How do I download documents from Word online to my desktop?

Anonymous
2023-11-29T12:36:44+00:00

Hello,

I'm trying to get students to submit work as Word documents (I need to be able to cut/paste things from the documents because of an activity). Neither they nor I can download or upload their documents as Word documents. When they try to upload them to our LMS, they appear as pdfs. When they email me the link to their documents, I can view them online, but I can't save them to my computer with the rest of the class's documents. When I try to download them, it simply opens the file again in another browser tab. There is nothing in my browser's downloads, so it's not even attempting to download the file.

How can I either direct the student to upload their file as a workable Word document or download their documents as Word documents so I can manipulate them and save them?

I've seen a lot of questions about this but no actual answers. There was a mention of Onedrive in one response, but I don't use Onedrive at all because it interferes with my Dropbox. I just want to download the file, not save it to another online cloud like Onedrive.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

52 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2023-12-02T23:47:53+00:00

    For my requirement? Are we not supposed to be able to open online Word documents in the desktop app? That's all I'm asking for!

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2023-12-02T23:49:01+00:00

    How so? I'm asking how to open online Word documents in the Word app. Because this would not work with the LMS, students emailed me a link to their online Word documents, so the LMS is no longer involved. All I'm trying to do is download an online Word document in the desktop app. No LMS involved.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2023-12-03T01:25:31+00:00

    In the top right corner, click on Editing, then Open in Desktop App.

    Image

    Once the document opens in the desktop app, you can save it to your hard drive if desired.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2023-12-03T12:35:21+00:00

    To download a Word document from Word Online to your desktop, you can follow these steps:

    1. Open the Word document in Word Online.
    2. Click on "File" in the top left corner of the screen.
    3. Click on "Download" and select "Microsoft Word (.docx)" from the dropdown menu.
    4. The document will download to your computer as a Word document that you can open and manipulate as needed.

    If your students are having trouble uploading their Word documents to your LMS, they may need to check the file format they are saving their documents in. They should make sure they are saving their documents as Word documents (.docx) and not as PDFs. If they are still having trouble, they may need to contact the support team for your LMS for further assistance.

    Download a copy of a Word for the web document to my computer - Microsoft Support

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2023-12-03T15:33:57+00:00

    As I stated, this does not work. I've tried it about 50 times with 3 different documents on two different computers at this point. It does not work. It simply opens in another browser tab and nothing actually downloads.

    Was this answer helpful?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments