Microsoft brings real-time collaborative editing to Office Web Apps

Microsoft’s online Office suite is finally coming up to speed with Google Docs, according to Venture Beats. The company has now announced the addition of real-time collaborative editing for its Office Web Apps. Google, however, brought this feature to Google Docs two years ago. Be that as it may, the addition definitely will definitely make Office Web Apps a much better tool for working together with your colleagues.

The new feature is available from today on Microsoft’s Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps. The apps also got a bunch of other upgrades like new formatting capabilities, including table styles, which were previously found only on the desktop versions. Amanda Lefebvre, the technical product manager for Office Web Apps, said, “When we first launched [Office] Web Apps, it was about getting access to content for light-weight edits, Earlier this year, [we] started to think about them less as a companion, and more of a true Office experience on the web.”

Office Web Apps gets real-time editing features

Real-time editing will definitely bump up the attractiveness of the company’s online Office suite, especially for companies that rely on the Office desktop apps. Lefebvre also said that the company is looking at bringing online editing capabilities in its web apps to Android tablets next. Office Web Apps is available to Microsoft Office customers and Office 365 subscribers, which starts at Rs 260 for small businesses and goes up to Rs 785 per month for mid-range businesses. Google Apps for Business, on the other hand, starts at Rs 150 per user for each month.

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While Microsoft has still not revealed the number of users who have picked up Office Web Apps, Google, on the Apps for Business launch page, has said that 5 million businesses are making use of Google Apps. When asked about how long it would take for Office desktop apps to edit in real-time with the Office Web apps, Lefebvre did not say much, but noted that many users were still comfortable with the desktop experience. While talking about this, she said, “A lot of people have asked, what happens if I don’t want people to see my changes. I think it’s nice to have the desktop apps, you have a little more control in your collaboration.”