Microsoft Office apps have long been interoperable with Google’s suite of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools. Google first announced the support of Office formats in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides way back in 2014, well before G Suite was rebranded as Google Workspace.
Microsoft Office interoperability in Google Workspace has come a long way, as Google introduced improvements gradually over the years. The Mountain View tech giant took five more years after launch to introduce the Office editing feature in Google Drive, allowing users to edit Office files directly within Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides and save them back to Office formats.
However, the Office editing capability was limited to those files that aren’t password-protected. Users on Reddit have long complained about this limitation, and it looks like Google took note of them to address the issue.
Microsoft Office editing in Google Workspace just got better
In an official blog post, Google has announced that users can now edit password-protected Microsoft Office files directly within Docs, Sheets, and Slides. This means that when you open such files in Drive, you’ll now get a field to enter the password, below which you’ll see a “Preview” button and the new “Edit” option.
After entering the password, click the “Edit” option to start making changes to those Office files and save them back to their original formats. This will remove the password, so if you want to keep it, choose the “Preview” option, which will open the document in read-only mode.
However, it’s worth remembering that this new editing feature will not support all Office formats. In a support page, Google has clarified that only .docx, .pptx, and .xlsx file types are supported.
So, if you are a Google Workspace user and have been using third-party solutions to remove passwords from Office files and then edit them directly within Drive, you no longer need them. The support for the edit feature for password-protected Office files has started rolling out and should be available for all in the Rapid Release domains by January 16.
The rollout in the Scheduled Release domains will start on January 16 and will be completed by January 21. This feature won’t have any admin control, so if you are one, you won’t be able to disable the new editing capability.
The Office editing functionality won’t be limited to Google Workspace customers or Workspace Individual subscribers. If you have a personal Google account, you’ll also be able to remove passwords from Office files and edit them directly within Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
