Microsoft Office 365 supports both the desktop versions of Microsoft Office applications, which are installed on a workstation, and the online versions of Office applications that can be opened, viewed, and edited in a web browser. However, there are many differences between the two versions and this article documents some of the major differences.
When I wrote the aforementioned article on September 8, 2017, Microsoft used the name “Office Online apps” to refer to the browser-based versions of Office apps (e.g. Word Online, Excel Online, etc.). In July 2019, Microsoft dropped the name “Online” and switched to the name “Office web apps“, as reported by Engadget on July 24, 2019. Therefore, that’s the terminology I will use in this article.
The Office on the web versions are not offered as a replacement for the full-featured desktop Office applications, they are only offered so users can quickly read an Office document online, or make some minor changes to the application because most of the features in the desktop versions are not supported in the Office on the web version. The Office on the web apps in Office 365 can definitely come handy, but as you will discover after reading this article, there are just too many limitations in Office on the web apps that prevent a vast majority of organizations from using them as a replacement for desktop apps, which are full-featured applications with all the bells and whistles.
| Best Practice: Don’t work on the same document in both Office desktop app and Office on the web app to avoid data corruption and other support issues. Pick one version and stick with it. The Office desktop version is the recommended choice. |
The Office on the web apps may work for an individual at home, but it’s hard to find a business that is exclusively using Office Online apps because it’s just not practical. Use the following information to find out which features are missing from the Office on the web apps in Office 365. If you don’t see a feature that’s available in an Office Desktop app listed here, chances are that it would work in the Office on the web app. In other words, this is a list of features that are NOT AVAILABLE in Office Online. The primary source of information for this article is Office for the web Service Description and is provided here for future reference. This can be useful to readers because with each new version of the product, Microsoft replaces old content with the new version without any redirection of pages.
NOTE: The following lists were last updated on 7/31/2019. These are not complete lists, but they give you a good idea of which desktop app features are available in Office for the web. For complete, accurate, and updated lists of application features visit Microsoft. You will find additional details on Microsoft’s website that are not included here.
Word
| Application features | Word for the web | Word desktop app |
| Alignment guides and live layout | No | Yes |
| Apply styles | Yes | Yes |
| Autosave | Yes | Yes |
| Autotext | Yes | Yes |
| Browse and start from professionally designed templates | Yes | Yes |
| Bullets and numbering | Yes | Yes |
| Captions | No | Yes |
| Citations and bibliography | No | Yes |
| Clipboard | Yes | Yes |
| Collaboration- advanced | No | Yes |
| Content controls | Yes | Yes |
| Cover pages | No | Yes |
| Creation of advanced document elements | No | Yes |
| Document parts and themes | No | Yes |
| Dropbox | Yes | Yes |
| Equations | No | Yes |
| Find and Replace | Yes | Yes |
| Font formatting | Yes | Yes |
| Footnotes and endnotes | Yes | Yes |
| Full fidelity reading view | Yes | Yes |
| Graphic effect presets | Yes | Yes |
| Headers and footers | Yes | Yes |
| Hyperlinks | Yes | Yes |
| Index | No1 | Yes |
| Ink Editor | No | Yes |
| Insert online pictures | Yes | Yes |
