Google Will Bring Microsoft 365 To ChromeOS This Year

Google plans to deepen Microsoft's 365 integration on ChromeOS. (photo: dock.google)

JAKARTA - Google plans to deepen Microsoft 365 integration on ChromeOS later this year, making it easier for users to install apps and open files on computers.

ChromeOS already supports Microsoft 365 and the OneDrive Progressive Web Application (PWA), but with this new integration users can open files in Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, PowerPoint, or Excel.

To some extent, this will feel like Windows integration from OneDrive, and more than that Google Drive integration into ChromeOS.

"To further help these users, we will have new integration later this year on ChromeOS, making it easier to install apps and open files," Google said in a post on its official blog.

"Users will be offered a guided preparation experience that takes them through the Microsoft 365 web application installation process and connects Microsoft OneDrive to their File Chromebook application. Files will be moved to Microsoft OneDrive when opened in the Microsoft 365 app," he added.

The company based in Menlo Park, California, United States (US) said further details about the integration would be distributed in the coming months.

For those on the dev and beta ChromeOS channels, they can access integration a little bit earlier. In fact, Microsoft and Google rarely work together, although tech giants have partnered to improve the Chromium browser.

However, integrating Microsoft 365 with ChromeOS makes quite a sense. The laptop Chromebook made by Google is very popular in the field of education, as does the Microsoft 365 application.

Launching The Verge, Wednesday, February 1, Microsoft has also launched Chromebook competitors in recent years, with Windows 11 SE laptops arriving last year to use Chromebooks at school.

Google has been working to bridge the gap between Chromebooks and Windows-based laptops by partnering with Parallels to bring better Windows app support to ChromeOS. Chromebooks can now run Windows and Android applications side by side.

With the integration of the two products more closely, students no longer have to choose between Google hardware and Microsoft software.