Introducing Office – Your new go-to mobile app for getting work done
February 19, 2020 Update: The Office app has now reached general availability and is free for anyone to download through the App Store for iOS and the Google Play Store for Android. Please read our latest post on the Microsoft 365 Blog for more information. Today we are excited to share a new vision for how people get work done on a phone – a new app that’s ambitious enough to simply be called Office. Download for Android (public preview) Update on iOS public preview: Per the terms of Apple’s TestFlight program, the public preview for iOS apps is restricted to a maximum capacity of 10,000 users. We saw extraordinarily strong interest in the Office app and reached the capacity limit for iOS within a few hours of today’s announcement. We are thrilled and flattered by the interest and look forward to reaching general availability of the app for everyone to use. The public preview for the Android version of the Office app is not subject to the same download limits and continues to be available for download. Vision for working on mobile devices We all rely on mobile devices more than ever for getting work done whether that’s at a job, at home, or at school. There are many great mobile productivity apps available such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to help us do that, however we still believe an opportunity exists to create a more mobile-centric experience for these types of apps. The new Office mobile app represents our vision for what a productivity solution would look like if first built for mobile devices. In designing this new experience, we first considered how people’s expectations differ when using a phone versus a computer, so we set out to optimize for simplicity, efficiency, and common mobile needs. Next, we explored how to better incorporate the unique ways that people input data and create content on a mobile device – essentially turning the phone form factor from a liability for doing work into an asset. Finally, we needed to ensure that this app met the high expectations people already have for Office solutions. This solution should feel familiar to the people that know and rely on them today and instill a sense of confidence that they can accomplish their work with the high degree of quality and security that they have come to know. A new mobile productivity experience We are excited to introduce to our solution to this endeavor. The Office app provides a simple, integrated experience that puts the tools you need for working on a mobile device at the forefront of the experience. We started by combining the existing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint mobile apps into a single app. Doing so brings all of your Office documents together in one place, reduces the need to switch between multiple apps, and significantly reduces the amount of space used on your phone compared to multiple installed apps. We then added new capabilities that harness the strengths of mobile devices, such as the camera, to enable you to create content in uniquely mobile ways. Finally, we added a new Actions Pane that helps you accomplish many of the common mobile tasks you need to do all from one place. Whether using it for personal or professional reasons, Office is designed to be your go-to app for getting work done on a mobile device. Let’s take a closer look at what makes it different: Simple, integrated experience Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all in one app with all of the mobile features you already know and use. Easily get to recent and recommended documents stored in the cloud or on your device, or search for documents across your organization if using a work account. Easy access to Sticky Notes to jot down quick reminders and ideas. Create content in uniquely mobile ways Snap a picture of a document and turn it into an editable Word file with the press of a button. Transform a picture of a table into an Excel spreadsheet so you can work with the data. Let PowerPoint help you design a presentation by simply selecting the pictures you want to use from your phone. Create automatically enhanced digital images of whiteboards and documents with Office Lens features integrated into the app. A new Actions pane for common tasks you may encounter on a mobile device Create PDFs with your camera, using photos on your device, or from Office documents. Sign PDFs by simply using your finger. Scan QR codes to open files and links. Easily transfer files between your phone and computer or share instantly with nearby mobile devices. Now available in public preview The Office mobile app is available in public preview starting today for Android and iOS*. It is super easy to get started with the app – anyone can download and use it for free and we don’t require a sign-in to start using it. However, logging in with a work, school, or personal Microsoft Account gives you access to your files stored in the cloud, and you can sign in with more than one account to make it easy to get to all of your documents in one place. The app is currently available only on phones, although we will bring this experience to tablets as well. Since this is a public preview, we are very interested in hearing from you about what you like, don’t like, or would like to see in the app so we encourage you to provide feedback through the “Help & Feedback” tool under Settings. We continue to work hard on making the app an even more powerful tool for getting work done, so keep an eye out for more to come with Office. We know many people are probably wondering, what does this mean for the current mobile apps? In short, we will continue to support and invest in the existing Word, Excel, and PowerPoint mobile apps. We are proud that millions of people use and depend on these apps every day and we believe everyone should decide which experience works best for them on their phones. However, we do encourage everyone to give the new Office app a try – we think it will change your expectations for what you think a mobile productivity experience should be. No other app combines the simplicity, efficiency, and capability for getting work done on a phone quite like Office. Get started now on Android and stayed tuned for further updates on availability for iOS*! * Please note: Per the terms of Apple’s TestFlight program, the public preview is capped at 10,000 users. We reached this limit on the first day of availability and the public preview for iOS is no longer available to new users.
