Be more productive thanks to the Dropbox — Office integration

Yesterday Dropbox announced a surprise partnership with Microsoft. The fruit of this partnership means a deeper integration between Dropbox and Office. But what exactly does this mean for you and how will this help you be more productive in the cloud? Here is a list of the biggest benefits:

1. Edit Office documents straight from Dropbox

Dropbox is getting its own Google Docs. All your Office files (Word, Excel and Powerpoint) will open straight in Office and will save back to Dropbox.

iPad and Android are the first platforms to be supported and will be out in the coming weeks. In practice, your Office files will open in the Office for iPad or Android apps. If you don’t have them installed, you will be prompted to do so. There is still no information regarding a change of pricing for the Office for iPad and Android apps that require a Office 365 subscription to edit documents. A Windows Phone version is also in the works and will be available in the coming months.

The web feature is coming in the first half of 2015 and will open your Office files in the Office Online app and will save them back to your Dropbox.

2. Dropbox files will appear directly in the office apps

The second key benefit is the ability to browse, open and edit your Dropbox files straight in the Office app. Again, this integration will first be available on the iPad and will come to the web in the first half of 2015.

3. Share directly from the Office apps

Microsoft is also adding the ability to share files straight from the Office app using Dropbox’s sharing functionality. This completes the circle and makes Office and Dropbox extremely powerful.

In conclusion, this is a great advancement for productivity in the cloud. Dropbox was still a bit behind when it comes to editing and working on documents. This move will shake the waters of cloud storage providers.

Originally published at blog.cloudfender.com.