So long, Quickoffice; we hardly knew ye.
After buying the mobile office suite in 2012 and releasing it in 2013 as a free download, Google has buried its functionality in its own Google Drive suite of apps. Thus, Quickoffice has been made redundant. Its ability to view, edit and create Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files on mobile platforms is now ported to Google Drive apps.
Quickoffice will be pulled from the Google Play store and the iTunes App Store in the very near future.
"With the integration of Quickoffice into the Google Docs, Sheets and Slides apps, the Quickoffice app will be unpublished from Google Play and the App Store in the coming weeks. Existing users with the app can continue to use it, but no features will be added and new users will not be able to install the app," according to a Google blog post.
This move was anticipated, since Google recently introduced standalone apps for Docs and Sheets, which were previously incorporated within Google Drive. Google then offered an independent Slides app at the Google I/O event last week. Slides will begin life as an Android app, with an iOS version to follow. Another announcement from Google I/O stated that the Drive suite of apps will be updated to provide native Microsoft Office compatibility, meaning that documents, slideshows and spreadsheets will not require conversion to Google formatting.
Due to the unbundling of these apps from Google Drive, mobile users will have to download and install the Docs, Sheets and Slides apps separately. The new, self-supporting apps incorporate additional functionality such as better collaboration and commenting support.
Google Drive is a cloud service, accessible from Android devices. Users are given 15 GB free storage space at signup. It offers file sharing, offline file availability, file management, print from Drive, and the flexibility to view on larger tablet screens.
Google Docs operates on Android phones and tablets. Users can create new documents or open and edit documents from the web or from another device. Document sharing is supported; multiple users can work on one document simultaneously. Documents can be worked on offline, then uploaded when a server connection is established. Document auto-save is another key feature.
Google Sheets is a spreadsheet application. It shares the same ability as Google Docs -- working offline, in collaboration with others on a single sheet, auto-save, etc.
Google Slides is brand new -- and the first app to already feature full compatibility with Microsoft (PowerPoint) files. Slides will create presentations or edit any that were created on the Web or on another device.
