What's new with Office Web Apps when used with SharePoint 2013?
Applies to: SharePoint Server 2013, SharePoint Foundation 2013, Office Web Apps
Summary: Describes new features available to SharePoint 2013 users and admins when using Office Web Apps.
Users who work with Office files in document libraries in SharePoint 2013 can benefit from some new features highlighted in the following tables.
More Office client features are included with Office Web Apps
| Addition/change | Description |
|---|---|
Change tracking |
Enables users to open Word files that contain revision marks in Word Web App. |
Comments |
Users can view, add, and reply to comments in Word Web App and PowerPoint Web App. |
Co-authoring |
Co-authoring support is new in Word Web App and PowerPoint Web App. It continues to be supported in Excel Web App and OneNote Web App. |
Embedding |
Support for embedding Web Apps in websites is new in Word Web App, Excel Web App, and PowerPoint Web App. |
Ink support |
Enables users to view Word Web App and OneNote Web App files that contain ink. |
Quick Preview |
Displays a preview of item content when a user rests over a search result in SharePoint. |
Share by link |
Allows users to send a link to a document to another user and allow the recipient to use Office Web Apps to view the document. |
Note
PowerPoint Broadcast is no longer available in SharePoint 2013. It is still available through OneDrive and Lync Server 2013.
IT Pros get new installation and licensing features
| Addition/change | Description |
|---|---|
Installation |
Office Web Apps is not installed on the same servers that run SharePoint 2013. Instead, you deploy one or more physical or virtual servers that run Office Web Apps Server. Then you configure the SharePoint 2013 farm to use the Office Web Apps Server farm to provide Office Web Apps functionality to users who create or open Office files from SharePoint libraries. For more information, see Office Web Apps Server overview. |
Licensing |
SharePoint 2013 provides new license enforcement that works with Office Web Apps. If you enable SharePoint licensing and then enable Office Web Apps editing, only the users who have the appropriate license can actually edit Office files in a browser. If no Office Web Apps editing licenses are applied for users, only viewing is supported. For more information about how licensing works in SharePoint 2013, see Configure licensing in SharePoint Server 2013. |
More collaboration features available in the Office Mobile Viewers
| Addition/change | Description |
|---|---|
PowerPoint attendee view |
Users can now attend a PowerPoint slide presentation broadcast on their mobile device. Some functionality includes broadcast status, such as waiting for the presentation to begin, and the ability for attendees to follow the broadcasted slides on a mobile device. An information bar is available at the top of the screen that provides connection status information. For example, it notifies the user when the device loses connectivity to the broadcast. |
User experience improvements |
Numerous improvements, including data sorting in Excel Mobile and image thumbnails in Word Mobile. |
You can learn more about how to use mobile devices with SharePoint 2013 in Overview of mobile devices and SharePoint Server 2013. To learn more about how to use Office Mobile Viewers on your mobile device, see Use Office Web Apps on your Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone.
See also
Content roadmap for Office Web Apps Server
Plan Office Web Apps (Used with SharePoint 2013)