Does Microsoft 365 Work in China?

Does Office 365 work in China?

Yes, with a work or school account on Microsoft’s global service, though it can be slow. Microsoft lists China among the countries and regions where Microsoft 365 and Office 365 are available. The University of Reading says Microsoft 365, including Outlook, Teams, OneDrive for Business and the Office apps, works as normal in China, but uploads to OneDrive may be slow. The University of York says access from China is allowed, but performance may vary. GreatFire Analyzer, which tests websites from mainland China, lists office.com and the work sign-in page login.microsoftonline.com as not blocked.

Speed is the problem. Microsoft says China’s links to the global internet are congested, which causes packet loss and delays for all traffic in and out of the country. Large file transfers and calls suffer most. People who work from a home, hotel or café, away from a company network, can see poor performance. Microsoft’s advice for them:

• Use apps that keep a copy of your files and mail, such as Outlook, Teams and OneDrive, rather than web versions.
• Report problems to your IT team. Microsoft notes that not every problem comes from the border.

Microsoft also advises companies to send Microsoft 365 traffic through the company VPN, so it crosses the border on their own network. Ask your IT team whether they want you to use it. Some organizations block sign-ins from China altogether. Mid Sweden University, for example, blocked Microsoft 365 sign-ins from China, Iran and Russia in June 2025, with exceptions for business trips.

If your account asks for a second sign-in step, set up the Microsoft Authenticator app before you fly. Reading notes that it gives you codes without an active phone number in the country you’re in. See authenticator apps and SMS codes in China.

For Teams calls and chat, see Microsoft Teams in China. For work email, see Outlook in China.

Does Microsoft Word work in China?

Yes. The University of Reading says the Office apps, such as Word and Excel, work as normal in China. They don’t need a constant connection. For Microsoft 365 Apps licensed through an organization, Microsoft says the apps stay fully working as long as the computer connects to the internet at least once every 30 days. After that, they switch to reduced functionality mode, where you can view and print documents but not edit them.

Install the apps at home. Microsoft notes that Google services, including the Play Store, aren’t accessible inside China.

Does OneDrive work in China?

OneDrive for Business works with a work or school account, but the personal OneDrive website is blocked. GreatFire Analyzer lists onedrive.live.com as blocked, as of its latest test in October 2026. Imperial College London’s IT team lists personal OneDrive among the sites blocked in China.

We couldn’t confirm whether the OneDrive apps still sync personal files on Chinese networks. Copy the files you need onto your laptop or phone before you fly, or plan to use a roaming eSIM or a VPN.

For OneDrive for Business, Imperial and Reading say it works as normal in China, but uploads can be slow.

Is OneDrive blocked in China? Personal vs work or school

Personal OneDrive’s website is blocked in China, while OneDrive for work or school usually works. The two run at different web addresses, and China’s firewall treats them differently. Which one you have depends on the account you sign in with.

• Personal OneDrive comes with a Microsoft account and lives at onedrive.live.com. GreatFire answers “No” to whether onedrive.live.com opens from mainland China, and has recorded it as blocked in each conclusive test since October 2017.
• OneDrive for work or school comes with an account from your employer or school. Microsoft’s list of Microsoft 365 web addresses puts it on sharepoint.com, the same domain as SharePoint sites, which GreatFire rates as mixed.
• OneDrive in the 21Vianet edition comes with an account from an organization that buys Microsoft 365 in China from 21Vianet. Its addresses end in sharepoint.cn, and its data stays in China. GreatFire answers “Yes” for sharepoint.cn, in a test from August 2026.

Personal files don’t have to stay behind. Before you fly, mark the ones you need for offline use, and they’ll open without a connection. On Windows, right-click a file or folder in OneDrive and select Always keep on this device. In the OneDrive app for iPhone and iPad, choose Make Available Offline. Microsoft says taking whole folders offline there needs a Microsoft 365 subscription.

