I’m not the biggest Microsoft fan in the world but I’m excited to see this new open avatar. And in a lot of places MS Office is still the name of the game. For someone who works on the web, it’s better than the alternatives – opening the file on the desktop, editing and uploading it back or even worse – using something like Google Docs when the other party isn’t. The integration’s strength is its simplicity – not its features. Microsoft’s efforts for not getting OneDrive or Outlook accounts all up in this is commendable. The web app though only works with docx, xlsx and pptx formats. The iOS app supports doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt and pptx. Millions of users who already use Dropbox, have Office files stored there or collaborate on Office documents are going to get a lot out of this feature.

It works as advertised and is a breeze to use. The Dropbox integration is one of the better things to come out of Nadella’s new and more open Microsoft. For Android tablets with screens larger than 10.1″, an Office 365 subscription is also required to edit Office files stored in Dropbox Basic and Pro accounts. Only Dropbox for Business accounts will need to sign in with an Office 365 account (Business, Business Premium, ProPlus, E3, or E4) in order to edit Office files saved in your Dropbox. The only caveat is Dropbox for Business and large screen Android tablets. Exiting the document will save the file back to Dropbox and bring the user back to the Dropbox app. It’s the same drill, all the Office app will need is Dropbox authorization.

IOS app users will see an Edit button that will open the document in the corresponding MS Office app (the latest version of the app needs to be installed).

Openoffice online dropbox