Years ago, Microsoft Office dominated the market for office document applications. There were few alternatives, and they tended to be unable to compete on funding or features. Even users who wanted alternatives to Microsoft’s near-monopoly had to admit no directly comparable alternative.
More recently, alternatives have appeared rich in features, functionality, and integrations that make them a serious competitor to Microsoft Office. For example, Google Docs is a free option with full functionality and built-in integration with Google’s cloud services. Dropbox also offers a cloud service in which you can use its built-in office document viewer. The Dropbox viewer doesn’t allow you to edit documents; however, you may not always need to do so.
Dropbox defaults to using its own document viewer for office documents; however, you can change this if you prefer. You can change the settings to open office documents either in Microsoft Office or in Google Docs.
How to Choose Which Office Apps Are Used to Open Documents
To be able to change this setting, you first need to be signed into the Dropbox website. From there, click on your profile icon in the top-right corner, then on “Settings.” Once you’re in the settings, switch to the “Default apps” tab. Here you can choose which app you want to use to open Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations. You can do so by using the respective dropdown boxes.
Tip: You can set each of the document types to open with a different editor if you prefer; they can be set independently.
Dropbox allows you to store any type of document in the cloud and includes a built-in document viewer for popular office document filetypes. By following the guide’s steps, you can choose what program you want to use to open these office documents. This can be useful if you’d prefer to use the Microsoft Office Web Apps or the Google Docs equivalent apps.
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