| IRM and password-protection | No | Yes |
| Learning Tools | No | Yes |
| Lists | Yes | Yes |
| Mail merge | No | Yes |
| Office Add-ins | Yes | Yes |
| Offline viewing and authoring | No | Yes |
| Page breaks | Yes | Yes |
| Page layout tools | Yes | Yes |
| Page layout tools- advanced | No | Yes |
| Page numbers | Yes | Yes |
| Paragraph formatting | Yes | Yes |
| Picture tools | Yes | Yes |
| Preformatted font and color schemes | Yes | Yes |
| Present online | No | Yes |
| Print to PDF | Yes | Yes |
| Printing- advanced | No | Yes |
| Proofing tools | Yes | Yes |
| Proofing tools- advanced | No | Yes |
| Real-time co-authoring | Yes | Yes |
| Reference tools | No | Yes |
| Rendering of text boxes/shapes | Yes | Yes |
| Researcher | No | Yes |
| Rich media | No | Yes |
| Rich table formatting | Yes | Yes |
| Save As and Download a copy | Yes | Yes |
| Save as PDF | Yes | Yes |
| Share | Yes | Yes |
| Simple table creation | Yes | Yes |
| SmartArt | No | Yes |
| Table of Authority | No | Yes |
| Table of Contents | No | Yes |
| Tap | No | Yes |
| Tell Me | Yes | Yes |
| Translation service | Yes | Yes |
| Undo and Redo | Yes | Yes |
| VBA and Forms scripts | No | Yes |
| View and add comments | Yes | Yes |
| Watermarks | No | Yes |
| Word count | Yes | Yes |
| Zoom | Yes | Yes |
Excel
| Application features | Excel for the web | Excel desktop app |
| Accessibility Checker | Yes | Yes |
| Add background color to sheet tabs | Yes | Yes |
| Add hyperlinks | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced time filtering (Timeline slicer) | No | Yes |
| Alignment | Yes | Yes |
| Apply conditional formatting | Yes | Yes |
| Apply smart/recommended formatting | No | Yes |
| Audio notes recording | No | Yes |
| Autocomplete | Yes | Yes |
| AutoSum | Yes | Yes |
| Calculations | Yes | Yes |
| Cell references in formulas | Yes | Yes |
| Comment creation | Yes | Yes |
| Copy and paste | Yes | Yes |
| Create external data connections | No | Yes |
| Create tables | Yes | Yes |
| Creation of advanced analysis views (Power View, Power Pivot, Slicers) | No | Yes |
| Data validation | Yes | Yes |
| Drag and drop cells | Yes | Yes |
| Dropbox | Yes | Yes |
| Duplicate (copy) workseets | Yes | Yes |
| Embed Workbook on Web or Blog Page (OneDrive) | Yes | No |
| External references | No | Yes |
| Fill Handle | Yes | Yes |
| Find | Yes | Yes |
| Font and cell formatting | Yes | Yes |
| Formula bar | Yes | Yes |
| Formula tools- advanced | No | Yes |
| Freeze panes | Yes | Yes |
| Full fidelity reading view | Yes | Yes |
| Functions | Yes | Yes |
| GoTo | Yes | Yes |
| Group data | Yes | Yes |
| Hide/unhide rows, columns, and sheets | Yes | Yes |
| Insert charts | Yes | Yes |
| Insert/delete rows and columns | Yes | Yes |
| Insert pictures | Yes | Yes |
| Insert shapes | Yes | Yes |
| Merge cells | Yes | Yes |
| Named ranges | Yes | Yes |
| Number formatting | Yes | Yes |
| Office Add-ins | Yes | Yes |
| Offline viewing and authoring | No | Yes |
| PivotCharts | Yes | Yes |
| PivotTables | Yes | Yes |
| Post to Social network and present online | No | Yes |
| Power Pivot viewing | Yes | Yes |
| Power View viewing | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | Yes | |
| Real-time co-authoring | Yes | Yes |
| Recommended chart creation and editing with formatting controls | No | Yes |
| Refresh existing data connections | Yes | Yes |
| Remove duplicate values | Yes | Yes |
| Rename and add sheets | Yes | Yes |
| Rename file while workbook is open | Yes | No |
| Replace | Yes | Yes |
| Rights Management: IRM and password security | No | Yes |
| Save or Download a copy | Yes | Yes |
| Share | Yes | Yes |
| Sheet protection | Yes | Yes |
| Slicer viewing | Yes | Yes |
| Sort and filter data | Yes | Yes |
| Spreadsheet audit and compliance | No | Yes |
| Status bar aggregates | Yes | Yes |