OneDrive alternatives in China

If your employer or school gives you a Microsoft 365 account, its OneDrive for work or school is the simplest alternative, since it usually works in China. For personal files, Chinese cloud drives open on Chinese networks without a VPN, though signing up can be harder for visitors.

• Baidu Netdisk (百度网盘), Baidu’s free cloud drive for storing and sharing files. GreatFire answers “Yes” for pan.baidu.com, in a test from September 2026. Baidu’s sign-up page asks for a mainland China mobile number.
• Tencent Weiyun (腾讯微云), Tencent’s cloud drive, which syncs files between your phone and computer. You sign in with WeChat or QQ, so it suits people who already use WeChat. GreatFire answers “Yes” for www.weiyun.com, in a test from June 2026.

Both websites are in Chinese. For more options, see our pages on Dropbox in China and iCloud in China.

Personal Microsoft accounts

Personal Microsoft account pages weren’t blocked in GreatFire’s latest conclusive tests: account.microsoft.com in October 2026, and the sign-in page login.live.com in July 2026. GreatFire tested login.live.com again on September 19, 2026, but that result was inconclusive. For Outlook.com email, see Outlook in China.

Microsoft ended Teams for personal use in China in 2026. Its notice says the change applies only to Teams for personal use. We found no similar notice for OneDrive or for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family. Microsoft has sold Microsoft 365 Personal and Family in China since April 2020, and its Chinese online store still sells them.

Is SharePoint accessible in China?

Often, with a work or school account, but results vary between organizations. GreatFire Analyzer rates sharepoint.com as mixed. It lists www.sharepoint.com as not blocked, in a test from August 2026. Some organizations’ SharePoint sites load normally, others are disrupted some of the time, and some are blocked.

Microsoft says large file transfers suffer most from the congested border links. Its advice is the same as above: use apps that keep a copy of your files, such as OneDrive, rather than the browser, and ask your IT team about the company VPN.

Office 365 China: the edition run by 21Vianet

Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, which Microsoft also calls Microsoft 365 operated by 21Vianet, is a separate version for China. Microsoft doesn’t run it. 21Vianet, a Chinese internet data center company, operates it from local data centers with technology licensed from Microsoft, and keeps the data in China. 21Vianet also handles subscriptions, billing and support. Microsoft notes that the service is subject to Chinese laws.

It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for the web, SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business, but some features of the global service aren’t enabled yet. In its version of SharePoint, sharing with someone outside your organization brings up a warning that shared files could become accessible outside the country.

Microsoft’s China networking advice above is for global accounts and doesn’t apply to the 21Vianet edition. To meet people who use the 21Vianet edition of Teams, see Microsoft Teams in China.

Does China use Microsoft Office?

Yes, but the state is moving to Chinese software. Microsoft sells Microsoft 365 in China, to consumers through its Chinese online store and to organizations through 21Vianet. Business Standard, citing the South China Morning Post, wrote that state-owned companies were reportedly ordered in 2022 to switch fully to Chinese software for operations and office work by 2027. It also reported that in October 2025 the Commerce Ministry published rare earth export documents in a format that opened only in WPS Office, not in Microsoft Word.

WPS Office comes from Kingsoft, a Beijing-based company. Kingsoft says 48.25 million individuals in mainland China paid for a WPS subscription in the 12 months to June 30, 2026.

With a roaming eSIM or VPN

You don’t need either for a work or school account, but you need one to reach the personal OneDrive website. Airalo, which sells eSIMs, says its China eSIMs route your traffic through gateways outside mainland China, so blocked sites open without a VPN as long as you use the eSIM’s data rather than hotel Wi-Fi. GreatFire says reaching onedrive.live.com from mainland China takes a VPN or another circumvention tool. See eSIM or VPN for China and VPNs that work in China.

With a work or school account, ask your IT team before you install anything. Microsoft advises companies to route Microsoft 365 traffic through the company VPN, and York suggests its own VPN or virtual desktop service if you have trouble in China. Imperial College London’s IT team advises against third-party VPNs in China. See Corporate VPN in China and Is using a VPN legal in China?