OneDrive files opened from Finder not recognized as cloud files on Mac
Office for Mac: OneDrive files opened from Finder no longer recognized as cloud files – AutoSave disabled Hi everyone, I am experiencing a persistent issue with Microsoft 365 for Mac and OneDrive that started suddenly around August 10, 2026. The same setup and workflow had worked without problems for more than two years before that. Problem My Office files are stored in OneDrive and synchronized to my Mac via the standard macOS File Provider. When I open an Excel or Word file by double-clicking it in Finder, the Office application opens the file, but it apparently does not recognize it correctly as a OneDrive/cloud file. For example: AutoSave is disabled real-time co-authoring does not work as expected when I try to enable AutoSave manually, Office behaves as if the file were local and asks me to upload/save it to OneDrive – even though the file is already stored and synchronized in OneDrive However, if I open the exact same file from within Excel or Word via the OneDrive/Online Locations option, everything works correctly: AutoSave is enabled immediately co-authoring works changes made by another user appear in real time This behavior is reproducible with multiple files and affects both Excel and Word, so it does not appear to be an issue with one particular workbook or application. Environment MacBook Air M2 current macOS version current Microsoft 365 version current OneDrive version OneDrive Personal files synchronized through the standard macOS File Provider I have also tested opening files directly from: ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive/... The result is the same: when opened from Finder, Office does not appear to recognize the file correctly as a cloud file and AutoSave remains disabled. Troubleshooting already performed I have already: completely reset and reconfigured OneDrive allowed OneDrive to fully resynchronize verified the files and folders in OneDrive on the web confirmed that OneDrive reports everything as synchronized restarted Finder and macOS removed and recreated Finder shortcuts/favorites tested without Finder favorites or aliases tested directly from ~/Library/CloudStorage/OneDrive updated macOS updated all Microsoft 365 applications updated OneDrive None of these steps changed the behavior. Key diagnostic result The following comparison is consistently reproducible: Finder → OneDrive file → double-click → Excel/Word → AutoSave OFF → file appears not to be recognized as an active OneDrive cloud document → co-authoring does not work correctly Excel/Word → Open → OneDrive/Online Locations → same file → AutoSave ON immediately → cloud functionality works → co-authoring works correctly This suggests that OneDrive synchronization itself is functioning correctly. The issue seems specifically related to the handoff between macOS Finder / Apple File Provider / OneDrive and Microsoft 365 for Mac when a OneDrive file is opened from Finder. Important detail This is not a workflow that has never worked on macOS. For more than two years, we routinely opened our synchronized OneDrive Word and Excel files directly from Finder. Office recognized them as cloud files, AutoSave was available, and collaborative editing worked normally. The behavior changed suddenly around August 10, 2026, without us intentionally changing the OneDrive folder structure or our workflow. Question Has anyone else encountered this recently? In particular: Is this a known regression in Microsoft 365 for Mac, OneDrive for Mac, or their integration with Apple's File Provider? Why would Office recognize a file as a OneDrive cloud document when opened through the application's Online Locations, but not when the exact same synchronized file is opened from Finder? Is there a way to reset or repair the Microsoft 365/OneDrive cloud-file recognition or File Provider integration without resetting the entire OneDrive again? Are there any relevant logs, caches or diagnostics that could show why Office considers a Finder-opened OneDrive file to be local? Opening every document through the Office application's Online Locations is a possible workaround, but it is not a practical long-term solution when working with a larger shared folder structure in Finder. I have already contacted both Apple Support and Microsoft Support. Apple referred me to Microsoft, and Microsoft Support subsequently recommended that I raise the issue here in the Tech Community. Any insight from Microsoft staff, MVPs or others familiar with Microsoft 365 for Mac, OneDrive and the macOS File Provider would be greatly appreciated.
to big title bar in Office 365 update 2408
Hi all, since a couple of days I have to work with the ugly, annoying, awful, ... user interface in Office 365. The title bar size became horrible large. Compared with an explorer window from Win 10 it is nearly the double height. As an Office Poweruser (I'm working with the office products (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) unluckily the whole day) I'm looking for smallen the title bar again. There was a registry hack, but on my machine this isn't working anymore. Because of the ribbon interface and a lot of not needed functions this is how my Quick Access Toolbars (QAT) are looking like: Now somebody could tell my, "OK, switch the QAT to the top, so that the title bar get more sense! Problem is, that the monochrome icons are absolutly boring AND especially for Word I can't differ between my macros, which I set with different colours. The title bar is smaller because of the standard buttons and the search field, so that not all my most loved commands have space here Dragging the window can not be done with the title bar, as it was since the beginning of time. I need to find some space somewhere. Does someone have an idea to reduce the size of the title bar as it was before? Or does someone have an idea to colorize the icons, when they are inside the title bar? If I consider that the taskbar is also increasing in size, especially in WIN 11 where this isn't adjustable, both sides (top + bottom) in sum are steeling to many space. Cheers! Kay
