O365 Fully Installed vs. Online Versions
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@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@Kelly said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@coliver said:
Oh the difference between Office Web Apps and Office.
Office Web Apps (Word Online, Excel Online, Etc.) leave a lot to be desired. They are more akin to Google Docs then the full version of Office.
I wanted to know specifically what they are capable of doing and what they aren't but I don't see any of that listed. For my average user I'm sure the online version would be fine but I was asked the difference and I really didn't know from a features standpoint.
The largest, and starkest, difference is file access. Office Web Apps will open files stored in One Drive for Business (ODfB). I don't believe (unless something has changed recently) that there is a way to access LAN or local files without sync'ing them to SharePoint Online or ODfB. You also cannot use any macros or scripts, and some advanced functions are missing. There are some others that are oddly MIA as well. I'd have some of your users trial it and see if they can make it work.
My plan was to create an OwnCloud server on Vultr. There is no other way to access the files on that server without syncing to ODfB and having them use ODfB as the primary file server? There is no way for me to use the OwnCloud server as the main server and sync to ODfB as a remote backup?
Why would you want to do this though? If you're plan is to use O365 Online Apps, why use ownCloud at all?
I didn't know that you couldn't access the files on it. I wanted to go from a local file server to a hosted solution but obviously that isn't going to work
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@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
This, 1000x THIS!
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@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
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@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
I'm asking because I don't know. The locally installed versions would cost us more than our local file server costs us to maintain. We have a very basic file server and around 500 users. At $4.50 per user per month I can't justify it. They won't pay it.
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@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
Is the way for me to sync ODfB across all my users and still be able to use O365 using the client I listed? If so, has anyone ever attempted this? What was the result if so?
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@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
I'm asking because I don't know. The locally installed versions would cost us more than our local file server costs us to maintain. We have a very basic file server and around 500 users. At $4.50 per user per month I can't justify it. They won't pay it.
How much offline access to files do you need? Do most of your users work at their desk or do they work at odd hours remotely? How often are people not on the network.
Do you need Office? Does something like LibreOffice work to fill that gap?
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@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
I'm asking because I don't know. The locally installed versions would cost us more than our local file server costs us to maintain. We have a very basic file server and around 500 users. At $4.50 per user per month I can't justify it. They won't pay it.
I'm confused. Where did $4.50 come from? 500 users clearly puts you in the E1-E5 line of choices for O365. E1 online apps only is $8/u/m, E3 - locally installed office is $20/u/m.
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@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
Is the way for me to sync ODfB across all my users and still be able to use O365 using the client I listed? If so, has anyone ever attempted this? What was the result if so?
I'm sorry I must have missed the client you listed.. what was it called?
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@coliver said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
I'm asking because I don't know. The locally installed versions would cost us more than our local file server costs us to maintain. We have a very basic file server and around 500 users. At $4.50 per user per month I can't justify it. They won't pay it.
How much offline access to files do you need? Do most of your users work at their desk or do they work at odd hours remotely? How often are people not on the network.
Do you need Office? Does something like LibreOffice work to fill that gap?
I'm not sure if it does fill the gap. I'm sure LibreCalc's formulas work differently than excel. That would require me to convert thousands of files, right?
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@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
I'm asking because I don't know. The locally installed versions would cost us more than our local file server costs us to maintain. We have a very basic file server and around 500 users. At $4.50 per user per month I can't justify it. They won't pay it.
I'm confused. Where did $4.50 come from? 500 users clearly puts you in the E1-E5 line of choices for O365. E1 online apps only is $8/u/m, E3 - locally installed office is $20/u/m.
I'm a non-profit: https://products.office.com/en-us/nonprofit/office-365-nonprofit-plans-and-pricing
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@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
Is the way for me to sync ODfB across all my users and still be able to use O365 using the client I listed? If so, has anyone ever attempted this? What was the result if so?
I'm sorry I must have missed the client you listed.. what was it called?
I just mentioned it. It's literally just called "Next Generation Sync Client". I'm completely unfamiliar with it.
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@wirestyle22 said:
@coliver said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
I'm asking because I don't know. The locally installed versions would cost us more than our local file server costs us to maintain. We have a very basic file server and around 500 users. At $4.50 per user per month I can't justify it. They won't pay it.
How much offline access to files do you need? Do most of your users work at their desk or do they work at odd hours remotely? How often are people not on the network.
Do you need Office? Does something like LibreOffice work to fill that gap?
I'm not sure if it does. I'm sure LibreCalc's formulas work differently right? That would require me to convert thousands of files, right?
It may, but LibreCalc can open Excel files by default. The expressions can be different but that would take some testing. Is that work going to cost more then the cost of Office?
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@coliver said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@coliver said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
I'm asking because I don't know. The locally installed versions would cost us more than our local file server costs us to maintain. We have a very basic file server and around 500 users. At $4.50 per user per month I can't justify it. They won't pay it.
How much offline access to files do you need? Do most of your users work at their desk or do they work at odd hours remotely? How often are people not on the network.
Do you need Office? Does something like LibreOffice work to fill that gap?
I'm not sure if it does. I'm sure LibreCalc's formulas work differently right? That would require me to convert thousands of files, right?
It may, but LibreCalc can open Excel files by default. The expressions can be different but that would take some testing. Is that work going to cost more then the cost of Office?
I would imagine it would. Anyone working on it is being completely unproductive and we are still paying their salary. I'll have to do some testing. If my users can't create formulas themselves I think they're going to be pissed most likely. It seems like in every way O365 isn't worth it.
