Create and edit files in the Microsoft 365 web apps

OneDrive for Business

Lesson 3/10

Whether you’re in OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams, you’re bound to run into the Office web apps at some point. Learn how to create and edit files completely online without needing any Office desktop apps installed on your machine. We’ll also cover interesting and useful features like the Immersive Reader.

Notes

Create files and use the Office web apps

• When you create a new file from OneDrive (using the New button), it’ll open in an Office web app (Word Online, Excel Online, PowerPoint Online, OneNote Online, etc.) – a browser-based version of the application. 
• Be sure to switch from the simplified ribbon in the web app to the classic ribbon if you want it to more closely match the desktop experience visually.
• Be sure to rename any new files by clicking on the document title in the title bar (by default, it’ll name your new file to something like Document.docx, Presentation.pptx, etc.).

Edit files

• You can open a OneDrive or SharePoint document in the desktop version of an app by selecting Open in Desktop app from inside the document itself. You can also select the document from OneDrive, then choose Open > Open in app from the ribbon menu (so you don’t have to open a document first to go straight to the desktop version).
• Editing a file in OneDrive is as simple as opening the file – it’s immediately ready to be edited once opened and Autosave is on automatically as long as it’s a cloud-based document in Microsoft 365 (saved in OneDrive or SharePoint). Note: To use Autosave in the desktop version of Office apps, you must have the Office 365 suite installed on your machine and not Office 2016 (or another year).

Additional resources

• Office for the web service description – Service Descriptions | Microsoft Docs