2.7. A Tour of Office Web App Oddities

The moment you open an Office Web App for the first time, you notice a few oddities. For example, where is the Save button? The Office Web Apps aren't like other programs:

• Save button: Except in Word Web App, you won't find a Save button. You don't need one. Your work is saved automatically in Excel Web App, PowerPoint Web App, and OneNote Web App. You have only to click the Save button to save your work in Word Web App.

• Save/Refresh button: By clicking the Open In button in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote Web App, you can open a file you store online in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote 2010. And after you open the file in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote 2010, the Save button looks a little different. It looks different to remind you that the editorial changes you make are saved not to a file on your hard disk, but rather to a file kept online on a Web server.

• Sharing files in Office Web Apps and Office 2010: More than one person can work on the same file with an Office Web App, but not if one of them has already opened the file in an Office 2010 program. For example, if one person opens an Excel file in Excel 2010 and someone else comes along and wants to open it in Excel Web App, he or she is out of luck. Except in the case of OneNote, you can't share a file if one person has opened it in an Office 2010 program.

• The OneNote exception: OneNote isn't particular about sharing a file when some people open the file in OneNote Web App and others open it in OneNote 2010. All OneNote users can successfully open the file and edit it at the same time.

• Password-protected files: If you'd like to upload a password-protected file to Windows Live or a SharePoint Web site and share it with others, think again. You can't open the file in an Office Web App. Office Web Apps can't open password-protected files.