ChromeOS and Microsoft 365 will start to work better together this year

Google and Microsoft don’t always go out of their way to make sure their products work great together – initially, Google declared the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser “unsupported “by Google Drive web apps; Microsoft is always trying to get you to use Bing, but it looks like Google’s ChromeOS will start to work a little better with the Microsoft 365 service later this year.

Google says ChromeOS will be adding a “new integration”for Microsoft 365, making it easier to install the app and adding native OneDrive support to ChromeOS’ native Files app. This should allow users to search for and access OneDrive files in the same way they access local files or files stored in their Google Drive account. The integration will be added in the “coming months”and users of the ChromeOS development and beta channels will be able to access it before it becomes available to all ChromeOS users later this year.

ChromeOS users can currently access OneDrive and other Microsoft 365 services through their web interfaces or Android apps installed through the Google Play Store, but they don’t integrate with the built-in ChromeOS Files app like Google Drive does. This integration will help close that gap for people who, for example, use Google products at home and Microsoft products at work, or vice versa.

Unlike iOS and Android, where Microsoft has ceased being a competitor and is now focused on providing apps and services, Microsoft is trying to expand and maintain its position in ChromeOS while also trying to beat it. Surface Laptop SE and Windows 11 SE are built to compete with ChromeOS hardware and software (respectively), and they try to offer some of the same administration tools and management features that have made ChromeOS so popular in schools.

For those fully utilizing Microsoft 365, Windows will continue to offer the best integration with Microsoft cloud products. In addition to its own versions of Word and other Office apps, Microsoft is also testing an updated version of Windows 11 File Explorer with even deeper OneDrive and Microsoft 365 file sharing integration.