Microsoft Offers Free Office Version with Ads: A New Opportunity for Budget Users

Ad-Supported Version with Limitations
Microsoft is now offering a free version of its Office suite for certain users to test. This version, available only for Windows users, features a persistent ad space on the side of the screen, where a 15-second video ad appears every few hours. The ads are played silently. Apart from the ads, the free version comes with several important limitations. Users can only save their documents to OneDrive, as local saving is not permitted. OneDrive provides 5GB of free storage. Additionally, some advanced features, such as watermark insertion and data analysis tools, are not available in this version.

Test Phase with Uncertain Future
A Microsoft representative confirmed that this ad-supported version is still in the testing phase and did not provide a timeline for when it might be available to all users. There is also the possibility that this version may never be released to the public. Users who have access to this version can temporarily bypass the ads by clicking on the "Skip for now" option in the desktop Office version, an option that is normally unavailable in the paid versions.