Sometimes manuals, documentations, application forms, notices and other types of documents are given in the DOC or DOCX format on some websites. This means that you have to have Microsoft Office installed on your PC, because only then you can properly open these files. But what if you cannot afford the expensive Microsoft Office suite? Sure, you can use the free Libre Office or Open Office but they do not fully support all the features present in the documents created by the latest versions of Microsoft Office. A better approach is to use the web apps for Microsoft Office and view documents online. You can make using the Office web apps an even nicer and more productive experience if you can open any Office document present online directly in the Office web apps without having to download them first. If you are a Firefox user, then you can use the View in Office Web Apps extension for Firefox which allows you to view all online office documents in the Office web apps.
You can install the View in Office Web Apps extension for Firefox from the Mozilla add-ons repository. The installation does not require restarting of the web browser. After the installation, you can start opening any Office document available online in the Office web apps. To open a supported document link, all you have to do is right-click on it and select View in Office Web Apps from the right-click menu.
When that document opens in the Microsoft Office web apps, you can not only view the document without any problem whatsoever, but you can also print the document into a PDF format file. This actually adds another feature to the View in Office Web Apps extension – ability to convert any online Office document into the PDF file. There is also a translation feature available which can translate the document into any language you choose.
As expected, the Microsoft Office web apps do not allow you to modify the documents in any way. But they give 100% complete support for all the features that these documents may have and display them as originally intended by the their creator.
So if you are having difficulty opening those Office documents on a website, then you should try this extension. If you use this extension, then you may not have to download the Office files at all – you can open them directly in the Office web apps. This not only saves your precious time, but also saves you from the trouble of installing Microsoft Office just for opening one or two documents.
You can install View in Office Web Apps extension from https://addons.mozilla.org/.