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

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  1. Stefan Blom 353.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-01-10T21:52:14+00:00

    The student sent me a link. No, their document would not work with our learning management system, so that's why they had to email me a link.

    I find that having students send an ordinary file attachment in an e-mail is often the most convenient solution.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-01-11T10:46:24+00:00

    There's the rub! When the student tried to send the file as an attachment, they were only able to do so as a pdf. How can they send it as an attachment when they can't download it as a Word doc? This is what this thread is about!

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-01-11T14:14:33+00:00

    The bottom line is that universities need to rethink their policy of providing only the Office Web Apps instead of a full desktop subscription.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-01-11T15:09:26+00:00

    I don't think that's related at all. The bottom line is, Word online should be compatible with the desktop version of Word.

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  5. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-01-12T02:44:55+00:00

    Well, no free app can ever be expected to have the full capabilities of the paid-for version.

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