Microsoft 365 Apps is Microsoft's subscription version of Office. The package includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access, OneDrive and Teams, and connects to services such as SharePoint Online and Exchange Online. The apps are installed locally using Click-to-Run and updated regularly, as often as monthly. Users need a licensed Microsoft 365 account and must connect at least once every 30 days so the subscription can be verified. The Office web apps are a separate service.
Microsoft Corporation is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, in the US, and is therefore subject to US jurisdiction. For tenants that sign up in the EU or EFTA, Microsoft states that it stores and processes customer data and pseudonymised personal data within the EU Data Boundary, with limited exceptions; Multi-Geo customers are not covered. As a processor, Microsoft makes GDPR commitments through its Data Protection Addendum. Installing the apps locally does not by itself keep documents local: storage in SharePoint or OneDrive follows the tenant's data location. European organisations should therefore assess both the licence and account dependency and their storage choices.