Microsoft to end support for desktop Office viewer

Microsoft has decided end support its Word, Excel and PowerPoint document viewers, suggesting users a number of alternative solutions such as Windows 10 apps.

According to gHacks notes, these apps were introduced when the company updated their default document format for Office apps and were supposed to help users sticking with the old format.

But it turns out, Microsoft is now pulling support for these apps, with their download pages directing to dates when links will be pulled completely.

The Word Viewer killed off as soon as this month, while both PowerPoint Viewer and Excel Viewer should get the ax in April 2018.

“The Microsoft Word Viewer is being retired in November 2017. At that time, the Viewer will no longer be available for download and will no longer receive security updates,” Microsoft says in a short note posted on the download pages of each app.

Windows 10 users can download and install the Office mobile apps from the Windows Store for free or install them on iOS or Android devices.

Moreover, Office 365 also comes as an alternative, with a free trial available for one month, while on older Windows versions, users can turn to OneDrive and view documents stored in the cloud with the web- based Office suite.

Although, the download links will be removed, the apps will continue to work with Office documents even after the support is ended, though it’s imperative to know that Microsoft won’t be shipping any new security updates beyond these dates.