Microsoft Office is one of the most popular office suites out there. The Redmond giant has significantly improved the product and launched Office apps across different platforms. Apart from the desktop apps, Microsoft Office is now available on Android, iOS, iPadOS, Chrome OS, and most importantly, on the web. The web version of Microsoft Office is particularly promising because it’s free to use and offers almost all the major features. That said, there are minor differences in terms of features set which are a deal-breaker for pro users. So in this article, we bring you a full comparison between Microsoft Office Web vs Desktop apps. On that note, let’s go through the comparison.

First and foremost, we are going to discuss the basic differences between the web version of Microsoft Office and the desktop apps. As it’s self-explanatory, the Web version is online only meaning you can access Microsoft Office on the web only when you are connected to the internet. It does not support offline editing or viewing.

Coming to the standalone desktop apps of Microsoft Office, well, unlike the web version that has a free tier, it does not have one. You need to purchase a one-time license (costs $249.99) for your PC or Mac and then you can install the desktop versions of Microsoft Office. Currently, you will get the whole suite of Office 2019 and you can use it while being offline as well.

Microsoft Office Web vs Desktop Apps: Missing Features

Now that we have got the basics, let’s now move to the missing features. Here, we will primarily talk about Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. We will list out all the features that are missing on the web version of Microsoft Office.

  • On the web version of Microsoft Word, you can’t add captions, citations and bibliography.
  • There is no support for advanced collaboration such as Track Changes, merge, compare and combine documents.
  • No support for advanced page layout tools and advanced printing tools.
  • Unlike the desktop version of MS Office, you don’t have a full set of Reference and Researcher tools.
  • You can’t insert videos inside a word document
  • Watermarks are not supported on the web version of Microsoft Word.

2. Microsoft Excel

  • On the web version of Microsoft Excel, you don’t have access to advanced formula tools.
  • You can’t create PivotCharts, but can view them on the web. Bear in mind, you can now create, edit and view PivotTables.
  • There is not much option for advanced formatting and you don’t get smart formatting recommendations on the web.
  • You can’t create external data connections or make external references.
  • On the web version of Excel, you can’t create advanced analysis views such as Power View, Power Pivot and Slicers.
  • No support for advanced time filtering like Timeline Slicer.

3. Microsoft PowerPoint

  • On the web version of Microsoft PowerPoint, you don’t have a larger selection of animations. It only has eight transitions and 37 animations. For custom animations, you will have to use the desktop app of MS PowerPoint.
  • You can’t play embedded videos in PowerPoint on the web.
  • No rich formatting for texts and shapes. While you can apply styles and add shadow effects, the features are somewhat limited. You don’t have gradients, eyedropper, styles and effects.
  • Design tool and ink support is not available on the web version
  • No support for headers and footers.
  • No integration with Excel for charts.

For a full list of differences between the web version of Microsoft Office in comparison to desktop apps, head over to Microsoft’s Web Service Description.