14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has decided to rename Office Online to just Microsoft Office, as the company is working on simplifying its offering and creating consistency across its full lineup.
Furthermore, built-in apps, like Word Online, Excel Online, and PowerPoint Online, have also dropped the Online tag and use only the main moniker moving forward.
“Because our offerings have evolved to provide access to apps on more than one platform, it no longer makes sense to use any platform-specific sub-brands,” Bill Doll, Office product marketing focusing on Office Online and the Office app, says.
Microsoft says that from this point on, while the web-based version of the productivity suite will simply be called Office, it might sometime call it “Office for the web” in order to make it clearer that it’s referring to this version, and not the one running on the PC.
“However, “…for the web” is not a new brand or strict naming convention so you may also see us also use terminology such as “…on the web,” “…on Office.com,” and “…in a browser.” We encourage people to use whichever terminology is most appropriate and provides the most clarity for a given context,” Doll emphasizes.
No change for server apps
The new approach, however, only concerns Office apps, and the Online tag will continue to be used for other solutions, including server products like Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Project Online, and Office Online Server.
The renaming won’t just happen overnight, but it should be finalized very soon, Microsoft explains. Office Online has already been renamed to Office in marketing and technical content, communications, and in-product experiences, and if everything goes as planned, it shouldn’t take too long before the rebranding is complete.
Needless to say, no change would happen for sub-brands like Office 365 and Office 2019, whose names are unlikely to be modified anytime soon.