Unexpected Office web apps in Windows 10 Start menu said to be buggy

Muchos usuarios de Windows 10 se sorprendieron al ver las aplicaciones web de Office ancladas en su menú Inicio después de una actualización reciente. Estas aplicaciones, como Word, Excel, PowerPoint y Outlook, son accesos directos a las versiones en línea del paquete Office, que requieren una conexión a Internet y una cuenta de Microsoft para su uso. Algunos usuarios informaron que no dieron su consentimiento para la instalación de estas aplicaciones web y que no podían eliminarlas fácilmente del menú Inicio.

Microsoft has confirmed that this was a bug and not a deliberate attempt to ship 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 web versions of its apps, 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 applications in your Start menu and want to get rid of them, you can follow these steps:

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

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

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

Office web applications are not the same as Office desktop applications, 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 the Office applications, you can access them from office.com or from your Microsoft account page.

If you have noticed that some Office applications appear as web applications 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 are not supposed to be there. This is a bug that Microsoft is working to fix.

This problem started last week, when some Windows Insiders 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 released in January. Some users who installed the Windows 10 October 2020 Update also got the new Edge browser, which has a feature that allows certain websites to be pinned 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 is very similar, except that a PWA removes the address bar, tabs and other elements that make it look like a web page. In addition, a PWA can be saved as an «application» in the Start menu.

Microsoft has been experimenting with adding shortcuts to Office web applications in 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 provide a native experience. They are different from Office web applications, which are simply online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint that require an Internet connection and a browser to run. Microsoft did not intend to install Office PWAs on users’ PCs, but rather to give them easy access to Office web applications through the Start menu.

Microsoft has confirmed that it has stopped the implementation 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 and 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 recognizable and accessible.