Best Office Program Mac Buying Guide

We explain how to view and edit Word, Excel Powerpoint documents in iOS.

The iPad version offered some basic editing features (but only to Office 365 subscribers), while the iPhone equivalent was read-only.

But these days most iPad and iPhone users can access and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on their phones and tablets without be required to sign up for Office 365.

Best Office Program Mac Buying Guide

For related advice, see our Office for Mac buying guide, as well as Which is the best iPad spreadsheet app.

If you run a search in the App Store rather than using the links above, make sure you get versions with Microsoft Corporation listed as the developer, just so you dont accidentally download an Office clone.

Luckily it is possible to sign up for free, you just need to create a Microsoft ID by logging on with your email address and password.

You dont need to have an Office 365 subscription, but you will need to register for this free account if you want to be able to create and edit documents.

Microsoft seems to believe that the iPad Pro is only a professional device, and the inexpensive iPad 10.2in (2019) model suffers from that larger display.

However, if you have an iPad Pro, or you are going to be using the apps for commercial purposes (e.g.

Office 365 subscription.

Plus you get 1TB of online storage per person with OneDrive (without a subscription to Office 365 you only get 5GB).

Users can also open existing documents stored on their OneDrive or any other SharePoint location.

You also get 60 minutes of free Skype calls each month and OneDrive cloud storage capacity for up to five users.

Apple offers its own alternative that will open and save documents, spreadsheets and presentations that are compatible with the Microsoft Office apps.

You can download the latest versions here: Pages, Keynote, Numbers.

So, users can create a document in the relevant Office app, then revise it on their iPad while commuting.

The document will maintain its formatting even if the mobile version doesnt support that particular feature.

You can also create and save documents on your iPad without saving them to OneDrive - handy if youre offline - but you wont be able to use templates unless you set up the document while still connected to the internet.

Note that it doesnt update in real time, though, so you may refresh and find a paragraph you were working on has moved.

The features that require an Office 365 subscription include some of the more in-depth layout and formatting tools, page orientation changes, additions or reductions to columns and page sections, Word Art, custom text colours, adding reflections or other image editing options, advanced table and chart editing, and change tracking.

If you sign up for a free OneDrive account you can use the app for storing and accessing documents.

Once you have logged into your account you will have almost all the features that Office 365 subscribers have.

Creating, modifying, saving and printing: all worked well in the free version.

Once youve logged in to your Dropbox account, you will see a list of Places you can save and open things.

Best Office Program For Mac