Apart from giving you fast access to the website, you can run browser-based applications like they are desktop apps (well, nearly). With the latest browsers, it’s possible to create desktop shortcuts and pin websites to the Windows taskbar. Normally people run OWA in a browser tab because this is the way that OWA has always functioned since its introduction in Exchange 5.0 in 1997. Documentation is even available! Creating Apps from Web Sites Once they were happy that OWA works well as a PWA, Microsoft moved the feature to be generally available, which is now the state.
I asked Microsoft about this and was told that the ability to install OWA as a PWA was made available to some users to allow Microsoft to assess the impact. As it turns out, this is exactly what I describe here. Editor’s Note 12 December: Microsoft published Office 365 Notification MC197736 to say that OWA can be installed as a progressive web app (PWA) in Chromium-based browsers ( Office 365 roadmap item 59250).
