logo
logo
Sign in

Is Microsoft Office Truly Necessary?

avatar
Maruf Hossain
Is Microsoft Office Truly Necessary?

Microsoft Office has been a mainstay of the computing world for decades, both at home and at work. Almost everyone has used it to generate Word documents, Powerpoint presentations, or Excel spreadsheets at some point in their lives. In 2020, Microsoft Office 365 will have 258 million paying customers. However, with yearly subscriptions starting at £60, it isn't cheap.


Consider whether you actually need Office before renewing your membership if you're an Office user already. After nearly three decades of Microsoft Office, there is finally a free alternative that is worth looking at. Apps like these are available online right now for free from Google, too.


In order to determine if you actually require Microsoft Office, consider the following information.


What are the benefits of using Microsoft Office?


Microsoft Office can be used in a variety of ways. As a first option, you can purchase a monthly subscription to Office 365 that gives you access to the most up-to-date full versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Publisher and Access are also included, but you can only use them on a PC. Microsoft's OneDrive cloud storage is also included at no additional cost (everyone can get 5GB free). If you want to use Office 365 for personal use, you'll pay $59.99 a year, but if you want to use it for a family, you'll pay $79.99 per year. New tools and features, as well as security and bug fixes, will be included in both options.


The second choice is to get Office Home & Student 2019 for $119.99. Although you can use Word, Powerpoint, and Excel on a single PC or Mac, you won't have access to additional online storage or software upgrades with this plan.


However, it is feasible to use Word, Excel, and Powerpoint for free. Use any online browser to view limited versions of these products at office.com (you can also download free apps for your smartphone or tablet). However, it's worth mentioning that there are many features lacking and you won't be able to save documents to your computer's hard drive; instead, your OneDrive space will save them.


Is it possible to use Google Docs?


You can create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on your PC, tablet, or smartphone, just like you can with Microsoft Office. The main distinction is that it's completely free. A secure online storage area called Google Drive is where all of your files are kept safe and sound. To utilize it, you simply need a Google account.


Aside from the low cost, what are the advantages of using Google Docs?


1. It's very easy to use. 2. A slew of useful tools are built into Microsoft Office (such as the References menu in Word, which may be used to structure your writing for academic purposes). This can make Office feel a little cluttered. Because only the most essential capabilities are included in Google's software, it is simpler to use. Even features that you don't use can be removed. Now you can quickly and easily access the spell checker without having to sift through countless menus.


Additional online storage space is yours for the taking. Google Drive gives you three times as much free storage as Microsoft does with 15GB of available space.


If you're a Google user, you'll never lose any work because Google saves everything you do to your Google Drive account by default. After a defined number of minutes, you can choose whether or not Microsoft Office's PC client will automatically save your work to your local hard drive when used online. You'll have to fiddle with the settings if you want it to save to OneDrive more frequently or automatically.


When using Google Chrome, type docs.new, sheets. new or slides.new into the address bar to create a new document, sheet or slide.


The final word


Students and professionals with a lot of sophisticated files to generate and modify will have no choice but to invest in a Microsoft Office subscription. However, the Google Docs Suite is a better option if you only need tools for basic word processing and data entry.


Buy today Microsft's any software from Brytesoft UK.

collect
0
avatar
Maruf Hossain
guide
Zupyak is the world’s largest content marketing community, with over 400 000 members and 3 million articles. Explore and get your content discovered.
Read more