Those using the developer version of Chrome OS or a Chromebook can now edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents offline outside of Google Drive.
To enable the feature switch to Chrome OS’s developer mode in the settings menu. Enter Chrome://flags in the address bar and enable the “Enable document editing” option. Once you’ve restarted your Chromebook you will now be able to open and edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents.
The feature uses software from Google’s recent purchase of Quick Office and demonstrates the company’s continued push to weaken Microsoft’s dominance of office software.
The software is still a beta version, and as such contains some bugs. How well the new feature handles complex Word and Excel documents is still questionable. It’s likely that this feature will eventually make its way to all flavours of Chrome, and integration with Google Drive would provide even greater incentive for those looking to move away from Microsoft Office in education.
