Microsoft updates Office Online apps, brings them to Chrome Web Store

Back in February, Microsoft had renamed its Office Web Apps to Office Online (at Office.com). On Monday, the company announced updates to the service with new features. The Redmond-giant also announced Office Online will be available via Chrome Web Store as well - essentially bringing the productivity apps to the Chrome OS, apart from Chrome browser users.

Microsoft announced that the updates across Office Online will start rolling out from Monday itself.

According to blog post, all the apps have been updated and are available on the Chrome Web Store, except the Excel Online app, which will be coming shortly. Detailed lists of all Office Online updates in detail can be found on the blog post.

Excel Online is getting the ability to insert new comments as well as edit and delete existing comments. It added the 'Tell Me' feature that "allows users to ask Word how to do something, and have the relevant commands presented in a simple drop-down list."

Also, Excel Online users can now open and edit VBA-enabled spreadsheets without removing (or corrupting) the VBA contained in the file.

In Word Online, Microsoft has added the ability to add and view comments in the View mode. Users can now make comments and see changes simultaneously with other users at the same time. Also with simplified footnotes and endnotes, users can easily add them inline. The other updated features include some more ability in Word Online as the desktop version.

PowerPoint Online is being updated to provide a "high fidelity view of your slides" and the ability to playback embedded YouTube videos. Updates to PowerPoint Online will roll out this week.

OneNote Online is now updated with printing support, multi-column section navigation, and more.

"Office Online works great in all browsers, but for those of you who use Chrome, you can now add Word Online, PowerPoint Online and OneNote Online to your Chrome App launcher to create new Office documents online with a single click from your desktop", noted Kaberi Chowdhury, technical product manager for Office Online.