Box: Edit Microsoft Office Files Online

You can create and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in your web browser, without leaving Box, using Office Online.

Create a new Microsoft Office file

  1. Open the Box folder where you want the new file.
  2. Click New and choose the type of Microsoft file you want to create.
    Box New menu listing Microsoft Office file types
  3. When prompted, name the file.

If you don't have Box Edit installed, the file opens in Office Online. If you do, it opens in the desktop application on your computer.

Office Online saves your changes automatically, so you don't need to save manually.

Edit an existing Microsoft Office file

From the file's preview

  1. Open the folder that contains the file.
  2. Click the file to preview it.
  3. Click Open and choose the option to open the file in Office Online.
    Open button on the Box file preview with the Office Online option

From the folder list

  1. Open the folder that contains the file.
  2. Right-click the file, or hover over it and click More Options.
  3. Click Open with..., then Word Online, Excel Online or PowerPoint Online, depending on the file type.
    Open with menu listing the Office Online applications

Your edits are saved to Box automatically.

Edit with others at the same time

Several people can edit the same file at once in Office Online, and everyone's changes are saved to Box automatically. The names of the people editing appear in the upper-right corner, and each person's cursor appears in its own color with their name next to it.

Limits

  • File types: Office Online can edit .docx, .xlsx and .pptx files. Older Office 97–2003 files (.doc, .xls, .ppt) can't be edited this way. To edit one, open it in the desktop application and use Save As to convert it to the newer format.
  • File sizes:
    • PowerPoint: 1 GB
    • Excel: 50 MB
    • Word: fewer than 100 million characters, and the file must load within 60 seconds
  • Password-protected files can't be opened in Office Online.
  • Folders with Hide Collaborators turned on: the Office Online option is greyed out and shows Unavailable for this file, because editing with others at the same time would reveal who the collaborators are.

For more detail, see Cornell IT's article Editing Microsoft Office Files in Box.

Confidential data: Don't store Confidential data in Box. If you have a business need to store Confidential data, submit a request and we'll provide an approved storage location. For details, see the Regulated Data Chart.

[authored via Jane by aca34 on 2026-10-01 19:30 UTC]

Was this helpful?
0 reviews
Print Article