Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office (or simply Office) is a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketing term for an office suite(bundled set of productivity applications), the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a common spell checker, OLE data integration and Visual Basic for Applications scripting language. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for line-of-business software under the Office Business Applications brand. On July 10, 2012, Softpediareported that Office is used by over a billion people worldwide

Office is produced in several versions targeted towards different end-users and computing environments. The original, and most widely used version, is the desktop version, available for PCs running the Windows and macOS operating systems. Office Online is a version of the software that runs within a web browser, while Microsoft also maintains Office apps for Android andiOS.

Since Office 2013, Microsoft has promoted Office 365 as the primary means of obtaining Microsoft Office: it allows use of the software and other services on a subscription business model, and users receive free feature updates to the software for the lifetime of the subscription, including new features and cloud computing integration that are not necessarily included in the "on-premises" releases of Office sold under conventional license terms. In 2017, revenue from Office 365 overtook conventional license sales. The current on-premises, desktop version of Office is Office 2019, released on September 24, 2018.

Unless stated otherwise, desktop applications are available for Windows and macOS. Microsoft Word: a word processor included in Microsoft Office and some editions of the now-discontinued Microsoft Works. The first version of Word, released in the autumn of 1983, was for the MS-DOS operating system and introduced the Computer mouse to more users. Word 1.0 could be purchased with a bundled mouse, though none was required. Following the precedents of LisaWrite and MacWrite, Word for Macintosh attempted to add closer WYSIWYG features into its package. Word for Mac was released in 1985. Word for Mac was the first graphical version of Microsoft Word. Initially, it implemented the proprietary .doc format as its primary format. Word 2007, however, deprecated this format in favor of Office Open XML, which was later standardized by Ecma International as an open format. Support for Portable Document Format (PDF) andOpenDocument (ODF) was first introduced in Word for Windows with Service Pack 2 for Word 2007.[5] Microsoft Excel: a spreadsheet editor that originally competed with the dominant Lotus 1-2-3, and eventually outsold it. Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Mac OS in 1985, and the first Windows version (numbered 2.05 to line up with the Mac) in November 1987. Microsoft PowerPoint: a presentation program used to create slideshows composed of text, graphics, and other objects, which can be displayed on-screen and shown by the presenter or printed out on transparencies or slides. Microsoft Access: a database management system for Windows that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software development tools. Microsoft Access stores data in its own format based on the Access Jet Database Engine. It can also import or link directly to data stored in other applications and databases

Microsoft Outlook (not to be confused with Outlook Express, Outlook.com or Outlook on the web): a personal information manager that replaces Windows Messaging,Microsoft Mail, and Schedule+ starting in Office 97, it includes an e-mail client, calendar, task manager and address book. On the Mac OS, Microsoft offered several versions of Outlook in the late 1990s, but only for use with Microsoft Exchange Server. In Office 2001, it introduced an alternative application with a slightly different feature set calledMicrosoft Entourage. It reintroduced Outlook in Office 2011, replacing Entourage.[7] Microsoft OneNote: a notetaking program that gathers handwritten or typed notes, drawings, screen clippings and audio commentaries. Notes can be shared with other OneNote users over the Internet or a network. OneNote was initially introduced as a standalone app that was not included in any of Microsoft Office 2003 editions. However, OneNote eventually became a core component of Microsoft Office; with the release of Microsoft Office 2013, OneNote was included in all Microsoft Office offerings. OneNote is also available as a web app on Office Online, a freemium (and later freeware) Windows desktop app, a mobile app for Windows Phone, iOS, Android, and Symbian, and aMetro-style app for Windows 8 or later. Microsoft Publisher: a desktop publishing app for Windows mostly used for designing brochures, labels, calendars, greeting cards, business cards, newsletters, web site, and postcards. Skype for Business: an integrated communications client for conferences and meetings in real time, it is the only Microsoft Office desktop app that is neither useful without a proper network infrastructure nor has the "Microsoft" prefix in its name. Microsoft Project: a project management app for Windows to keep track of events and to create network charts and Gantt charts, not bundled in any Office suite. Microsoft Teams: a platform that combines workplace chat, meetings, notes, and attachments. Microsoft announced that Teams would eventually replace Skype for Business. Microsoft Visio: a diagram and flowcharting app for Windows not bundled in any Office suite.

Office Lens: An image scanner optimized for mobile devices. It captures the document (e.g. business card, paper, whiteboard) via the camera and then straightens the document portion of the image. The result can be exported to Word, OneNote, PowerPoint or Outlook, or saved in OneDrive, sent via Mail or placed in Photo Library. Office Remote: Turns the mobile device into a remote control for desktop versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

SharePoint is a web-based collaborative platform that integrates with Microsoft Office. Launched in 2001, SharePoint is primarily sold as a document management and storage system, but the product is highly configurable and usage varies substantially among organizations.

