Office for iPad

Your work leads you to often use the programs included in the Office suite, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You usually work from your PC, but now you are about to go on a trip and therefore you would like to know if there is the opportunity to use the same applications on a tablet, more precisely on your iPad. Well, I am happy to inform you that the answer is yes! Office for iPad  exists and is really within everyone's reach, as it has an extremely intuitive interface and is free for all iPad models of 10.1 "or smaller (if used for non-professional purposes), otherwise you have to activate Microsoft 365 paid subscription.

If you agree, in this tutorial I will explain how to download the Office package in its entirety and the individual apps of the suite. I will also list the most important features of each of them, including the additional features obtainable through the subscription. In the last part of the guide, then, I will tell you about some alternative solutions that you can consider if Office does not satisfy you 100%.

So, are you ready to get started? If your answer is yes, pick up your iPad, read my instructions carefully and put them into practice to download Office and use it on your trip. There is nothing left for me to do but wish you good reading and, more importantly, good work!

Office for iPad free

As I said at the beginning, Office on iPad is available both in the form of an all-in-one app, called Microsoft Office , and of individual applications, namely: Word , Excel , PowerPoint , OneNote and Outlook .

It is possible to download Office for iPad for free on devices with dimensions equal to or smaller than 10.1 "(eg iPad mini), while on larger devices (eg iPad Pro) it is necessary to subscribe to the Microsoft 365 service , which has an equal cost at 7 euros / month (valid for 1 PC or Mac and for mobile devices) or at 10 euros / month (valid for 6 devices and for smartphones and tablets) with a free 30-day trial, and which also allows you to unlock some features advanced. For more details, read my specific guide on the subject .

To find out how to download and install Office on your iPad proceed reading, you will find everything in detail below.

Microsoft Office

If you want to avoid downloading the individual  Office apps for iPad , you can turn to the all-in-one Microsoft Office application , which includes Word , Excel and PowerPoint .

To download Microsoft Office on your iPad, first grab the device, unlock it, access the home screen and / or the iPadOS App Library and select the App Store icon (the one with the "A" and the background blue ).

In the screen you now see, tap the Search item at the bottom right, type "microsoft office" in the search field at the top and select the relevant suggestion from those you see appear, then click on the Microsoft Office tab , so such as to display the relevant screen. If you want to speed up the execution of these steps, you can also connect directly to the section of the App Store relating to Microsoft Office .

After completing the above steps, press the Get button , the Install button and authorize the download and installation of the app via Face ID , Touch ID or Apple ID password . Then start Microsoft Office by touching the Open button that appeared on the screen.

Now that you see the main screen of the app, follow the short introductory tutorial that is proposed to you, by tapping on the Start button , then on the Next button and indicating whether you intend to send the diagnostic data to Microsoft or not. Then press the OK button , choose whether to activate notifications or not and log in to your Microsoft account .

Afterwards, you will finally find yourself in the presence of the Home section of the application. To start creating a new document, click on the Create button at the bottom right and choose if you want to use Word, Excel or PowerPoint or if you want to create a note or scan with the iPad camera.

To open existing documents, which can be saved both on the tablet memory and on OneDrive , Microsoft's cloud storage service, and which can also be taken from other apps and cloud storage services (eg. Dropbox ), go to the section Open the app by touching its icon (the one with the folder ) in the left sidebar and indicate the location and the reference file.

I also point out that by going to the Actions section of Microosft Office, which you can access by tapping on the appropriate icon (the one with the four dots ) in the left sidebar, you can quickly perform some specific operations, such as signing and digitizing PDFs, capturing text in images, transfer files etc.

Word

Let's now move on to the individual applications. Let's start with the Word app  , namely that of Office for iPad which allows you to write and open text files on your tablet.

To download and install it, take the app from the  relevant section of the App Store , then start it by selecting the icon (the one with the Word logo ) that has been added to the home screen and / or to the iPadOS App Library .

Now that you see the main Word screen, activate the app through the proposed wizard , granting the required permissions to allow the application to access the files on the device, deciding whether or not to enable notifications and logging into your account Microsoft. Later, you can start using the app.

The Word app can be used in a very similar way to the desktop version of the program, for creating new text documents or for editing files shared on OneDrive.

The saving of documents can be performed locally, within the iPad memory, for viewing even in offline mode, or it is possible to send a copy of the document drawn up in another application. In addition, you can share the files created in an external cloud storage service.

Some of the additional features of Word for iPad that are only available with a Microsoft 365 subscription include the ability to insert section breaks, customize footer headers for different pages, change page orientation, as well as detect and review the changes.

If you want to know more, you can read my tutorial dedicated specifically to how to use Microsoft Word .

Excel

The  Excel application, whose operation is practically identical to the desktop version, can be used on the iPad for the management and creation of electronic spreadsheets.

To download and install it, take the app from the  relevant section of the App Store , then start it by selecting the icon (the one with the Excel logo ) that has been added to the home screen and / or to the iPadOS App Library .

Once the main Excel screen is displayed, follow the wizard proposed to activate the app, so grant the permissions required for access to the files on the iPad, decide whether or not to enable notifications and log in to your Microsoft account. Afterwards, you can finally start using the application.

