The best mobile apps for Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint

The debate over whether you can get a serious job done on a tablet goes on, but what about the even smaller computing device that you carry in your pocket? Apple, Google and Microsoft are all making mini versions of their office apps for use on the go, and know how they compare and if you can actually work on a phone.

Microsoft: Word, Excel, PowerPoint

The Microsoft Office Suite is the first productivity toolbox that most people will think of, and the mobile versions of Word (Android, iOS), Excel (Android, iOS) and PowerPoint (Android, iOS) are complete and free to use, you don't need to be subscribed to Office 365 to use them, unlike tablet versions (for devices with screens larger than 10.1 inches).

Expertise in microsofts by making these desktop programs shine, and overall, they translate very well to mobilize the least in terms of viewing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Even more complicated files, filled with graphics, tables and images, appear on the screen in the blink of an eye.

Word for iOS.

The restrictions on viewing a phone mean that these apps are limited in terms of the options you get on the screen at all times, but they're smart in how they look. Take it. Select text, for example, and formatting options appear; select a column in Excel and you get options to sort that column as well as averages and totals at a glance.

Microsoft has been smart here in the way the information is presented. In Word, you can switch between a printed view layout and a mobile view that is easier to read on a smaller screen, while PowerPoint stacks the slides on top of each other so you can see each part of your slideshow in context.

When you need an option, whether it's cropping a photo you imported into PowerPoint or changing the presentation of a chart in Excel, Office apps seem to know which settings put on hand and when. You can display more detailed menus if necessary, and hide them when you have just made some changes.

The limitations that exist are at the most obscure end of the feature list: you can't merge revisions of a document in Word, or configure new conditional formatting rules in Excel, or create custom animations in PowerPoint, for example. Global, however, Microsoft has successfully transferred much of the functionality of the desktop.

PowerPoint for iOS.

If you need to create or modify complex files on the go, Microsoft apps are the ones that run while the alternatives might have an advantage in terms of ease of use and finishing, the suite of 39; mobile applications Microsofts can simply do more, whether in types of graphics, slide transitions or layouts. OneDrive hasn't always done a fantastic job in the cloud storage and sync service, but it has now evolved to be more than capable of keeping your files up to date on multiple devices.

It should also be mentioned that Microsoft Just Launched a unified Office application for Android and iOS. Although separate apps will continue to be available, this combined app gives you easier access to Word, Excel and PowerPoint on mobile, and some additional features such as the ability to create documents and spreadsheets from of scanned images. It looks like Microsoft is also committed to improving Office on mobile in the future.

Google: Docs, Sheets, Slides

If you're working in a desktop web browser, there's no doubt that the Googles office suite is the most elegant, but mobile apps are also available for working on the go: Google Docs (Android, iOS), Google Sheets (Android, iOS) and Google Slides (Android, iOS).

The simple and bulky interface choices that Google makes in its web applications are again highlighted here, and the menus and screens you will encounter in Docs, Sheets, and Slides are not as busy or as comprehensive as those which you will find in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, which can be a plus or a minus, depending on what you are looking for in the office applications of your phone.

Google Docs for iOS.

Google applications are not as good as Microsoft's in terms of the bounce between different text formatting features, deleting graphics, creating tables, etc. freeze the shutters in Sheets).

That's not to say that these apps are bad, but they focus on simplicity and speed, rather than trying to support as many different features as possible. Where they shine is by letting you do the basics of editing text, spreadsheet cells, or presentation slides, but these aren't the tools you would choose to create sophisticated files from scratch on mobile.

Google Sheets for iOS.

Overall, apps make good use of the space available on a mobile screen. When it comes to text formatting, for example, your options are stacked on top of each other, so you can quickly change colors, font sizes and styles, and create bulleted or numbered lists in a few clicks. Insert a graph and all your options are presented just as smartly.

Many of the observations you can make on Docs, Sheets, and Slides on the web also apply to mobile. They're extremely easy to get started and let you create something simple in no time, and aren't weighed down by decades of historical software legacy from the desktop.

Google Slides for iOS.

Integration with other Google apps and services is of course excellent (delivering presentations to a Chromecast device is easy, for example), as is collaboration support: working with multiple users on one document, spreadsheet or presentation is almost as simple as that. in a desktop web browser.

Storage and syncing in Google Cloud remains second to none, and if you mainly use Docs, Sheets, and Slides on the web, mobile apps have enough of them so you can at least make basic changes on your phone. If you need more complex editing and creation of files, you can consider switching to Microsofts alternatives.

Apple: Pages, numbers, Keynote

Apple desktop apps don't get a lot of love in the iOS, iPadOS, or macOS updates that happen every year, but they're still there, evolving, and available for free on all Apple devices. If you don't already have them, you can download pages for iOS, Numbers for iOSand Keynote for iOS.

They are the obvious choice if you spend a lot of time working on Apple devices: they don't offer as many features and functions as Microsoft Office, nor the ease of use and smoothness of Google apps, but they strike a good balance between the two. . There are no Android versions, of course, so they aren't an option if you don't have an iPhone.

Pages for iOS.

Apple has done a good job of bringing the features and tools you most often need to the front and center of the interface: most of the time, when you need to do something, it's pretty obvious how to do it. From moving images around a page to adding formatting to a group of spreadsheet cells, these apps are not difficult to use.

The applications are evolving well towards more advanced functionalities for depositing tables in Pages, adding formulas to Numbers, working with transitions in Keynote. The interface never feels cluttered or overbearing, and you won't have to spend a lot of time searching to find the editing option you need.

Numbers for iOS.

It is fair to say that experienced users will turn more to Word, Excel and PowerPoint: layouts you can create with the complexity of the files you can work with, the depth of the formatting options, its Microsoft applications which usually come upstairs. That said, Apple equivalents have enough to satisfy most iOS users.

Collaboration is now much easier than it was before, and if you have to work on files with people other than Pages, Numbers and Keynote, you can take care of it and keep track of all changes as they are made. iCloud Drive is also improving all the time, and cross-device sync and cloud storage are not the problem it once was for these apps.

Keynote for iOS.

When it comes to answering the question of whether you can do serious work on a phone, the pages, numbers and Keynote make it clear that you can at least comply with the usage restrictions of a small portrait-oriented screen. Creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations from scratch is no problem, and there is a decent range of templates here to get you started.

More than Google or Microsoft apps, whether or not the Apple suite is right for you really depends on other factors than the apps themselves: do you use Android as well as iOS devices? Do you need to access your apps and files through a web browser? Do everyone else on your team use Microsoft Office? Answer these questions and you will have a better idea of ​​the group of applications to choose.