If Office Online runs into the issue – it will prompt you to open the file in native (desktop) version of the application If you are using SmartArt shapes to draw charts and diagrams in your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, please note that some shapes are not supported.
If you try to edit older version of the file in the browser, you will get a conversion request message (once you click Convert, the file will be converted to the new file format on the fly ( from.
Related to the point above – if your Word, Excel, PowerPoint files have been saved using older versions of the software (i.e., Word 97 or Excel 2003), they need to be saved (converted) to the new file format ( from.
Requires conversion for older MS Office files.That means only the latest MS Office files are supported (see next limitation). Note the “x” at the end of MS Office file extensions. Limited file support. Office Online only works with the following file formats.As such, they are meant for “lite” editing, and are not intended as a replacement for the desktop software.
They are stripped-down (lite) versions of the corresponding desktop applications and do not have the full functionality you have on your PC.
Word Online, Excel Online, and PowerPoint Online are not fully-installed applications on your PC. This is by design, not so much of a limitation, but you would be surprised how many users question this. They cannot reside on a computer or file share (network drive). To open and edit MS Office documents in the browser (using Office Online), the documents have to reside in either SharePoint or OneDrive.
Please note that it does not support Edit capability for PDF files. In addition to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Office Online can also open PDF documents right in the browser. Since Office Online does not require Word, Excel or PowerPoint to be installed on the computer – this option is great when you need to access files in SharePoint and OneDrive from the computer that does not happen to have this software installed (i.e., connecting remotely from hotel’s computer)
How to open and edit documents in the browser (using Office Online)