Updated: 10 best office apps for Android

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10 best Android office apps

We all know how versatile and powerful today's smartphones are, with numerous games and apps showing off their fun sides.

But what about the boring stuff? What about when you really need to edit potentially libellous statements out of a Word document in a hurry?

Android has a wealth of productivity tools at its disposal, ranging from free and simple text editors and "to do" lists up to impressively feature-packed and rather costly suites of document management apps that promise PowerPoint and Excel editing on your mobile.

Official options are a little lacking, though. There's no proper version of Open Office on Android, for example, while rival smartphone maker Microsoft has been a little reluctant and oddly rather slow to launch any official MS Office apps on Android as well.

Fortunately for business-minded users, Android has many third-party options offering similar collections of fully compatible office apps, optical character readers, scanners and converters, all ready to let you use your phone for something a little more useful than moaning on Twitter all day.

So here are our 10 Android office apps so you can make your phone work a bit harder.

1. Google Drive

The new name for what we used to know as Google Docs, Google Drive now packs in so much more than it used to. Yes, you still get access to your cloud-synced Google Docs files and the same clever collaborative editing tools, only now it's combined with Google's own locker service.

This means your docs, photos, assorted digital files and everything is all contained inside the one swish app. Plus it's all automatically saved to Google's servers for easy access on other computers, phones, internet fridges, watches, smartglasses etc.

2. Quickoffice

One of the big changes on the doing-serious-stuff side of Android came about in the summer of 2012, when Google revealed it had bought popular Android productivity suite Quickoffice. It quickly removed the tool's paid requirement and made it free for all, meaning easy access to Microsoft Office documents on the vast majority of Android phones and tablets was unlocked.

3. Microsoft Office Mobile

It took a while, but the productivity behemoth that is Microsoft Office Mobile has now landed on Android. It's pretty impressive for a couple of reasons; you can create, edit and save MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel files on mobiles and tablets, plus, if it's for personal use (ahem) you can do it all for free -- although some sort of existing Microsoft email account is required to get it running. It's sort of free for business users too, although a login associated with a paid desktop version is required to be completely legitimate.

4. CamScanner - Phone PDF Creator

A more advanced version of the document scanner found within the Google Docs app, CamScanner lets users import various office docs into Android by converting photos into PDF format. Its most useful feature is a batch mode for paging through endless docs and taking photos of each page, which then get auto-cropped and saved in one exciting file. The free version is ad supported, plus there's a paid release if you want to do away with the banners.

5. OpenOffice Document Reader

Thomas Taschauer is a very clever individual who has created his own OpenOffice Android app, which is a decent attempt at bringing full support to Android. There are some problems with formatting and displaying images and, more critically, a lack of editing abilities. But for reading ODS and ODT files on your Android device it's a useful, and free, option.

6. SwiftKey X

SwiftKey is only an alternative Android keyboard, but it has one significantly useful feature for work use. The app's learning system means it analyses your typing as you type, memorising what you write. If you've just typed a sentence, starting afresh with the same word will magically recreate the whole text, one word after the other. There will be occasions where you lose a big chunk of copy - SwiftKey can often remember it for you.

7. ThinkFree Office Mobile Viewer to 1Drive with Document Viewer

ThinkFree is one of the bigger providers of Office compatible apps for Android. It's pre-loaded on many phones, with a free version up on the Android Market to try if it's not already installed on yours. The free version only offers doc reading, with full editing functions saved for the paid version. There's also a specific tablet release - ThinkFree Mobile for Tablet - which comes with a suitably bland desktop look. You don't want colours distracting you from work.

8. Documents To Go 3.0

DataViz's Documents to Go app is another popular choice for supporting Office on Android, with PowerPoint, Word, Excel and the usual file types on the compatibility list. The free version only offers reading access, with the $14.99 paid option adding editing options. It lets you import your Google Docs files, plus the Word app handles rich text, tables, footnotes and much more.

9. Cloud Print

Remove the abject misery of owning a printer from your life with this. Google's Cloud Print app lets you piggyback any printer that's linked to the tech giant's cloud services, beaming stuff straight from your phone or tablet to a printer. Once on your device it integrates with Android's sharing menu, so printing stuff is as simple as sharing a URL or photo. The dialog options are a little simpler than you find on PC or laptop, but for direct printing images and PDFs it does the job well.

10. Chrome Remote Desktop

If you've gone and left your important work stuff stuff on your desktop, or need full power PC action on the move, Google can save the day. Chrome Remote Desktop is simple to setup, requiring a companion app to be installed on your desktop. Once that's done and synced up, the Android app then lets you access all of your proper computer's features on your phone or tablet, obliterating the need for the vast majority of the above.

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