I use Microsoft Office apps on my iPad. I have a Microsoft 365 account but are the apps on my iPad part of my Microsoft 365 account or are they completely separate?

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I use Microsoft Office apps on my iPad. I have a Microsoft 365 account but are the apps on my iPad part of my Microsoft 365 account or are they completely separate?

Anonymous

I have an account for Microsoft 365. I mostly use it on my Windows 11 PC. I also have an iPad with all the Microsoft 365 apps installed but when I log on with my iPad for support, I keep getting a pop up that invites me to try Microsoft 365 for free or buy Microsoft 365. I am puzzled as all my apps work (with a couple of caveats). So do I have 365 installed on my iPad or not?

I’m also having a problem with Excel on my iPad. I have an Excel spreadsheet that links to two other spreadsheets (all in the same folder). They work fine on my Windows PC but when I try to open them on my iPad it tells me that external links are not supported and have been disabled. This leads me to believe the version of Excel I’m using on my iPad is not the same as on my Windows PC. Am I in fact using the online version of Excel even though I’ve downloaded the apps and signed in to my 365 account? Is this the reason the external links are not supported?

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4 additional answers

Answer 1

Concerning your issue with external links in Excel, you're simply encountering the limitations of the mobile app. The Excel app on your iPad is a streamlined version that lacks some of the advanced features available in the desktop application. Supporting external links in spreadsheets requires more processing power and a robust file system, which might not be ideal for mobile devices due to resource constraints and security considerations.

To support external links, you either work with Excel on your PC or use OneDrive with Online Excel on your iPad. Here's how to do that:

Upload all your linked spreadsheets to OneDrive (cloud storage).
Access them using a web browser on your iPad and open them in the online version of Excel. The online version offers more features than the mobile app and should support external links.

Hope this helps

Stephen N.

Answer 2

Hello Stuart,

* I am a Microsoft user like you, providing solutions to community members; I am NOT a Microsoft employee.

You likely do have Microsoft 365 installed on your iPad, but there might be a discrepancy between the licenses activated on your PC and iPad. Microsoft 365 offers free versions of its apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) with limited features. These free versions often prompt users to upgrade to the paid subscription that unlocks the full functionality. So, it's possible your Microsoft 365 account has a paid subscription active on your PC, granting you full access to the desktop applications. However, the iPad apps might be running in the free version unless you've specifically activated the subscription for your iPad as well.

To check if your subscription is active on your iPad, go to www.accounts.microsoft.com and check the devices tab to see if your iPad is listed among the devices you're signed in to. Please note that you can only use your subscription on a maximum of 5 devices with one Microsoft Account.

If your iPad isn't on the list, then you should sign in on the iPad by opening any Microsoft 365 app (Word, Excel, etc), tap on the account icon (usually top-right corner) and then sign in with your Microsoft 365 credentials.

If your iPad shows on the list, then a simple sign out and sign in on the iPad will often fix this problem.

Hope this helps.

Stephen N.

Answer 3

Anonymous

Brilliant! A perfect reply. I guessed it was something to do with online versus app. Tried it as you suggest and all works as expected! Thank you very much Stephen.

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Answer 4

Hello Stephen, thanks again for your help.

I've logged into my Microsoft account and checked devices as you suggested. The iPad doesn't show and neither does my iPhone 12 Pro. The only thing showing on my account is my desktop Windows PC. The iPad is a 2017 10.5 inch iPad Pro with 64 GB - dated but still runs everything quite quickly. It has the latest iPad OS 17.4.1

I followed the steps you suggested to use if the iPad wasn't on the list. First I opened Excel, I clicked on the account icon (my initials - I presume this is correct, but it's not at the top right, it's at the top left. There's nothing related to my account at the top right) and then Account Details but I was already signed in and the only choices were to "Sign out" or to "Add Account". I tried again with Word - same result.

I then followed the instructions on my PC at www.accounts.microsoft.com to add a device. The dop down box choices were Microsoft devices, e.g. Xbox, surface laptop and at the bottom was "Other Devices". I clicked on this then used the drop down box and clicked on iOS Device. It asked me to input the serial number of my device (iPad). I did this but it said it didn't recognise it.

As previously mentioned I already have the apps, e.g. Word, Excel, OneNote, OneDrive, etc., on my iPad. I use Word and OneNote quite a lot when I'm offline so I assume I'm not using the online versions of "MS Office".

I can't get my account to see my iOS devices yet the Microsoft apps seem to work ok (apart from the external links for Excel) and I can't find a way through to add my iOS devices from my PC or from the devices themselves. I have logged into my Microsoft account both on my PC and on my iPad via both Word and Excel as per your advice. The iPad is very limited in what it will show me on my account, e.g. no devices tab, nothing other than the options to "Sign Out" or "Add account" as outlined above so I'm stuck at the moment.

I'm a great believer in "garbage in, garbage out" so I guess I must be doing something wrong. Any further advice would be welcome.

Just one last thing, I use Dropbox mostly for my files as I have an ancient MacBook Pro that won't run Microsoft 365, though I also keep copies on OneDrive as well. Could this have some bearing on the problem?

Many thanks

Stuart Gilbert

Answer 5

Anonymous

On the Ipad you install OneDrive/Word etc from the App Store and associate with your MS Account

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I use Microsoft Office apps on my iPad. I have a Microsoft 365 account but are the apps on my iPad part of my Microsoft 365 account or are they completely separate?

4 additional answers