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@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
I'm asking because I don't know. The locally installed versions would cost us more than our local file server costs us to maintain. We have a very basic file server and around 500 users. At $4.50 per user per month I can't justify it. They won't pay it.
I'm confused. Where did $4.50 come from? 500 users clearly puts you in the E1-E5 line of choices for O365. E1 online apps only is $8/u/m, E3 - locally installed office is $20/u/m.
I'm a non-profit: https://products.office.com/en-us/nonprofit/office-365-nonprofit-plans-and-pricing
Aww.. yes you did mention that earlier.
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So some things to look at - how many files do you have? is it more than 5000? If not, and they are all in the newer xlsx and docx, etc formats, then you can create a SharePoint site, copy them up there, then your online users can access/edit them, and so can your local users.
Like you, I haven't seen an exact list of what features are in the online version versus the locally installed one, but they are substantial when it comes to more advanced features, and as @BRRABill mentioned, some simpler ones like freezing a column/row.
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Why would you want to sync all of the files to all of the end users?
Why sync them at all?Is that your plan for ownCloud? to sync all of the files to every user's desktop/laptop?
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@wirestyle22 said:
@coliver said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@coliver said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
I'm asking because I don't know. The locally installed versions would cost us more than our local file server costs us to maintain. We have a very basic file server and around 500 users. At $4.50 per user per month I can't justify it. They won't pay it.
How much offline access to files do you need? Do most of your users work at their desk or do they work at odd hours remotely? How often are people not on the network.
Do you need Office? Does something like LibreOffice work to fill that gap?
I'm not sure if it does. I'm sure LibreCalc's formulas work differently right? That would require me to convert thousands of files, right?
It may, but LibreCalc can open Excel files by default. The expressions can be different but that would take some testing. Is that work going to cost more then the cost of Office?
I would imagine it would. Anyone working on it is being completely unproductive and we are still paying their salary. I'll have to do some testing. If my users can't create formulas themselves I think they're going to be pissed most likely. It seems like in every way O365 isn't worth it.
Completely unproductive? I doubt that, will they be less productive for a short time while they learn the syntax? Yes, but over time, most likely a very short time, they will learn what they will need of the program. The expressions and formulas are only slightly different between Excel and LibreCalc, and some advanced functions aren't there at all.
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@Dashrender said:
Why would you want to sync all of the files to all of the end users?
Why sync them at all?Is that your plan for ownCloud? to sync all of the files to every user's desktop/laptop?
No. I'm sorry for not articulating this well but let me try here. Currently we have a single point of failure at our main building. 33 other buildings connect to it for terminal services and the file server so if our internet our power go out our entire company goes down. I wanted to move to a cost saving hosted solution (Vultr). O365 seemed to save a ton of money so I was looking at it as an option separate from the file server but I didn't know the difference between the versions--which everyone just clarified for me (exactly what I was looking for). I want to move my fileserver over to Vultr and create an OwnCloud server because it's cost effective. I really wanted to be able to move over to O365 but the more I read responses to this thread the less reasonable I think it is. I'd much rather pay $20/month for a file server that gets the uptime of a data center than pay a good amount of money every few years to maintain a single point of failure. Does this make sense?
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@coliver said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@coliver said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@coliver said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@Dashrender said:
@wirestyle22 said:
@JaredBusch said:
Word/Excel online also do not like to save into the SharePoint team site documents folder. Once you open one through there, you can see it in the recent history, but you cannot directly save a new document into it easily.
SharePoint team site documents also have to be xlsx/docx to be opened in their respective online applications from the web interface.
Thank you for the information. Is there a viable way to do what I am trying to do or is this not really feasible yet? I see that they have an ODfB sync client. Zero experience with any of this.
Why bother with the sync client? The locally installed versions will download and upload on the fly directly to ODfB, no reason to sync other than offline access.
I'm asking because I don't know. The locally installed versions would cost us more than our local file server costs us to maintain. We have a very basic file server and around 500 users. At $4.50 per user per month I can't justify it. They won't pay it.
How much offline access to files do you need? Do most of your users work at their desk or do they work at odd hours remotely? How often are people not on the network.
Do you need Office? Does something like LibreOffice work to fill that gap?
I'm not sure if it does. I'm sure LibreCalc's formulas work differently right? That would require me to convert thousands of files, right?
It may, but LibreCalc can open Excel files by default. The expressions can be different but that would take some testing. Is that work going to cost more then the cost of Office?
I would imagine it would. Anyone working on it is being completely unproductive and we are still paying their salary. I'll have to do some testing. If my users can't create formulas themselves I think they're going to be pissed most likely. It seems like in every way O365 isn't worth it.
Completely unproductive? I doubt that, will they be less productive for a short time while they learn the syntax? Yes, but over time, most likely a very short time, they will learn what they will need of the program. The expressions and formulas are only slightly different between Excel and LibreCalc, and some advanced functions aren't there at all.
There is no way my users would be willing to learn. I know I know.
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@wirestyle22 said:
Does this make sense?
I see what you are saying - but I don't see how you are getting rid of single points of failure, at least not entirely - but then you haven't laid out the entire plan.
You mentioned a Terminal Server - are you planning on moving that?
I think the most cost effective move for you might to be go colo. Move all of your servers into a real DC. They will cover power and internet connectivity - things that I assume are your biggest fears. then everything else can stay exactly as it is, or at least nearly so - the people in your location would need to start acting like those 33 other locations and now be TSing into the colo
This is only one of many options.
