Dropbox has announced a partnership with Microsoft that brings somewhat surprising integration. The partnership will allow you to access your Dropbox account directly from Microsoft's Office apps, among other things.

Microsoft's Office for iPad and Android apps require an Office 365 subscription to edit documents. Adding Dropbox integration to the apps will likely attract new users to both Office and Dropbox. It's basically a win-win situation for the two companies, even if it is a surprising move.

"We know that much of the world relies on a combination of Dropbox and Microsoft Office to get work done," explained Dropbox in a blog post published on 4 November. "In fact, Dropbox is home to over 35 billion Office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. That’s why we’re partnering with Microsoft to help you do more on your phones, tablets, and the web."

Due to this partnership, you will have more editing, access, and sharing features overall. You will be able to edit Office files from the Dropbox mobile app and sync changes across devices, for instance, and you'll be able to access and save Dropbox files from Office apps. You'll even be able to sync your files without exiting Office apps.

And finally, you'll be able to share Dropbox links to a document from Office. You can expect these new features to roll out to all Dropbox users on iOS and Android in the next few weeks. Dropbox for Business customers will get the features too, and according to Dropbox, they will further extend to the web.

The cloud-storage service said integration between the Dropbox website and Office Online will land next year, following a Dropbox app for Windows Phone and Windows tablet that should release sometime in the coming months.

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