Microsoft License A1 vs A3

Microsoft Licensing Overview

License Type

Office for the Web (online access)

Yes

Desktop Apps

Yes

Outlook

Yes

(online only)

Yes

Word

Yes

(online only)

Yes

Excel

Yes

(online only)

Yes

Powerpoint

Yes

(online only)

Yes

Access

Yes (PC Only)

Publisher

Yes (PC Only)

OneDrive

100GB Storage

Pooled Storage across Tenant

100TB+(# of A3 paid users x 50GB)

Outlook A1 vs A3

Folder pane

Feature

Folders list

Yes

Favorite folders list

Yes

View PSTs

Yes

Create new folder

Yes

Rename folder

Yes

Clutter folder

Yes

View/Send mail
from Shared Mailboxes

Yes

Access to Public Folders

Yes

Microsoft 365 Groups

Yes

Message list actions

Feature

Conversation view

Yes

Toggle conversation
view with classic

Yes

Flag/Follow up

Yes

Categorize

Yes

Ignore conversation

Yes

Clean up thread

Yes

Report as junk

Yes

Assign Policy
archive or retention
policy

Yes

Mark as Clutter

Yes

Focused Inbox

Yes

Move to Spam folder

Yes

Empty Spam folder

Schedule/Snooze

Compose New Message/Reply

Feature

MailTips - recipient is OOF
or outside of organization

Yes

Insert/change signatures

Yes

Follow Up/Flag
when creating email

Yes

Set High/Low importance

Yes

Add Voting buttons

Yes

Spell check

Yes

Attach files

Yes

Attach links to files
from OneDrive for
Business

Yes

Alias support
Outlook.com

Yes

Inbox

Feature

Work Offline mode

Yes

Create inbox rules

Yes

Set automatic replies,
(OOF)

Yes

App Themes

Yes

Contacts

Feature

Connect to multiple
accounts

No *

Yes

Exchange Server

Yes

Microsoft 365
Exchange Online

Yes

Outlook.com

No *

Yes

Gmail.com

No *

Yes

Yahoo!

No *

Yes

IMAP accounts

No *

Yes

* The Mail and Calendar apps contain your contacts in the system directory. When you write or reply to an email, you can find all the people that you've exchanged emails with in the To line. Simply start typing a name to see the suggestions, or select Search directory at the bottom of the suggested names.

Search

Feature

Local search

Yes

Server search

Yes

People View
(based on importance)

Yes

Connect to other accounts

Feature

Connect to multiple
accounts

No *

Yes

Exchange Server

Yes

Microsoft 365
Exchange Online

Yes

Outlook.com

No *

Yes

Gmail.com

No *

Yes

Yahoo!

No *

Yes

IMAP accounts

No *

Yes

* Outlook Web App provides an option to for Connected Accounts, which syncs mail once per hour.

Calendar

Feature

Accept/Tentative/
Decline meeting

Yes

Edit response

Yes

Remove from
calendar button

Yes

Weather Bar

Yes

Share Calendar *

Yes

Open colleagues'
calendars

Yes

Send Availability
(share available time)

Forward a meeting

Yes

Create a new meeting

Yes

See attendee free/busy
information

Yes

Meeting room finder

Yes

Meeting attendee
response status

Yes

Add Skype for Business
Online Meetings details

Yes

Access calendar attachments

Yes

View Free/Busy/Private/Tentative meetings

Yes

* Share Calendar (set permission level and share entire calendar)

Word A1 vs A3

Word Application Feature

Captions

No¹

Yes

Citations and bibliography

No¹

Yes

Collaboration, advanced

Yes

Document parts and themes

Yes

Equations

Yes

Gridlines

Yes

Index

No¹

Yes

Ink/Draw

Yes

IRM and password-protection

No¹

Yes

Immersive Reader

Yes

Mail merge

Yes

Offline viewing and authoring

Yes

Page layout tools, advanced

Yes

Printing, advanced

Yes

Proofing tools, advanced

Yes

Reference tools

No¹

Yes

Researcher

Yes

Rich media

Yes

Ruler

Yes

SmartArt

No¹

Yes

Table of Authority

No¹

Yes

Table of Contents

Yes

Reuse Files

Yes

VBA and Forms scripts

Yes

Watermarks

No¹

Yes

Transcribe

Yes

Export to PPT

Yes

Catchup

Yes

Designer

Yes

Emoji

Yes

Copy Link to Heading

Yes

¹ These render in the viewer, but you cannot create or edit them in Office for the web.

