For a really long time, if you wanted to use Microsoft Office tools like MS Word, Excel or PowerPoint, you needed to purchase a license for the software. Or you could subscribe to Microsoft 365. But that’s now changed, as Microsoft has officially launched a free ad-supported version of Office for Windows and Mac. Let us see how to install the Office free version on a Windows 11/10 PC.
How to download and install Office free version on Windows 11/10
- Start by downloading the installer for Microsoft 365 from its official website.
- Run the installer, and let it download and install Office for you.
- Once installed, you can launch Word, Excel and PowerPoint along with a few other applications, from the Start menu.
- After launching any of the apps, you will see the Welcome to Free Word, Excel or PowerPoint window.
- From here, choose Continue for free to start using the application.
Screenshot of Free version of Microsoft Office PowerPoint
Screenshot of Free version of Microsoft Office Excel
Screenshot of Free version of Microsoft Office Word
Limitations of Free Microsoft Office Desktop software
While the new free Office is completely free to use and download. There are some limitations:
- Being an ad-supported application, you will constantly see an ad on the right side of the screen. Also, there will be a 15-second video ad auto-played (muted) once in a while.
- It doesn’t allow you to save your documents locally. Instead, your documents will be saved in OneDrive. Plus, the free version of OneDrive comes with 5GB of free space.
- Across the free versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, you will see several key features that are missing. For instance
- In Word, you don’t have options like line spacing, shading, borders, etc.
- Excel doesn’t have features like conditional formatting, Pivot Table Macros, Custom Views, Workbook Statistics, etc.
- In PowerPoint, you don’t get features like Screenshots, Photo Albums, Cameo, Show media controls, format backgrounds and so on.
Microsoft Office has also listed these apps as free versions right next to the paid ones. Here are details when it comes to features:
Microsoft Word
- For one person
- Sharing and real-time collaboration
- Word for the web
- Basic spelling and grammar
- Basic templates, fonts, icons, and stickers
- Dictation and voice commands
- 5 GB of cloud storage
Microsoft Excel
- Everything in Word
- Excel for the we
- Ad-supported Outlook email and calendar
- Works on web, iOS, and Android™
Microsoft Powerpoint
- Everything in Word
- PowerPoint for the web
- Basic spelling and grammar
- Basic templates, fonts, icons, and stickers
- Dictation and voice commands
Overall, if you are a power user of Word, Excel or PowerPoint, then the free version of Microsoft 365 might not be the perfect choice. For full-fledged features with no ads, you will still need to buy a license.
Read: What is the difference between Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365?
You can always use Microsoft Office alternatives like Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, but these are cloud-based.
