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About this lesson
Learn how to access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other Microsoft 365 applications in Windows 11.
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Quick reference
Access Microsoft 365 Applications
Understand how to access the online versions of the most popular Microsoft 365 applications from within Windows 11.
When to use
We use the online versions of the Microsoft 365 apps whenever we want to use Word, Excel, Outlook, and other applications but don't have a Microsoft 365 subscription.
Instructions
Microsoft 365 Applications
We can use popular Microsoft applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Outlook, etc. from within Windows 11 without having a subscription to Microsoft 365.
With a Microsoft 365 subscription, we pay a monthly fee to 'rent' the software from Microsoft. This gives us access to the full, desktop version of the Microsoft Office suite. We also have access to the online version of the Microsoft Office applications via a handy portal.
Whilst we can only use the full desktop versions of the Office applications if we buy a subscription, we can use the online versions for free and can access them through a link in Windows 11.
The online applications are slimmed-down versions of the full application. We can complete most daily tasks using the online versions but more specialized functionality like Mail Merge in Word can only be done in the full version.
Access Office Applications
If we don't have the full version of Office, we will see Office in the Start menu.
- Click the Start button or press the Win key.
- Click All apps.
- Scroll through and click on Office.
This will open a web browser and we will be prompted to sign in to Office. We can use our Microsoft account details or we can even use an email address such as hotmail.com, live.com, or outlook.com. If we don't have any of these, we will need to create a new account.
Office Online Portal
Once signed into Office Online, the first page we see is referred to as the portal or hub. This is our home page where we can access our recent files and jump to different Microsoft applications using the left-hand menu.
- Click on the Word icon.
This will open the online version of Word. Notice how it differs from the full desktop version. We have a simplified ribbon and fewer commands available to select. If we have OneDrive setup on our PC, all files we create in Office Online will be stored and synched automatically to the cloud.
We recommend having a tour around the interface and becoming familiar with where commands are located in the online versions.
Install Office
In the portal, we have an Install Office button. If we decide at any point that we would like to sign up for a Microsoft 365 subscription and download the full desktop versions of all Office applications, we can simply click this button and follow the prompts. There are many different types of Microsoft 365 subscriptions so be sure to read through all of the information and select the one that best suits your needs.
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