Microsoft Finally Gives In, Releases Office Online Chrome Extension

The latest Office update of Microsoft comes with expanded Skype integration, an Office Online Chrome extension, and improvements for Android and Mac users.
Despite recently debuting a new Web browser, Edge, Redmond is playing nice with Google's Chrome, which now includes an extension that lets users create and open Office Online documents.
Without leaving the browser window, you can open and view existing documents stored on OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, and on the computer.
"One of the coolest things about being able to update Office regularly is that we can now address customer feedback more rapidly," Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president of the Office team, wrote in a blog post.



Following last month's addition of Skype to Office 2016 on the desktop, meanwhile, Redmond is making communication even easier with the inclusion of video and voice calls in Office Online.
That includes Word (pictured), Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote Online, as well as Outlook.com, where users can instant message or video chat with colleagues without leaving the document they're discussing.
"Best of all, your instant messaging history stays connected to the document, so that the next time you open it, you can pick up right where you left off," Koenigsbauer said.


The feature will be available next month to those with a Microsoft account; it will eventually roll out to all Office desktop apps.
The October update also includes an enhanced Navigation pane for working with large Word documents, as well as a number of formatting improvements to Excel and performance fixes in PowerPoint.
On Android, the latest update reduces the Office app's footprint by 40 percent. It also includes Android 6.0 Marshmallow support for Enterprise and is compliant with Android for Work. Plus, Office 365 subscribers can now use Presenter View in PowerPoint on Android.