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Can you use Microsoft Excel on a Chromebook type device ?

-alan-

-alan-

pfm Member
My daughter has just started her 1st term at University. She's doing an economics course which from the early assignments looks like it's going to involve a lot of data manipulation and analysis.

One of the first home assignments was to work with 25,000+ data records supplied in an Excel file, and apply various filters to be able to look at the data from different perspectives. The initial problem was that the Chromebook doesn't have excel. Through some logic of its own, it opens the file in google sheets which provides similar - but not identical functionality. With a bit of head scratching and assistance from yours truly, we were able to plough through the analysis after a fashion.

Not ideal, since most of the other students in study groups and online discussions seems to have access to Office, and are able to share tips and solutions. If she's going to have to continue working from home for the term - and quite possibly for the rest of the year at this rate - I think things would be a lot simpler if she were at least on the same spreadsheet package / functionality as the rest of the group.

Some googling suggests you can get 'Excel lite versions' that work in the Chromebook App environment, but from the looks of it, the nature of the course is such that there will be a lot of heavy data work, and there is a danger that the reduced functionality might not be up to the task.

So.. the question I guess, is whether it is possible to get the proper full blown version of excel to work on a Chromebook type device - or is it better to just change tack and buy a laptop and load the 'normal' MS Office package ?

Any help or insight much appreciated.
Alan
 
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...text=How to install Office apps,Click Install.

How to install Office apps on a Chromebook:
  1. Open the Google Play Store and search for the apps you want to install.

    Or you can click on any of these links to download a specific app: Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, OneNote, Office Lens, or Microsoft Teams.

  2. Click Install.

  3. Once your app(s) are installed, click the Launcher on your Chromebook and click on the app to open it.

  4. Sign in with your personal Microsoft Account or your account associated with your Microsoft 365 subscription. See Install and set up Office on an Android for details on how to sign in to Office on Android.

Does that help?
 
Thanks Seeker - but on further googling, Im not sure it does entirely.

The problem we seem to be having is that some of the functionality in 'the standard' excel is missing or different within sheets. I don't mind paying the excel license fee for Chromebook if I knew it would give all of the functionality that would ever be required. We must have googled the same site: elsewhere on it I found this:

Chromebook and Excel
I just downloaded Excel on my Chromebook, but it looks different than it does on my bosses Lenovo. I don't have some of the options that he has and I need them to work on the spreadsheets from my laptop

Replies (4) 
avatarRnd32x32.png

A. User
Is the boss using a Chromebook as well? If they are instead using say a Windows 10 device with the desktop versions of Excel installed, then yes, the Excel on your Chromebook will be different (limited functionality).


Did this solve your problem?


Chitrahaas Nalla MSFT
Hi,


From the description provided, we understand your concern i.e. differences in the Excel features using on Chromebook and Laptop. First, we would like to let you know using the Excel on Chromebook will have the Excel features using on Android device which is having the limited features when compared with Excel application using on Desktop or Laptop.

So, that's the reason you are finding the difference between the features for you and your boss. I do understand the inconvnience caused and apologies for it, given the situation I suggest you add your ideas in Excel UserVoice as related team can take into consideration about it.

Moreover, you can try to check whether the feature missing the Excel on Chromebook is present on Excel for web. Here is the reference article: Differences between using a workbook in the browser and in Excel.

Appreciate your understanding and patience. Have a good day and stay safe!!

Best Regards,

Chitrahaas


Looks like there is a certain amount of functionality lacking in the Chromebook version - but the unknown I guess is which functionality, and whether its likely to be critical :(
 
Oh. Seems a 'proper' notebook is the only solution if he functionality isn't there.
 
-alan- said:
My daughter has just started her 1st term at University. She's doing an economics course which from the early assignments looks like it's going to involve a lot of data manipulation and analysis.

One of the first home assignments was to work with 25,000+ data records supplied in an Excel file, and apply various filters to be able to look at the data from different perspectives. The initial problem was that the Chromebook doesn't have excel. Through some logic of its own, it opens the file in google sheets which provides similar - but not identical functionality. With a bit of head scratching and assistance from yours truly, we were able to plough through the analysis after a fashion.

Not ideal, since most of the other students in study groups and online discussions seems to have access to Office, and are able to share tips and solutions. If she's going to have to continue working from home for the term - and quite possibly for the rest of the year at this rate - I think things would be a lot simpler if she were at least on the same spreadsheet package / functionality as the rest of the group.

