Microsoft and Dropbox have announced that their partnership will result in users being able to add their Dropbox cloud storage accounts to Office Online.
This will enable users to browse, open and edit their Office documents within Dropbox. Users will be able to create new files using Office Online, which can then be saved directly to Dropbox.
"We're willing to bet that your Dropbox is home to quite a few Microsoft Office files — and starting today, working with those files is even easier," said Dropbox in a statement. "We've released a new integration with Microsoft Office Online, so you can edit any Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or Excel files in your Dropbox directly from your web browser."
This will no doubt delight Dropbox users, who won't have to possess desktop versions of Microsoft Office in order to update Office documents stored within their Dropbox.
The news is interesting, considering that Microsoft offers its own cloud storage platform in OneDrive. Until now, there has been somewhat of a disconnect between desktop and mobile in Dropbox, in that users have been able to edit documents through Dropbox on mobile devices, but not on computers. The news continues Dropbox's mission to serve as many people as possible and to enable users to access as many of their files as possible.
"We've already connected your Office and Dropbox experience on your iOS and Android devices," said Microsoft in a statement on April 9. "Today, the next milestone in our partnership is available, integration between Dropbox on the web and Office Online."
Users will be able to browse for their files both through Dropbox and Office Online. For users who have their Dropbox folders synced on their computer, Office files will open through desktop apps.
Users of Dropbox for Business who have licenses for Office 365 will also be getting this new feature.
The announcement comes after the partnership between Microsoft and Dropbox was publicized late last year, with the first new features between the companies including the ability to access Dropbox directly from Office applications on both iOS and Android devices. This was introduced in November 2014.
Cloud storage providers are having to increasingly offer better features for customers as the "race to zero," or the race to offer free cloud storage, is very much on. Amazon recently announced unlimited storage for only $5 per month, greatly challenging the likes of Dropbox and Google to offer something better.
