Microsoft floats the idea of a free Office tier, complete with ads

Summary

Microsoft has been internally considering the idea of offering a free and ad-supported tier of its classic Office suite of apps.
This free tier could potentially strip out access to advanced features, and might only allow for saving files via OneDrive.
In the limited testing that’s been conducted, ads are placed on a dedicated sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen.

Microsoft appears to be silently weighing the idea of introducing an all-new tier for its popular suite of office applications: a cost-free, ad-supported tier.

As first reported by Beebom, Microsoft is currently conducting tests on this potentially free variant of its legacy Office suite, Microsoft 365 Copilot(previously known as Office 365). Unlike the standard experience, which requires a subscription fee to access, this free version would surface various ads within a dedicated sidebar panel.

Additionally, this free version of Office would only allow for saving files directly to Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage service, with no option to save locally on your computer. It would also limit the use of certain advanced formatting features and other power user tools.

Microsoft has since clarified that although it’s internally floating the idea around, no official plans or announcements should be expected anytime soon.

“Microsoft has been conducting some limited testing … Currently, there are no plans to launch a free, ad-supported version of Microsoft Office desktop apps,” says Microsoft in a statement to PC World.

Nevertheless, I’d be surprised if we don’t see a free and ad-supported version of the classic Office suite eventually make its way into the consumer space — the idea simply makes too much sense.

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Microsoft Office free tier with ads screenshot from Beebom

Beebom / Pocket-lint

It should be noted that Microsoft’s testing of a free and ad-supported version of Office is unrelated to the company’s existing (and free) Office web apps.

Rather, these ads would surface on the native, legacy Win32 Office versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, et al. Theoretically, failing to log in with a Microsoft Account would simply throw ads on screen and offer a limited software experience as a compromise. For reference, apps like Word will currently refuse to let you save a document if an active subscription and the account isn’t identified by the system.

A few years ago, Google’s web-based Workspace of productivity apps changed the game entirely.

A few years ago, Google’s web-based Workspace of productivity apps changed the game entirely, making it free for office workers to create spreadsheets, slideshow presentations, and process words via the internet. Microsoft responded with its own set of free and web-based Office apps, which leaves the expensive legacy programs in a rather tough spot.

With increased competition from Google, the growing popularity of free and open-source alternatives like LibreOffice and OpenOffice, and the ubiquity of free web-based Office access, it only makes sense for Microsoft to allow free-flowing access to its legacy Office clients as well.

If anything, I’m just happy to hear that Microsoft hasn’t fully given up on its classic Win32 suite of Office apps.

If anything, I’m just happy to hear that Microsoft hasn’t fully given up on its classic Win32 suite of Office apps. As convenient as their web-based counterparts are, many power users and Office fans require the added flexibility that only the legacy programs can provide.

With the recent deprecation of the Win32 Outlook app in favor of the web-based Outlook (new) client, I’ve been worried about classics like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel suffering a similar fate. If the only way to save these native-built apps from falling into obscurity is by introducing a new ad-supported free tier, then I say bring it on, Microsoft.