| Surveys | Yes | No |
| Tell Me | Yes | Yes |
| Text formatting | Yes | Yes |
| Total data | Yes | Yes |
| Undo and redo | Yes | Yes |
| VBA and macro scripting | Yes | Yes |
| View 3D charts | Yes | Yes |
| What if analysis tools | No | Yes |
PowerPoint
| Application features | PowerPoint for the web | PowerPoint desktop app |
| Alignment, bullets, numbers | Yes | Yes |
| Apply basic transitions and animations | Yes1 | Yes |
| Apply rich formatting to text, shapes, and pictures | No | Yes |
| Apply themes and theme variants | Yes | Yes |
| Arrange objects | Yes | Yes |
| Broadcast slide show | No | Yes |
| Clipboard | Yes | Yes |
| Create and manage slides | Yes | Yes |
| Create custom animation | No1 | Yes |
| Design tools- advanced | No | Yes |
| Embed presentation on web or blog page | Yes | No |
| Font formatting | Yes | Yes |
| Full fidelity reading view | Yes | Yes |
| Full ink support | No | Yes |
| Full selection of animations and transitions | No1 | Yes |
| Headers and footers | No | Yes |
| Hyperlinks | Yes | Yes |
| Insert online video | Yes | Yes |
| Integration with Excel for charts | No | Yes |
| Navigation— slide sorter | Yes | Yes |
| Office Add-ins | Yes | Yes |
| Offline viewing and authoring | No | Yes |
| Picture cropping | Yes | Yes |
| Pictures | Yes | Yes |
| Presenter view | No | Yes |
| Present online through Skype for Business or the Office Presentation Service | Yes | Yes |
| Print to PDF | Yes | Yes |
| Proofing tools | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time co-authoring | Yes | Yes |
| Reviewer tools – advanced | No | Yes |
| Rights Management: IRM and password security | No | Yes |
| Run slide show | Yes | Yes |
| Save As or Download a copy | Yes | Yes |
| Shapes | Yes | Yes |
| Share | Yes | Yes |
| Slide show | Yes | Yes |
| SmartArt | Yes | Yes |
| Table creation/editing and formatting | Yes | Yes |
| Tell Me | Yes | Yes |
| Undo and redo | Yes | Yes |
| View and add comments | Yes | Yes |
| View and edit slide notes | Yes | Yes |
| WYSIWYG viewing | Yes | Yes |
OneNote
| Application features | OneNote for the web | OneNote desktop app |
| Advanced collaboration: New content shows as unread, presence | No | Yes |
| Apply tags | Yes | Yes |
| Bullets and numbering | Yes | Yes |
| Clipboard | Yes | Yes |
| Clipping experiences | No | Yes |
| Co-authoring | Yes | Yes |
| Create and manage pages and sections | Yes | Yes |
| Download copy of embedded Office files | Yes | Yes |
| Drag and Drop Pages | Yes | Yes |
| Drag and Drop Sections | Yes | Yes |
| Drag and Drop Section Groups | No | Yes |
| Dropbox | Yes | Yes |
| Edit embedded files | No | Yes |
| Equations | Yes | Yes |
| Hyperlinks | Yes | Yes |
| Image optical character recognition (OCR) | No | Yes |
| Inking: ink-to-text and math, customizable pens, drawing tools | No | Yes |
| Ink viewing | Yes | Yes |
| Navigation | Yes | Yes |
| Notebook management: Cross section/notebook page filing, section re-order, create/delete section groups | Yes | Yes |
| Office Add-ins | Yes | Yes |
| Outlook integration (tasks) | No | Yes |
| Paragraph formatting | Yes | Yes |
| Pictures | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | Yes | |
| Proofing tools | Yes | Yes |
| Rights Management: IRM and password security | No | Yes |
| Search by: tag, title, author/date, audio notes | Yes | Yes |
| Search (on page, within sections) | Yes | Yes |
| Share | Yes | Yes |
| Show or hide authors | Yes | Yes |
| Styles | Yes | Yes |
| Tables | Yes | Yes |
| Template support | No | Yes |
| Undo and Redo | Yes | Yes |
| Video playback | No | Yes |
| View previous page versions | Yes | Yes |
You can download Microsoft’s 621-page PDF that contains the above lists plus lots of additional details. The live, updated version of the PDF document can be downloaded here.