Microsoft Office Online Word Online: Free web app version of Microsoft Word. Excel Online: Free web app version of Microsoft Excel. PowerPoint Online: Free web app version of Microsoft PowerPoint. OneNote Online: Free web app version of Microsoft OneNote. Outlook.com: Free webmail with a user interface similar to Microsoft Outlook and Mail on Windows 10. Docs.com: A public document sharing service where Office users can upload and share Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Sway and PDF files for the whole world to discover and use. On June 9, 2017, Microsoft announced it would shut down Docs.com on December 15, 2017 in favor of the acquired SlideShare with its LinkedIn purchase. OneDrive: A file hosting service that allows users to sync files and later access them from a web browser or mobile device. Office Sway: A presentation web app released in October 2014. It also has a native app for iOS and Windows 10. Delve: Allows Office 365 users to search and manage their emails, meetings, contacts, social networks and documents stored on OneDrive or Sites in Office 365. Microsoft Forms: An online survey creator, available for Office 365 Education subscribers. Outlook on the web: Similar to Outlook.com but more comprehensive and available only through Office 365 and Microsoft Exchange Server offerings. Microsoft Planner: A planning application available on the Microsoft Office 365 platform. Office 365 Video: A video sharing service for enterprise users with an Office 365 Academic or Enterprise license. Microsoft Bookings: An appointment booking application on the Microsoft Office 365 platform.

Office Mobile includes the scaled-down and touch-optimised versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Other Office applications such as OneNote, Lync and Outlook are available as standalone apps.[8] It is supported on Android, iOS, Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. Office Mobile enables users to save and access documents on OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, and SharePoint. Additionally, the Windows Phone version also allows users to save files locally on the device. According to Microsoft, Office Mobile for iPhone and Android are "very similar" to each other, whereas the Windows Phone version provides a "richer, more integrated experience".[9] Office Mobile for iPhone was released on June 14, 2013 in the United States.[10] Support for 135 markets and 27 languages was rolled out over a few days.[11] It requires iOS 8 or later.[12] Although the app also works on iPad devices, excluding the first generation, it is designed for a small screen.[10] Office Mobile was released for Android phones on July 31, 2013 in the United States. Support for 117 markets and 33 languages was added gradually over several weeks.[9] It is supported on Android 4.0 and later.[13] Office Mobile for both iPhone and Android, available for free from the App Store and Google Play Store respectively, initially required a qualifying Office 365 subscription to activate, but in March 2014, with the release of Office for iPad, the apps were updated making them fully free for home use, although a subscription is still required for business use.[14][15][16][17] On March 27, 2014, Microsoft released Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iPad. On November 6, 2014, Microsoft released updated versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint foriPhone.[18] On January 29, 2015, Microsoft released Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Android tablets. On June 24, 2015, Microsoft released updated versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint for Android phones.[19] The Android version is also supported on certain Chrome OS machines.[20] In January 2015, Microsoft unveiled updated universal app versions of the Office applications for Windows 10 devices—including PCs, tablets and smartphones—that are based upon the previously released Android and iOS apps.[21][22] Office Mobile is or was also available, though no longer supported, on Windows Mobile, Windows Phone and Symbian. There is also Office RT, a touch-optimized version of the standard desktop Office suite, pre-installed on Windows RT.

Most versions of Microsoft Office (including Office 97 and later) use their own widget set and do not exactly match the native operating system. This is most apparent in Microsoft Office XP and 2003, where the standard menus were replaced with a colored, flat-looking, shadowed menu style. The user interface of a particular version of Microsoft Office often heavily influences a subsequent version of Microsoft Windows. For example, the toolbar, colored buttons and the gray-colored 3D look of Office 4.3 were added to Windows 95, and the ribbon, introduced in Office 2007, has been incorporated into several programs bundled with Windows 7 and later. In 2012, Office 2013 replicated the flat, box-like design of Windows 8. Users of Microsoft Office may access external data via connection-specifications saved in Office Data Connection (.odc) files.[24] Both Windows and Office use service packs to update software. Office had non-cumulative service releases, which were discontinued after Office 2000 Service Release 1. Past versions of Office often contained Easter eggs. For example, Excel 97 contained a reasonably functional flight-simulator. Office XP and later do not have any Easter eggs, in compliance with Trustworthy Computing guidelines.