Microsoft released preview versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for Android a few months ago. Now the company says they’re ready for prime time.

Office for Android tablets is now available for free.

excel for android

You can download Word, PowerPoint, or Excel from the Google Play Store for free and use them to create, view, and edit documents.

Some features such as change tracking in Word, synchronizing documents with other devices, or use the apps on tablets with screens larger than 10.1 inches requires an Office 365 subscription.

Microsoft says its mobile Office apps should run on devices with Android 4.4 or later, 1GB of RAM or more, and ARM-based processors. Support for Intel chips is in the works and Microsoft says it plans to add support for Intel-based tablets within the next few months.

These new apps join OneNote for Android in Microsoft’s suite of Office apps for Android devices.

Microsoft is hardly the only company offering office apps for Android. Free and paid alternatives from SoftMaker, Polaris, Google, Kingsoft, OfficeSuite, Docs to Go, and others have been available for years. But if you want to be certain that your text, spreadsheet, or presentation documents created on your desktop will look right on your tablet, or vice versa, it’s nice to have the option of using official Microosft Office apps.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

15 replies on “Microsoft Office now available for Android tablets”

  1. Now if only their chrome version of onenote wasn’t a joke. I love onenote and have used it throughout highschool, but since my school adoptd chromebooks, i cant use onenote.

  2. Where is this awesome touch version of office for windows tablets? Still waiting.

  3. By requiring Android 4.4 or newer, MS Office leaves room
    for competing suites on older Android devices.

    Also, if MS Office is too resource intensive, alternative suites
    will still find a place on newer devices.

    1. Depending on old versions of Android isn’t a viable business model.

      1. Unlike WinPhone you don’t get fatal breaking changes every new release though.

    2. That’s right Sam, I ‘m happy using WPS Kingston Office already so I don’t see the point of installing a second office app anymore.

      Looks like MS missed the bus again.

  4. I think it makes good business sense for them to not compile an intel-compatible version.

  5. “Free for tiny” isn’t going to mke much headway against Kingsoft, Polaris, etc. bcause too many people use Android on desktop mini-machines now. Nobody really wants to learn how to make full use of 18 different word processors and try to keep up with version changes. MS Office is already dead to many users.

    1. Too many? Where do you get that idea from? Android desktops make up a tiny fraction of the market, to the point of invisibility. MS Office is still by far the most dominant office suite in the marketplace. None of your assertions hold water.

    2. That barely sounds true for home users. And home users are the last thing Microsoft cares about when it comes to their Office suite.

      This is a way to get additional revenue from businesses that have embraced Android devices for their employees. Many professional speakers will like the idea of having backups of their PowerPoint presentations on phones/tablets, in the event of laptop or external hard drive failure.

      1. Lots of businesses have ditched Windows for many workers too. Probably even more once Windows 10 reveals itself as the mess it is and more are forced to look elsewhere.

        1. Considering MS has been reporting steady market growth for their Office products it would seem your assumption isn’t accurate…

          Let’s not confuse devices people use for personal use with what people are actually using for business… especially, if those business rely on consistency and don’t want to deal with constantly re-training their employees or support multiple alternative that they don’t need to that supporting alternatives would require…

          Most business who have converted to alternatives aren’t the type that require such support or need to worry much about consistency, etc. but they don’t represent the majority of the business market that MS targets with their Office products…

          I also don’t see why you’re assuming Windows 10 will be a mess? Do you know something no one else does because all the beta testers have pretty consistently been reporting positive things about its development… or is it that’s just what you’re hoping will happen?

  6. It’s good that they’re making software on other OS’s. If they want to stay relevant, then they’ll need to continue to port software to other systems.

Comments are closed.