Want Microsoft’s Office apps for free? You’ll need to put up with ads

Microsoft is a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them. When the Windows maker hit Microsoft 365 subscribers with a massive price hike that turned a lot of people off, that wasn’t the end of the story. The company is now testing a free version of its Office productivity suite on Windows riddled with the industry stand-by: ads.

Heading to the Office? Here’s an ad

Those unable to stomach the hike or ditch the service out of principle might be more willing to eat the ads in exchange for a working version of Office locally. Beebom was the first to spot that the free-with-ads plan had quietly landed in India, allowing users to go beyond simple view-only powers and actually edit their files without requiring a subscription.

Microsoft denies that any such feature will be released widely, despite already providing the service to users in India. In a statement to PCWorld, Microsoft said that the ad-supported version was nothing more than a test. “Microsoft has been conducting some limited testing,” a representative said in an email. “Currently, there are no plans to launch a free, ad-supported version of Microsoft Office desktop apps.”

Yeah, right. Ads are a mightily lucrative revenue stream anywhere, particularly if the company manages to scare enough customers away from the paid-for subscription plan. Microsoft may not be giving the game away now, but don’t be surprised if an ad-supported version of Office for Windows turns up in the not-too-distant future.

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Ads are reportedly not the only compromise customers looking to use this free plan will have to make. This version of Office for Windows will not allow users to save their files locally, instead directing them towards Microsoft’s in-house storage solution, OneDrive. That introduces its own set of problems seeing as free users are limited to only 5GB of storage. Still, it seems a fair exchange.

Less fair is the long list of missing features that didn’t make the cut for the free version of Office for Windows. Apparently paying for access to the apps with your literal eyeballs and time is not enough for the company, removing features like Cover Pages, Tables, Shapes, Icons, SmartArt, Charts, Online Videos in Word, and many more. You can check out the full list here.

As for the ads themselves, Beebom reports that a single banner ad dominates the right-hand side of the screen, while a fifteen-second video comes along every couple of hours to ruin your workflow. It should be noted that this could change by the time Microsoft is ready to take the free version global.

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