Word and Excel on Ipad 10.5 (or larger)

[Josieb1]

I have the new Air 2019 10.5. I expected to lose the ability to edit and create documents using word and excel for free. I won’t go Office 365 out of principle.

However to my delight I have found that documents that already exist in the cloud (I use Dropbox) and opened in the Word and Excel Apps can be edited, and the new versions saved back into the cloud. This is perfect for me as everything we use is in Dropbox already.

All i’ve done to get around the create option is save some new excel and word documents in a folder in Dropbox for the Air so that when I want a new document I simply open one of those in Dropbox and edit it. It’s easy to change the name in Dropbox using the Dropbox App either before or after I use the document.

I posted this as not sure if this knowledge would help anyone else out with a larger ipad who wants to use the word and excel apps, and not pay for Office 365

 

[Thomas Davie]

Tried it on a 2018 12.9 ipp and didn't work - I get the message asking me to sign in with a 365 sub (Which I also refuse to do) in order to edit.

I use google docs instead.

thanks.

Tom

 

[Josieb1]

Tried it on a 2018 12.9 ipp and didn't work - I get the message asking me to sign in with a 365 sub (Which I also refuse to do) in order to edit.

I use google docs instead.

thanks.

Tom

I’m already signed in with an email address that doesn’t have a 365 subscription. I don’t have any trouble opening or editing existing documents transferred over from the Dropbox app. I linked the three apps when I first installed the apps. My email address is a hotmail. You could try registering the apps with a Microsoft email address and they try it.

 

[Thomas Davie]

Thanks again. Gave it a shot, and although I could open a dummy document I just created (on a 9.7 iPad with another account, saved to dropbox) the editing options were limited to font size change and nothing else.

Tom

 

[Josieb1]

Thanks again. Gave it a shot, and although I could open a dummy document I just created (on a 9.7 iPad with another account, saved to dropbox) the editing options were limited to font size change and nothing else.

Tom

It’s strange, I can add lines, insert text, remove lines etc. Mainly used on excel, but enough options to enable me to update spreadsheets with new sums etc. It did ask me to activate once, when I wanted to open a new document directly in the app, but it just said I didn’t have a 365 sub so I couldn’t, so the app knows I don’t have a subscription. I wonder if it’s because your device is a Pro. Maybe Microsoft have them logged differently to non pros?

 

[Thomas Davie]

It’s strange, I can add lines, insert text, remove lines etc. Mainly used on excel, but enough options to enable me to update spreadsheets with new sums etc. It did ask me to activate once, when I wanted to open a new document directly in the app, but it just said I didn’t have a 365 sub so I couldn’t, so the app knows I don’t have a subscription. I wonder if it’s because your device is a Pro. Maybe Microsoft have them logged differently to non pros?

My bad. Yes, Microsoft is drawing the line at 10.5" - I guess that figuring people with larger size iPads are using them professionally. I also bought a 2018 9.7 iPad at the same time as the pro and it some ways it's better than the 12.9. I'm

How do you like the Air btw?

Tom

 

[Josieb1]

My bad. Yes, Microsoft is drawing the line at 10.5" - I guess that figuring people with larger size iPads are using them professionally. I also bought a 2018 9.7 iPad at the same time as the pro and it some ways it's better than the 12.9. I'm

How do you like the Air btw?

Tom

I think it’s 10.01/02 they draw the line at, but it could still be Pro Ipads get tagged differently when reporting back to Microsoft. I like the Air very much, it’s fast and responsive with a lovely laminated screen. The speakers and camera could be better but I don’t use those much.

 

[StrollerEd]

Interesting. I'm on the verge of buying an iPad - either the 2019 Air or an Apple/refurb 2017 Pro - and was wondering whether there would be any way to edit Word and Excel files - or whether I would need to switch to some other software that could export files that could readily be used by those MS products (for sharing with others). Have you tried editing Powerpoint slides?

 

[Josieb1]

Interesting. I'm on the verge of buying an iPad - either the 2019 Air or an Apple/refurb 2017 Pro - and was wondering whether there would be any way to edit Word and Excel files - or whether I would need to switch to some other software that could export files that could readily be used by those MS products (for sharing with others). Have you tried editing Powerpoint slides?

Not anymore, well not using word or excel. Microsoft patched that loop hole. The way i do it now is to export from Dropbox to Pages or Numbers, then after editing, export back to Dropbox in Word and Excel.

There is a bit of a learning curve with Numbers in particular.

 

[StrollerEd]

Not anymore, well not using word or excel. Microsoft patched that loop hole. The way i do it now is to export from Dropbox to Pages or Numbers, then after editing, export back to Dropbox in Word and Excel.

There is a bit of a learning curve with Numbers in particular.

I bought a personal subscription to 0365, at a knock down fixed per annum rate, when I worked at a university (which imho is ok as software needs to be paid for and I have too much backwork tied up in MS products not to want upgrades). I have since managed to action those Apps on the iPad, with a little help from MS Chat Person. So hopefully, although I will still likely create most presentations and other documents on my MBP, the edit capability 'on the go' will be sufficient. We will see.