Some googling suggests you can get 'Excel lite versions' that work in the Chromebook App environment, but from the looks of it, the nature of the course is such that there will be a lot of heavy data work, and there is a danger that the reduced functionality might not be up to the task.

So.. the question I guess, is whether it is possible to get the proper full blown version of excel to work on a Chromebook type device - or is it better to just change tack and buy a laptop and load the 'normal' MS Office package ?

Any help or insight much appreciated.
Alan
Click to expand...
Are you the government?
 
Thanks all.

Darth Vader said:
Some Intel based chrome books can be made to run Windows if it also has sufficient memory but its not a process for the faint hearted.

Take a free trial of CrossOver for Chrome OS as you may strike lucky with Excel https://www.codeweavers.com/crossover/download

Cheers,

DV
Click to expand...

The fact that it even mentions 'OS' means even the latter is probably way above my capabilities unfortunately DV :)

JensenHealey said:
Use Office 365 surely? It is cloud based but is the way that Excel is moving
Click to expand...

No problem with cloud based stuff here, hence the move to Chromebook a while back - but is that like to be workable from a ChromeBook without major hassle ?
 
-alan- said:
Thanks all.



The fact that it even mentions 'OS' means even the latter is probably way above my capabilities unfortunately DV :)



No problem with cloud based stuff here, hence the move to Chromebook a while back - but is that like to be workable from a ChromeBook without major hassle ?
Click to expand...
The point of Chromebook is that it's designed to run cloud systems. No on board storage means less power, less heat, fewer components, etc. That includes Office 365 etc, which is going to the cloud just as sure as people are going to stop buying CD s.
 
gintonic said:
this ^^^^ all our students have free access to it.
Click to expand...

It transpires all the students at her college also get free access to Office 365.

If I can get her to take time away from the biggest reading list I've ever seen, I'll see if we can get the online version to work.
 
All students at all colleges do I think. I am surprised the information she needed was not pointed out. My lot all use Office 365.

I have had my daughters all (3 of 'em!) avail themselves of university IT helpdesks as often as needed - they were dead good. They were all using laptops rather than chromebooks.

Both twin girls in their second year have commented on the sheer number of Apple-wielding students on campus. I would not run to that - but did get some 'bargain by comparison' Asus Zen books for them. Chromebooks were a serious consideration, and they would have been happy enough with them - but interesting that the 'better performance' chromebooks are not much different in price to a reasonable laptop.
 
I think this year's lot - and the University - are in general struggling to cope with the amount of stuff thrown at them in the home Environment.
The difficulties here arose with an assignment sent out by a tutor and 'instructions' as to how to proceed in Excel. Her particular combination of hardware and software automatically opened the spreadsheet in Google Sheets, and a couple of lines later, the instructions stopped making sense.

The task became one of not only trying to understand the academic piece, but one of learning how to use a spreadsheet for this type of analysis (which was new to her) and also one of trying to resolve the hardware and software issues. Tough enough challenge - especially for someone thrown in at the deep end of an already tough course.

Central IT Helpdesk is a good call. Not sure if they're willing or able to get into the intricacies of individual freshers' home equipment difficulties - but worth a shot :)
 
Gentlemen of the Community..(and Ladies)..bit of a thread revival..

Got sorted on the above with a bit of help from other students in the same boat - thank you all.

On a related note, Id like to buy another Chromebook for my own use since the offspring in question has permanently claimed the old one. This is the old one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Chrome.../dp/B01MY6VFL3

14" Acer Chromebook / Intel Celeron 4GB RAM 32GB Storage 14in - cost €320 a year or so ago.

I think id like get one with a larger screen. I've been looking at this as a possible replacement;

https://store.acer.com/en-ie/acer-ch...r-nx-hkcek-004

15/6" Acer Chromebook 315 Touchscreen - approx €400

Spec; Intel® Pentium® Silver N5030 processor Quad-core 1.10 GHz / 39.6 cm (15.6") Full HD (1920 x 1080) 16:9 IPS Touchscreen / 4 GB, LPDDR4 128 GB Flash Memory / Intel® UHD Graphics 605 shared memory

Read a few reviews which say it's crap though - the larger screen is poor. Basically Chromebook + large screen + cheap .. pick any two from three. Any advice or a steer on what to buy in December 2020 that'll work like the old 14" acer but with a larger, decent quality keyboard and screen ?
 
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