Previously it was rumored that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was planning to rebrand its existing Office Web Apps, and now the company has officially announced that Office Web Apps will indeed become Office Online from today.
Why did the rebranding happen?
One reason that Microsoft states behind this rebranding is because of the confusion of having “apps” in the branding. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a blog post says: “We heard from customers that the inclusion of Apps in our name was confusing. Are they something I install? Do I go to an app store to get them? No, to use them all you need is a web browser. Ah! You say. So it’s like Office, online. Yes, exactly. Office Online.”
This is the primary reason behind the rebranding. The company wanted to prevent confusion and that’s why they changed Office Web Apps to Office Online.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) also states that “a lot of you don’t know that we have an online version of Office because you just couldn’t find it.” Office Web Apps were accessible through OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive), or on Sharepoint at work. But for those who want an easier way, you can access it from Office.com, which is a more “discoverable and shareable web page” as per Microsoft. You can access Office Online from OneDrive too, though.
Access Office Online from Office.com
You can simply head over to Office.com and start using Word Online, Excel Online, PowerPoint Online and OneNote Online, starting from today. Of course, all you’ll need is a Microsoft account, and the files are automatically saved to your OneDrive account so that you can view, share and download them anytime.
Yet another notable addition to Office Online is the inclusion of hundreds of Word, PowerPoint and Excel templates, which you can start using right away, instead of creating everything from scratch. With these templates, you can create resumes, calendars and more, all available from Office.com
Additionally, Word Online, Excel Online, PowerPoint Online and OneNote Online are now included in an app switcher, which means that you can easily switch between all these different services without having to navigate in and out every time. You simply need to choose what you want from the dropdown in the upper left hand corner to access the service that you need. This will open a new tab from where you can switch back and forth easily.
The Redmond company also rebranded SkyDrive to OneDrive just yesterday, following a court battle with UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB over its use of the name ‘SkyDrive.’ It seems that a lot of rebranding is happening at Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) these days!