Excel A1 vs A3

Excel Application Feature

Add a check box or option button

Yes

Advanced time filtering (Timeline slicer)

Yes

Apply smart/recommended formatting

Yes

Audio notes recording

Yes

Create External date connections¹

No²

Yes

Creation of advanced analysis views (Power View, Power Pivot, Slicers)

Yes

External references

No³

Yes

Formula tools, advanced

Yes

Offline viewing and authoring

Yes

Post to social network and present online

Yes

Refresh existing data connections

Yes

Rights management: IRM and password security

Yes

Spreadsheet audit and compliance

Yes

What if analysis tools

Yes

Embed workbook on web or blog page (OneDrive)

Yes

Rename file while workbook is open

Yes

Surveys

Yes

¹ Macros can't be run or changed.
² If macros exist, users are prompted to save a copy of the file with the macros removed.

³ In Excel for the web, the last known reference value displays in the browser window; however, it must be updated using the Excel desktop app.

Powerpoint A1 vs A3

PowerPoint Application feature

Apply rich formatting to text, shapes, and pictures

Yes

Broadcast slide show

Yes

Create custom animation

No¹

Yes

Design tools, advanced

Yes

Full ink support

Yes²

Full selection of animations and transitions

No¹

Yes

Headers and footers

Yes

Integration with Excel for charts

Yes

Offline viewing and authoring

Yes

Presenter view

Yes

Reviewer tools, advanced

Yes

Rights management: IRM and password security

Yes

Embed presentation on web or blog page

Yes

¹ PowerPoint for the web supports a gallery of eight transitions and 37 animations. For a larger selection or to create custom animations, use the PowerPoint desktop app.
² The device you're working on needs to support ink.

OneNote A1 vs A3

OneNote Application feature

Advanced collaboration: New content shows as unread, presence

Clipping experiences

Create Section groups

Yes

Edit embedded files

Yes

Image optical character recognition (OCR)

Yes

Inking: ink-to-text and math, customizable pens, drawing tools

Yes

Outlook integration (tasks)

Yes

Rights Management: IRM and password security

Yes

Template support

Yes

Video playback

Yes

Supported File Types for A1 License

(Office for the Web)

Word documents created in Word 2.0 or later

View mode

Edit mode

Open XML (.docx)

Yes

Binary (.doc)

Yes

Converted to .docx

Macro (.docm)

Yes¹

Other (.dotm, .dotx)

Yes

OpenDocument (.odt)

Yes

Portable Document Format (.pdf)

Excel workbooks created in Excel 97 or later

View mode

Edit mode

Open XML (.xlsx, .xlsb)

Yes

Binary (.xls)

Yes

Converted to .xlsx

Template (.xlt, .xltx)

Macro (.xlsm)

Yes¹

Yes²

OpenDocument (.ods)

Yes

OneNote notebooks created in OneNote 2010 or later

View mode

Edit mode

Open XML (.one)

Yes

PowerPoint presentations created in PowerPoint 97 or later

View mode

Edit mode

Open XML (.pptx, .ppsx)

Yes

Binary (.ppt, .pps)

Yes

Converted to .pptx or .ppsx

Template (.pot, .potx)

Yes

Macro (.pptm, .potm, .ppam, .potx, .ppsm)

Yes¹

Add-ins (.ppa, .ppam)

OpenDocument (.odp)

Yes

¹ Macros can't be run or changed.
² If macros exist, users are prompted to save a copy of the file with the macros removed.