HOW TO: Use Web-Based Office Tools Offline

Microsoft recently made a
long-awaited announcement that they will be offering Web app versions of some of their Office suite applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. However, it must be noted that users will still need to purchase the full desktop version of Office applications.

Fortunately, there are alternatives to the Microsoft Office monopoly with Web-based Office tools from Google, Zoho, ThinkFree and others. And unlike Microsoft, these online Office applications allow you to work offline, which means you can replace Microsoft’s desktop version of Office along with its hefty price tag. Here’s how to setup the most popular of these Web office tools to work in offline mode.

ThinkFree Office

ThinkFree online has been providing an online/offline office suite of Web apps for many years. Their Web-based Office service is free and includes 1 GB of storage for documents. As for working with documents offline, ThinkFree relies on their own propriety sync tool called ThinkFree Manager. ThinkFree Manager works with ThinkFree Office, which is basically a full Java desktop office suite of apps that synchronizes all changes to your ThinkFree Online account. In that regard it works like an Adobe Air app.

There’s a
trial version that you can install if you want to check it out. They’ve informed us that there’s no official expiration date for the trial version, so it’s basically free for now.

HOW TO: Use Web-Based Office Tools Offline