Microsoft Office Versions

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Pellice

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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I've had a reasonably full version of Office available since I left my job in 2018 - I had some sort of desktop version installed then, and it transferred to my new computer since then. But I've lately been getting notes that all my Office programs will be deactivated on May 12. I've tried signing in again, but apparently MS really wants me to buy the programs, even though I've been using them occasionally without any incidents since 2018.

I tried the free version, but it seems to be only available online, like Google apps. Is that the case?

I use Word and Excel primarily when I open documents sent to me, as I prefer other programs for those functions. But I DO use OneNote all the time. I have a daily diary on it which I do NOT want to lose. OneNote is on the free online version, but I want it on my desktop.

You can supposedly download OneNote as a free standalone desktop application, and I did click on the download, which was labeled as "Officesetup.exe" even though I clicked on the OneNote download only. It said that it was installed, but I see no evidence of it, no icons on the desktop, doesn't appear in my Windows list, doesn't appear in File Manager. And when I open my desktop OneNote, it gives me the same old countdown warning.

I don't want to pay Microsoft for programs that are supposed to be free, particularly when I resent that they were forced on us orignally, back in the old days, and particularly since this is a subscription. Ugh. But I will pay for OneNote if I have to.

Sorry this is a jumble, I don't know why Microsoft makes it so confusing.
 
I am still using Office 2010 with no notice of it being deactivated (although they don't maintain it anymore)
 
Really - the free versions are View only:confused: That wasn't really clear. That would weight towards buying.
 
I have been seeing full versions for sale at $50/no subscription needed. Several vendors seem to have them so they must be legit. Sorry I don't have links; we are happily running Office 2008 and have no interest in making a change to something that works reliably and meets our needs.
 
Yes you can still buy legitimate full versions with a one time license for the life of the machine it's installed on. Last year I paid $80 for Microsoft Office plus 2019 with lifetime license on Amazon. It has since upgraded to Office 2021 for no additional $. No monthly charges! I'm good for as long as I keep this computer.
 
I got a similar deal for the Mac a while back. Fifty (?) bucks for a lifetime subscription to Office, I think. I need Excel for a purchased spreadsheet I use for beer brewing and Numbers doesn’t work with the Excel macros. Otherwise I’m actually pretty happy with the Mac counterparts to the MS Office programs and they come free with MacOS.
 
NewEnglander said:
Yes you can still buy legitimate full versions with a one time license for the life of the machine it's installed on. Last year I paid $80 for Microsoft Office plus 2019 with lifetime license on Amazon. It has since upgraded to Office 2021 for no additional $. No monthly charges! I'm good for as long as I keep this computer.
Click to expand...
I did the same. Very happy not to do a subscription.

Although I also downloaded Apache Open Office and I see I could use that also. I did it to open an old Excel file that MSFT could not open.
 
Office Professional 2021 is $439.99 for the official lifetime license. If you are getting it for like $80 I would think that is probably not on the level, though it might be in a grey zone of legality. Depends how much you care about letter of the law stuff.
 
jim584672 said:
Office Professional 2021 is $439.99 for the official lifetime license. If you are getting it for like $80 I would think that is probably not on the level, though it might be in a grey zone of legality. Depends how much you care about letter of the law stuff.
Click to expand...

My guess is that it doesn’t include all of the programs that Office Professional includes. I think it’s the Home version with just Word and Excel.
 
qwerty3656 said:
I am still using Office 2010 with no notice of it being deactivated (although they don't maintain it anymore)
Click to expand...
That isn't a version of Office requiring you to log in to Microsoft. I have the same version for Home & Student (two separate CD purchases because, at the time, we had it on three PCs and two laptops).

The OP's problem is the main reason I will never use a subscription service for any software. Same goes for having a cloud profile. The price of convenience in the present can become an annoyance in the future.
 
My old computer had a light version of Office and I used it all the time..


Many features were not on the version but it did everything that I wanted.. but now have a new computer and no such luck..


Using an Office Suite version but it keeps wanting me do sign up for a free trial.. not sure how much it would cost... it worked great for awhile but now it has a 'Printed with Office Suite' watermark on everything I print...


Not sure what I am going to do..
 
I still use Office Pro 2003. Still works like a champ. One thing I had to do is to uninstall every version of 'free' office I could find in windows 10 or else sometime would get a conflict and have the newer version of office pop up.
 
