Download the Free or Premium Microsoft Office for iPad

The Ultimate Quick Start Guide for Microsoft Office for iPad

If you use an iPad for productivity and prefer Microsoft Office programs, you can get started with Word for iPad, Excel for iPad, and PowerPoint for iPad within about 10 minutes.

This set of slides gives an overview of the process while taking out the guess work.

Still deciding? Check out my comprehensive Review of 40+ Features in Microsoft Office for iPad.

Already have it? Ramp up your skills:

Top 8 Office for iPad Tricks and Tips for Beginners

When I signed up for a free one-month Office 365 trial and downloaded the Microsoft Office for iPad apps, it took less than ten minutes. Here's how.

Get Extra Features in Microsoft Office for iPad with Office 365

Your first step actually takes place on slide 4 of this slide show, but you'll want to understand two important things before doing so.

The first is that Microsoft Office for iPad can be downloaded for free and includes a lot of core features.

For full features in Office for iPad, a qualifying Office 365 subscription is required. This is a monthly or yearly account which gives you additional storage in the OneDrive cloud environment and more.

Understanding Office Software Subscriptions

Microsoft's Office site details the different Office 365 accounts you can choose to buy after the trial. You will need to sign up for this before being able to use Office for iPad in all its glory.

This brings us to the second thing you'll want to understand about how Office for iPad works with Microsoft products. Signing up for Office 365 also enables you to use OneDrive as shown on the next slide.

How Microsoft Office for iPad Works with OneDrive

Signing up for Office 365 or even the free trial of Office 365 also signs you up for OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud environment.

Microsoft OneDrive was originally named Microsoft SkyDrive. The name was changed in early 2014 but refers to the same account. Accounts are free though more online storage space can be purchased.

You can think of Office for iPad as being partly housed on your iPad and partly in Microsoft's OneDrive cloud (or Microsoft's servers you access through an online account).

Signing up for the free trial on the next screen takes care of all of this, while also enabling you to try Office for iPad.

How to Get a Free Trial of Microsoft Office 365 and Office for iPad

Microsoft Office 365 is a subscription which users pay for on a monthly or yearly basis, but you can try it out for free.

The free trial allows you to also try Office for iPad apps including Word for iPad, Excel for iPad, and PowerPoint for iPad. OneNote for iPad is always free.

This free trial of Office 365 should give you a month to try it out. Get it at Microsoft's Office site.

Check out more options: Compare and Download Free Trials of Office Software.

Next, download the Office for iPad program apps individually.

Quick Links: Where to Download Microsoft Office for iPad Apps

Keep in mind that these apps take up space on your iPad so you may want to go through old files and such and make room.

Reminder: As mentioned on the previous slides, buying or signing up for a free trial of Office 365 from Microsoft's Office site is required before those program apps will work fully on your iPad.

Once you sign up for the required Office 365 account and download the apps, you can jump in to a few key skills to get you productive in no time.

The following quick, visual tutorials for Microsoft Office on iPad take you through the basic skills you will need to swipe, tap, and drag your way to well-formatted documents.

Each skill is shown with an image to help you get productive as quickly as possible!