How to View Documents without Microsoft Office

What if someone sends you a Word document to review, an Excel spreadsheet to check, or a presentation to rehearse? How do you open and view them?

Microsoft Office is expensive to purchase and install on most of the devices we use. Here we’ll show you free alternatives to easily view these documents either at home or on the go. And you don’t need to download or install any software.

View Microsoft Office formats with Xodo

Xodo offers a free online document reader that lets you view and print Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, which can come in handy if you don’t have access to the Microsoft Office applications. 

In addition, Xodo lets you highlight text in PDF, add mark ups, comments, and edits to your documents if you need to view your content as part of a collaboration or review process.

With Online Document Reader

Add highlights, text, and insert strike throughs as follows:

1. Open your Microsoft Office file in our free online Document Reader.

2. Access any of the free tools from the viewer to view, edit, and annotate your files.

3. Download the new file to your device to save your changes.

Your document, including your annotations and edits, will be saved as a PDF document. The PDF format is a universal format, meaning that you can view the file anywhere and your colleagues can view your comments and revisions. All they need is a free PDF viewer to open the file.

On mobile or tablet

View your Office files on your Android device 

Download the free Xodo Android app to your phone. Once the app is installed on your device, follow these steps to access and view your files:

1. Open Xodo.

2. Click on Files. Locate your Office file from the list of locations available.

3. Click on your Office file to open and view it.

You can also annotate Office documents using Xodo mobile on Android for faster collaboration from anywhere:

View your Office files on your iOS device

Download the free Xodo iOS app to your iPhone. Once the app is installed on your device, follow these steps to access and view your files:

1. Open Xodo.

2. Click on Files. Locate your Office file from the list of locations available.

3. Click on your Office file to open and edit it.

Convert your MS Office file to PDF

Another method is to convert Microsoft Office to PDF first, which can be helpful if you’re switching devices, working with others, or on a public computer and need to share your MS Office documents.

To convert your office file to PDF, go to xodo.com and follow these steps:

1. Select your conversion tool:

• Convert Word to PDF
• Convert Excel to PDF
• Convert PowerPoint to PDF 

2. Upload your PDF either from your device, Xodo Drive, or Google Drive, and Dropbox.

3. Click on the Convert button.

4. Click on the Download button to download your file.

If you save the converted file to your computer or device, you can then also view and interact with the file using Xodo’s free online PDF Reader and its annotation or editing features.

Whether you work directly with a Microsoft document or via a PDF, Xodo lets you open, view, and access content whenever you need to.

Work with your digital documents online using Xodo

If you have other PDFs or digital documents to work with or need more tools, Xodo’s online tools let you do everything you need to do with your PDFs, without having to install anything.

Get your work done anywhere, whether it’sPDF editing, annotating, comparing text, and more. Explore the other 30+ Xodo tools available with a 7-day free trial.