Unexpected Office Web Apps in Windows 10 Start Menu Said to be a Bug

Many users Windows 10 They were surprised to see the web applications of Office Manager pinned to your Start menu after a recent update. These applications, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, are shortcuts to online versions of the Office suite, requiring an Internet connection and a Microsoft account to use. Some users reported that they did not consent to the installation of these web applications and could not easily remove them from the Start menu.

Microsoft has confirmed that this was a bug and not a deliberate attempt to push Office web apps to Windows 10 users. The company said it was testing a feature that would allow existing Office users to more easily access the versions. web applications, but inadvertently also affected some non-Office users. Microsoft apologized for the inconvenience and said it fixed the problem.

If you still see Office web apps in your Start menu and want to get rid of them, you can follow these steps:

– Right click on the Office web app icon and select Uninstall.

– Alternatively, you can go to Settings > Apps > Apps & features and look for Microsoft Office Online in the list. Click on it and select Uninstall.

– You may have to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Office web apps are not the same as Office desktop apps, which are installed locally on your computer and do not require an Internet connection or a Microsoft account to use. If you have a valid Office license, you can download and install the desktop applications from office.com. If you prefer to use the web versions of Office applications, you can access them from office.com or from your Microsoft account page.

If you've noticed that some Office apps appear as web apps in your Start menu, you may be wondering what they are and how they got there. The truth is that they are not actually web applications and they are not supposed to be there. This is a bug that Microsoft is working to fix.

This problem started last week, when some Windows experts reported seeing Office apps as Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs, in their Start menu. But then over the weekend, more users who were not part of the Insider program also reported the same thing. How did this happen?

According to a source close to the company, this is related to the transition to the new Edge browser, which was launched in January. Some users who installed the Windows 2020 October 10 Update also got the new Edge browser, which has a feature that allows you to pin certain web pages to the Start menu and taskbar as shortcuts. The new Edge also supports marking those sites as PWAs, if the site supports it. Running Word in a browser and running it as a PWA are very similar, except that a PWA removes the address bar, tabs, and other elements that make it look like a web page. Additionally, a PWA can be saved as an “app” in the Start menu.

Microsoft has been experimenting with adding shortcuts to Office web apps to the Start menu of new PCs, as a way to promote its online productivity suite. However, some users reported that these shortcuts were actually installing Office Progressive Web Apps (PWA) on their devices, without their consent. This was a bug that Microsoft has now fixed.

PWAs are web-based applications that can run offline and offer a native experience. They are different from Office web apps, which are simply online versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that require an Internet connection and a browser to work. Microsoft did not intend to install Office PWAs on users' PCs, but rather to give them easy access to Office web apps through the Start menu.

Microsoft has confirmed that it has paused the rollout of Office Web App shortcuts until it can ensure that they will not trigger the installation of Office PWAs. Users who have already installed Office PWAs can uninstall them from the Settings app, under Apps & Features. Microsoft still believes that Office web apps are a valuable option for users who don't have a Microsoft 365 subscription or an Office license, and wants to make them more discoverable and accessible.