Excel can be used in its main features in both reading and writing, as it is possible to create new spreadsheets and edit those shared via OneDrive. Again, you can save the documents locally on iPad or send a copy to another cloud storage service or third-party application.

The additional features of the Excel app available with a Microsoft 365 subscription mainly concern the ability to add and edit elements of a chart as well as customize the layout and styles of pivot tables.

For further information, I recommend reading my guide on how to use Excel and my specific post on how to use Excel on iPad .

PowerPoint

Another productivity application that is available for free download on iPad is  PowerPoint . It is the corresponding solution of the desktop version of the same name and can be used for the creation of presentations, through the creation of slides.

To download and install it, take the app from the  relevant section of the App Store , then start it by selecting the icon (the one with the PowerPoint logo ) that has been added to the home screen and / or to the iPadOS App Library .

Now that you see the PowerPoint main screen, follow the suggested wizard to activate the app, granting the required permissions to access files on the tablet, choosing whether or not to enable notifications and logging into your Microsoft account. After that, you can finally start using PowerPoint.

Then use PowerPoint to create new presentations or to edit those shared on OneDrive. You can decide to save documents locally on iPad or send a copy to another cloud storage service or another third-party app.

By subscribing to the Microsoft 365 service you can unlock some additional features, such as adding custom colors to shapes, but also inserting and editing Word Art, for example.

If you want to know more about how  PowerPoint works , I suggest reading my tutorial dedicated specifically to how to use Microsoft Office PowerPoint .

Outlook

To read and send e-mails via iPad, you can use the free  Outlook application . It is the reference one for managing emails using the Outlook.com Webmail service , but it also supports all the other main email services.

To download and install it, take the app from the  relevant section of the App Store , then start it by selecting the icon (the one with the Outlook logo ) that has been added to the home screen and / or to the iPadOS App Library .

Now that you see the main Outlook screen,  configure the email accounts to use, selecting those that are automatically proposed to you by the app (based on the data saved on the device) or adding new ones, pressing the appropriate button and providing the required data .

After completing the above steps, follow the quick introductory tutorial that is proposed to you and start using the various features made available by the app.

The eventual subscription of a subscription to the Microsoft 365 service allows to obtain an advanced filter against phishing and malware on the attachments and links received in the Microsoft email, as well as to expand the mailbox up to 50 GB.

To learn more about using Outlook, read my article dedicated specifically to how Outlook works .

OneNote

The  OneNote application can be used in a similar way to its Web version and its desktop version: it is, in fact, useful for taking notes on the iPad quickly and easily.

To download and install it, download the app from the  relevant section of the App Store , then start it by selecting the icon (the one with the OneNote logo ) that has been added to the home screen and / or to the iPadOS App Library .

Now that you see the OneNote main screen, follow the initial configuration procedure proposed, by tapping the Start , Next and OK buttons , then log in to your Microsoft account, choose whether to enable notifications or not, indicate the notebook to be use and start using the application as well.

Notes made through OneNote are automatically saved to OneDrive, can be sent via email, and can also be shared in another external app. On iPad, all features are available for free and therefore a subscription to the Microsoft 365 service is not required to unlock additional features.

I told you in detail about how to use this application in my guide dedicated to how to use OneNote .

Alternatives to Office for iPad

Looking for alternatives to Office for iPad ? Well, know that there are additional productivity tools that can be used on the Apple tablet. Here are the ones that, in my humble opinion, represent the best in the category.

iWork

A valid alternative to Office for iPad are the free applications of iWork , Apple's productivity suite, also available on macOS and via the Web, on iCloud.com . This includes the Pages word processing  app, the Numbers app   for spreadsheets, and the Keynote app for creating presentations.

The applications of the iWork suite can be used in offline mode, are compatible with files created through the Office apps and are designed to be used to the fullest even on iPad. They allow the creation of documents from scratch and also include templates for creating files based on pre-established models.

All applications support saving documents to iCloud , Apple's cloud storage service. To learn more about how iWork works, I recommend reading my guide focused specifically on how to download iWork for free .

Google app

The Google apps that are part of the productivity suite are also very popular and popular. These are available for free for iPad, but can also be used online , as they are integrated into Google Drive , the “big G” cloud storage service.

The applications included in this collection of productivity tools are  Google Docs  which is aimed at creating text files,  Google Sheets  which is used for processing spreadsheets and Google Slides  which is useful for making presentations.

The apps mentioned are very valid for the possibility of being used even in offline mode and also because they support the main file formats of the Office suite. To use them, you must have a Google account .

Other apps

In addition to the alternative resources to Office for iPad that I have already reported to you, you can consider turning to other apps  designed for productivity on the iPad, as in the case of those you find in the list below.

• Polaris Office - is one of the most popular applications for iPad and allows you to view, edit and save the vast majority of documents stored in Office format. Basically it is free, but through in-app purchases (at a minimum cost of 3.99 euros) you can unlock some additional features, including the ability to synchronize data and settings on multiple devices.
• WPS Office - is a productivity app that allows you to create, edit and save Word, PowerPoint, Excel and PDF files. Basically it is free, but additional functions can be unlocked through in-app purchases (with costs starting from € 4.49 / month).
• OfficeSuite - application that allows you to read, edit, create PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. It can be used for both personal and professional use. It is free of charge, but in-app purchases are offered (with prices starting from 2.99 euros) to unlock all the features offered.