Microsoft Office was released for Android over two years ago, with separate apps for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The apps were free to use for viewing and editing documents on phones if users signed in to their Microsoft account. On the other hand, the Office productivity suite was not available on Chrome OS, which was a deal-breaker for users who were dependent on it.
Last year, Google released the capability to install Android apps in select Chromebooks. As Microsoft Office was available on the Play Store, users tried to install it on many Chromebooks. For some reason, the Office suite worked on only a few Chromebooks. At that time, Chrome Unboxed contacted Microsoft to clarify the situation, and Microsoft responded by stating that support for Microsoft Office was in the works for Chromebooks, but some kinks had to be worked out.
Since that statement, though, no update has been offered by Microsoft on the state of support for Microsoft Office in Chromebooks. The state of the situation has been that the Office Android apps were available on some devices, but not on others. They could even spontaneously disappear on some devices.
Therefore, Chromebook users have been waiting for support for Microsoft Office since a long time. However, it's worth noting that all the Office apps have worked since the beginning on Google's Pixelbook. Now, Chrome Unboxed states that it has been getting user reports of Chromebooks finally being able to run Microsoft Office apps. The publication checked common Chromebooks such as the Samsung Chromebook Pro, Pixelbook, two different models of Acer Chromebook 15, and the Acer C771. They were able to confirm that Microsoft Office was able to download on the Play Store for all of the mentioned devices.
This is major news for productivity users who had previously been interested in Chrome OS, but could never buy a Chromebook because of lack of Office support. It's because Microsoft Office support is important for users who rely on it for work or school purposes.
Although alternatives like Google Docs have existed for years, compatibility for Microsoft Office documents is a big barrier. As it now seems that all Chromebooks with Play Store access can now download Microsoft's productivity suite, it may be that consumer adoption of Chromebooks will increase as their productivity feature set improves.
Source: Chrome Unboxed
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