Dropbox on an old promise and integrated support for Microsoft Office into its mobile apps.
The company released updated versions of its apps for iOS and Android on Tuesday. The apps support Microsoft Office, allowing users to open documents, spreadsheets or presentations stored in their Dropbox accounts and edit them with the Office apps.
Users can take advantage of this feature by selecting the new “Edit” button when viewing a document in Dropbox. This button opens the document in the corresponding Office application (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint). Additionally, users who do not already have the Office applications installed will be prompted to download the relevant app. Changes made in the Office applications will automatically sync and be saved to their Dropbox account.
The update is the result of a recent collaboration between the two companies and is part of its broader effort to make it easier for Office users to create and edit documents, especially on their mobile devices.
Microsoft integrated Dropbox into its suite with an Office update released earlier this month. In a larger update, it also made the Office free for iOS and Android.
Eventually, support for Microsoft Office will also be integrated into Dropbox Web with Office Online, but according to the companies this feature won't be available before 2015
