Can I Use Word On A Chromebook

install-office-pwa-on-chromebook-3 — Yeah, you can go Office on a Chromebook, and it's totally piece of cake to practice.
Josh Goldman/CNET

For people who use their laptop primarily for browsing, the Chromebook has been a solid budget choice for over a decade, progressing from so-so to excellent in contempo years. Merely fifty-fifty later on the Chromebook'south long evolution, it still doesn't allow you to straight install Windows or Mac software. That includes the Microsoft Function desktop versions. Likewise, although Chromebooks have admission to the Google Play Store and can run millions of Android apps, the Android versions of Microsoft Office, Outlook, OneNote and OneDrive are no longer supported on Chromebooks.

However, when the Android apps stopped being supported on Chromebooks, some other option -- and in my opinion, a amend one -- took their place.

Progressive web apps are like app versions of a website. They give you an app-similar experience but with more features like offline use, the option to pin them to the taskbar, support for button notifications and updates and admission to hardware features. You can find Microsoft Office 365 PWAs including Outlook and OneDrive, and they piece of work peachy on Chromebooks. Here'due south where to find them and install them so you lot tin all the same use Part on a Chromebook.

Sign in to Office 365

Open up the Chrome browser and get to Role.com, which is the landing folio for Microsoft Office 365 online. If you already have an Office 365 account, just sign as you normally would. If you don't have an Office business relationship, you lot'll need to create one. You can use whatsoever personal e-mail you want for the account, and setting it up is a straightforward process: put in your email, fix a password, verify your electronic mail, and prove you're not a robot.

Install the Office 365 PWA

install-office-pwa-in-chrome — When this Install icon pops up in your address bar, click on it and follow the prompts.
Josh Goldman/CNET

Once you're signed in to Office 365 in Chrome, an Install icon will appear at the pinnacle right of the accost bar. It looks like a computer monitor with a downward pointing pointer. Click on it and it will popular open a prompt to install Office 365. Also, if yous only want a single app like Word or Outlook, the aforementioned install option in the address bar will appear when you point the browser to the specific apps.

The install happens fast and in a matter of moments; a window will open up that looks exactly like the online version of Office 365. Information technology is essentially a browser window only with the features of Microsoft Function mobile apps.

Ready to work

install-office-pwa-on-chromebook-2 — The PWA is just like a mobile app.
Josh Goldman/CNET

Since the PWA behaves like installed software, you can exercise things like pin information technology to the taskbar, go notifications, piece of work offline and hands resize it. The rest of the experience is the aforementioned every bit using the web versions.

Now, if after using the PWAs y'all're missing the await, experience and tools of the desktop software, well, you still can't install them directly on the Chromebook. Just, y'all practise have other options to run Windows software on a Chromebook.