[Top] 31 What is Microsoft Office? A Complete Introduction of MS Office

I have been asked multiple times by users that what is Microsoft office? And what does Microsoft Office do or what is the use of Microsoft office in a Windows or MacBook computers?

Therefore, I thought to create a dedicated article on this topic.

If you are a beginner or new in computer technology or wanted to learn to grab knowledge, then, this post will be helpful to you.

What is Microsoft Office Application?

This is the most frequent asked question on the web. So, here is the answer in a simple language:

“Microsoft Office is a package of multiple applications for home and business users to increase the work productivity”

It is also known as MS Office or simply Office in general language.

All applications included in this office suite package are well designed in a common interface and are very user friendly and easy to operate.

Microsoft Office is developed and designed by Microsoft Corporation. It was first announced or introduced by Bill Gates on August 1988 in Las Vegas.

By targeting different end-users and computing devices/environments, MS Office is produced in several versions.

However, the most widely used MS Office version is the desktop version which is available for Windows, MacOS operating systems and Linux as well. Available in different languages.

There are several versions of Microsoft Office are available. Few important once are Office 2007, MS Office 2010, Microsoft Office 2013, Office 2016, MS Office 2019 and Microsoft Office 365.

In additions, Office Apps are also available for Android and iOS mobiles.

Microsoft Office Editions

Microsoft Office Suite comes in several editions. To clarify and make your better understanding on this, check out the list of office editions and list of applications on it.

Note: In this chart, we included only core applications. In few editions, you will have additional office apps.

Applications	Home & Student	Home & Business	Professional	Professional Plus	Standard
Word	√	√	√	√	√
Excel	√	√	√	√	√
PowerPoint	√	√	√	√	√
Outlook	×	√	√	√	√
Publisher	×	×	√	√	√
Access	×	×	√	√	×
OneNote	√	√	√	√	√

MS Office comes with few core applications in each of the Office edition as explained in the above chart.

Here is the brief description of each of the application for your better understanding of this:

• Word: One of the important applications, also known as Word or MS Word is used to create text-based documents. For example, reports, templates, letters, etc.
• Excel: An excel is a spreadsheet which is used to calculate numeric data like reports, sales data, results, loans, calculations, etc.
• PowerPoint: In PowerPoint, user can create professional multimedia presentations for public speaking seminars and meeting presentations.
• Outlook: Office Outlook is an email management program wherein user can configure multiple email and manage them in at one place.
  For instance, compose emails, send & receive emails, schedule meetings, etc.
• Publisher: When Word fails to create complex page layouts, then, this application is especially used to create publishing marketing materials such as newsletters and brochures.
• Access: An access is a complete database management system program that used to store and organize structured data. i.e.: Inventory, personnel information and customer orders.
• OneNote: Microsoft OneNote is your personal notebook and an alternate of your paper notebook. User can easily organize and manage their notes on it.

Office 365

Moreover, Microsoft 365 has been introduced in July 2017, is a subscription-based services offered by Microsoft.

Office 365 also includes cloud-based productivity tools and artificial intelligence features which are attracting business users nowadays.

Certainly, Microsoft 365 includes apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook along with Exchange Server, Skype for Business, SharePoint and few others.

Microsoft 365 major editions are Home, Business, Enterprise and Education. More information here

[Read: Download Office 365 with Free Activation]

Hoping, the question on your mind what is Microsoft Office has been cleared with the above information and is enough to understand about MS Office.