Microsoft Office App For iPhones, iPads Can Now Save Files To iCloud Drive

It appears that Microsoft is really putting every effort to make all of its software services available on all types of devices, regardless of make or mobile operating system.

Very recently, the company has now made the Microsoft Office mobile app for iPhones and iPads capable of saving files to Apple's latest cloud storage service, iCloud Drive. And that is not all -- the Office app can also do the same to other cloud storage providers such as Box, and just about any cloud service that decides to integrate itself with Microsoft Office.

Users will surely be interested to know that in the enhanced Microsoft Office mobile app, the locations menu will allow them to view, edit, and save document files stored with the cloud service of their preference. 

Because the updates to the Microsoft Office app are still very new, there is bound to be some kinks to work out. For example, there are some text files that turn into read-only documents when saved in iCloud. Before, the file picker present in the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint mobile apps could only show documents saved in Microsoft OneDrive, and in an update last year in November, Dropbox.

Apart from making the Office app functional in iCloud Drive, Microsoft has also revealed that Office can now be used seamlessly into other companies' enterprise apps like Salesforce, Box, and Citrix. This is made possible through Microsoft's Cloud Storage Partner Program. In this set-up, Microsoft will collaborate in a more direct manner with third parties especially in trying to integrate Office Online into their own enterprise apps. This will let the users of these companies read and edit files that are stored in their services via an Internet browser that has direct online access to Microsoft Office. Interested? You can sign up here. 

For now, the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps can only support single editor capacity. But no worries, Microsoft has been quick to state that it is working on putting sharing and collaboration features onto its Microsoft Office apps in the near future. 

Microsoft's latest move to make its services more available to other brands is really bold, and truth be told, a little bit tricky. Let us take Box, for instance. This company finds itself in a rather unique position in which it is collaborating with Microsoft, an entity which Box should be competing against. Yet here it is with the Office app integrated within its enterprise app. 

Based on Microsoft's history, it has always been a company that tries to keep its customers within its own ecosystem of software, apps, and services. But now, it seems that the company is really opening up and becoming more collaborative. How long will Microsoft be like this? Only time will tell.