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OneDrive and Office Online

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Create and Share Office Documents

Opening documents

You can open and edit your documents in your web browser with Office Online. If you have Microsoft Office installed on your computer, you can also open and edit them with the desktop Office programs. While editing your documents with Office Online is convenient, it does have fewer features and editing tools than the desktop Office programs.

To open a document with Office Online:

  1. Locate and click the document you wish to open. In this example, we'll select a PowerPoint file.
    Screenshot of Microsoft OneDriveSelecting a file in OneDrive
  2. A preview of your file will open. In the top toolbar, click Edit Presentation, then select Edit in PowerPoint Online from the drop-down menu.
    Screenshot of Microsoft OneDriveClicking Edit in PowerPoint Online
  3. Your document will appear. You can now edit it with Office Online.
    Screenshot of Microsoft OneDriveThe file open in Office Online

To close the document and return to OneDrive, click the OneDrive link at the top of the page.

Screenshot of Microsoft OneDriveGoing back to OneDrive

To open a document with a desktop Office program:

You will need to have a version of Office installed on your computer to use this option.

  1. Locate and click the document you wish to open.
  2. A preview of your document will open. In the top toolbar, click Edit Presentation, then select Edit in PowerPoint.
    Screenshot of Microsoft OneDriveClicking Edit in PowerPoint
  3. Follow the instructions, and your document will open in its desktop Office program.

When you're ready to return to OneDrive, simply save the document within the desktop program and close it. The changes you made will be saved to the file on OneDrive as well.

Saving in the desktop version of PowerPointSaving in the desktop version of PowerPoint
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