04:51 we have a little OneDrive icon just here.
  • 04:53 And as we make changes, this is constantly saving back to OneDrive.
  • 04:59 In fact, if we click on File notice there isn't even a Save button in here,
  • 05:03 the only thing we can do is save it as something else.
  • 05:07 So no more remembering to press Ctrl+S.
  • 05:10 So now we have this saved, let's close it down.
  • 05:13 You can see that that file now appears at the top of the list on the homepage.
  • 05:18 Now, how would I access this in the desktop version?
  • 05:22 Well, remember, we've saved that file into OneDrive.
  • 05:25 So if we go to File > Open, I have access to my OneDrive folder just here,
  • 05:30 so I can click on this, and there I have my folder structure.
  • 05:34 So let's jump into Training Files, and there it is.
  • 05:37 I can double click to open and then I can make my changes.
  • 05:41 So let's just make all of this bold.
  • 05:44 You can see here it says Saving at the top, that's now change to Saved.
  • 05:49 And if we go back to the portal and reopen this file from here,
  • 05:52 we should find that those changes that we just made, and
  • 05:55 that is the first paragraph, is all in bold, have saved back.
  • 05:59 So that is a brief overview as to how the online version differs from the desktop
  • 06:05 version and how we can save up into the cloud so that everything synchronizes.

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