MARCH 2019
6
Mobile phone access to MS Office
By Arnold Villeneuve
Let's face it: a majority of businesses use Microsoft Office
productivity tools every day. But one day you find yourself
on the road traveling on business without your laptop and
you need to access a Word, Excel or PowerPoint document
you just received as an attachment in an email.
What do you do?
Do not despair as there is a free solution: Polaris Office.
I am going to use my Android cell phone to demonstrate
installing and using Polaris Office, a Microsoft Office com-
patible productivity tool set from the Google Play store. The
same capabilities exist for the iPhone from the Apple App
store. And you can install them on your cell phone or tablet.
If you have a Microsoft OS-based cell phone or tablet you
most likely already have access to Microsoft Office Productiv-
ity Tools installed. For more advanced features there are also
some commercial plans available of Polaris Office but the basic
install really has most of what you need on a mobile device.
To install Polaris Office productivity tools
simply go to the Google Play Store on your
Android phone or tablet.
Search for Polaris Office in the search
dialog box and click the Install button.
Once installed click the Open button to start the Polar-
is Office productivity tools application. The application
will open to a welcome sign-in screen for first-time users.
You can use your Google or Facebook account to log in
or you can create a new account. In my case I created a
new account at Polaris Office
by clicking on the Create An
Account button - it is easy
and free!
The application will then
open to the landing
page and show you two
welcoming files which
provide documentation
on how to use Polaris
Office productivity tools
(it is very easy and intui
-
tive). Once you arrive at
the landing page use
your finger to swipe the
screen from the left side
of the screen to the right.
This will open the Main
Menu.
The Main Menu provides access to everything you can
do with Polaris Office tools including:
• configure your user profile settings
• access your My Polaris Cloud Storage area for storing
your files
• quickly locate recently used files
• share documents with others
• save or edit files stored on your local mobile device
• add Cloud Storage locations
All these features can really help you take your office
work with you on the road. You will also notice the red
round + button with four document type icons above it.
Time is money so let's get right to work.
Installing the Polaris Office productivity tools
Features
Continued on page 7