$50 all the day long, here's one reseller:

MS Office Pro 2021 lifetime license

You then register the emailed code on your Microsoft account, where it shows up under "Service & subscriptions"

Mine says:

"Products you've purchased

Office Professional Plus 2021
Added to your account on November 25, 2022
To activate Office, open an Office app like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and sign in with your account"
 
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I have no real use for Office. Google easily meets my needs for documents and spreadsheets. I even dumped my copy of Open Office since it was redundant as well. But as a Windows user, the 1T of cloud space and seamless integration of One Drive as a files backup struck me as worth the subscription price. I F'd up my PC through a dumb mistake recently and had to reinstall it from scratch. My files came back without a hitch, although it was a bit of a PITA to reinstall apps. An image might have been better answer, but I have never been good at maintaining them and an image would reinstall all the crap I accumulated over time. With One Drive I can even save space on my local drive. I have been messing around with some videos and other bulky files so I use the One Drive video folder for them and set it not to copy the files down to my PC. If I didn't get the 1T from MS I would need to get it somewhere. There are other cloud options that will provide more space, multiple computers etc. But Office with the 1T backup seemed a good option. If I depended on an Office component, even One Note, it would seem like an even better answer.
 
I had Office 2010 via work on all my personal PCs when I retired in 2013. Every time I got a new PC, I would install Office 2010 from the MS website and activate with my product key. I never had an install disk.

That party ended last year. Evidently, MS pulled the plug. I scoured every corner of the internet looking for a legal copy. Never found one.

I only really use Excel and Word, maybe Powerpoint once in a while. I have no desire to "subscribe" to Office. So for $150, I bought Office Home & Student 2021. It's a 1-time purchase for use on a single PC. It includes Excel, Word, Powerpoint, and OneNote.

I wasn't happy about not being able to reinstall Office 2010. But the new version has some nice features. So I'm glad I went that route.
 
I use Office 2000 but I need it only for Word and Excel. During my work-from-home days of 2001-2003, my employer gave me a CD with it so I could use those same 2 programs at home as I and everyone else did at the office. Every time I got a new PC or a new hard drive in the last 20 years, I simply reinstalled Office 2000 and got my Word and Excel back. It has worked fine except for some occasional (and minor) compatibility issues when I tried to access Word or Excel files saved by others under newer versions. Once in a while, I had to ask the other user to save the file under the older version, a simple task, before sending the file to me.
 
I've been using the opensource Office versions for many years with near zero compatibility issues. You can run these on Windows, Mac and Linux.

https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreoffice/

They may have problems with macros, but those are pretty rare.

-ERD50
 
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Like donheff, Google Docs and Sheets works perfectly for me since I retired 3 years ago. I used MS Office at both work and home and all my old files can be imported to Google. No need to pay for anything.
 
I bought a refurb PC recently and it had a key for Office Home & Student 2019 which is Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Nice to have but I use LibreOffice in Linux for my basic retirement stuff.
 
Pellice said:
I've had a reasonably full version of Office available since I left my job in 2018 - I had some sort of desktop version installed then, and it transferred to my new computer since then. But I've lately been getting notes that all my Office programs will be deactivated on May 12.
Click to expand...
Likely this message is because your former employer bought the enterprise version and it has since been upgraded. The enterprise versions are different from the Home or Professional versions. And you are working with something that's 5 years old.

You don't need Word or Excel on your computer to read those types of files, if you have OpenOffice or LibreOffice (free lookalike apps that live on your hard drive). I will add that they work fine unless you have really complex Excel sheets and then some functions may not be supported. They can't be exactly like Word or Excel, that would violate Microsoft's copyright.

Pellice said:
But I DO use OneNote all the time. I have a daily diary on it which I do NOT want to lose. OneNote is on the free online version, but I want it on my desktop.

You can supposedly download OneNote as a free standalone desktop application, and I did click on the download, which was labeled as "Officesetup.exe" even though I clicked on the OneNote download only. It said that it was installed, but I see no evidence of it, no icons on the desktop, doesn't appear in my Windows list, doesn't appear in File Manager. And when I open my desktop OneNote, it gives me the same old countdown warning.
Click to expand...
The countdown is because you are working with the Enterprise version that is designed to run on a server. You can download OneNote for free and it comes with 5GB of cloud storage. You can store locally, but all Microsoft products are designed to work and be backed up with their cloud service called OneDrive.

You said you did try and couldn't find where it installed. I encourage you to download again.

But before you do, use the help function in your current OneNote on your computer. Search for "Export" The Help should tell you how to export the data to another place on your hard drive. It may also include instructions for exporting to PDF (newer versions do - not sure about enterprise versions).

Searching on "Import" should tell you how to import the data to a new version of OneDrive. If it doesn't tell you how to do this then the Enterprise version doesn't support exporting or importing.

- Rita
 
ERD50 said:
I've been using the opensource Office versions for many years with near zero compatibility issues. You can run these on Windows, Mac and Linux.

https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreoffice/

They may have problems with macros, but those are pretty rare.

-ERD50
Click to expand...

+10000

Before my 2009 retirement, my work paid for MS Office for me including for my home computer. I knew that I was only entitled to it while working there. So, as retirement approached, I gradually transitioned over to (free, zero cost) Open Office and have had zero problems or issues with it during the many years since then. I have heard that libreoffice is just as good or better. Seriously, this is a non-problem (for me, anyway).
 
When Win 10 and MSO 2010 stop working, I'll punt.
 
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