Office 365 included in purchase of laptop?

Hi Joris

My name is Andre Da Costa; an Independent Consultant, Windows Insider MVP and Windows & Devices for IT MVP. I'm here to help you with your problem.

When you purchase a new laptop, it normally includes a 30 day trial, which you have to purchase to keep using after it expires. You can open and view files, but you won't be able to edit them.

Please note, Windows 10 and Office 365 are two separate products developed by Microsoft corporation. Windows 10 does not include Office 365.

If you need to extend your trial, you will need to purchase a subscription for the current edition of the subscription installed. Normally new computers will come with Office 365 Home Premium installed, but you can purchase a cheaper subscription such as Office 365 Personal.

https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-m...

If you choose to a different subscription, you must first remove the current subscription and install the one you buy so they don't conflict.

Hi JD

Office never comes free on a new laptop or PC, it is not part of WIndows . ..

New laptops come with a trial version of Office 365, that trial is generally a 1 month trial

Acer and HP were doing a deal where you got a 1 Year subscription to Office 365 with the purchase of a new Laptop or PC

Office 365 is a subscription based licence and Office 2019 is a one-time payment Office licence

Since your subscription has now lapsed, if you want to continue using Office, you must choose which licence suits your needs best . . .

https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-m...

When you buy a computer, it "comes with" Windows (or Mac) as the "operating system".

"MS Office ..." is NOT part of the OS, so it does not normally "come with" the computer.

Many / most computer builders are PAID to include free "crapware" (programs you did not ask to be installed, but that the build is paid to install).  This crapware tends to be a "time limited free trial". This includes Office 365 on most computers. When you open the program for the first time you start the "free time" clock.  At the end of the free trial you can continue to use most of the programs in "limited function" mode, which typically means the "good" features are disabled, but you still have basic functions.  In Office, limited function is extremely limited, much more than most other free trials. It means you can only read and print existing documents. Period.

In the past you could order computers with factory installed and activated copies of onetime payment Office bundles.  But the change to Office licensing made that impossible, for a while.

Now, some, computer builders (or MS) have figured out to give users a "free" Office 365 Personal subscription.  That appears to be what you have. This means the price of the Office bundle has been built in to the price of the computer. You can use Office 365 Personal for 1 year.

Now that your "free" subscription has expired you have to either renew your 365 rental / subscription, or buy a one-time payment license for Office 2019.

Unfortunately, "buying" Office has become a big decision. You can take the easy way out and rent Office 365 forever (whether you really NEED the "extra" features you are paying for) or you can take some time to investigate all of the options to find the best deal for you. If you meet the right conditions, you sometimes can really get Office for FREE or much cheaper than retail.

I Need Office, What Should I Get: Pros vs Cons – WIKI – buy Office - “Free” Office

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/wiki/msoffice_install-mso_other/i-need-office-what-should-i-get-pros-vs-cons/2e75ea21-f8d0-4cde-9764-13b02cde46a7?tm=1478718433145

Check out the wiki I go into more detail outlining these options:

·      Stand alone Office Programs

·    Office 2016 Home and Student

·    Office 365 Home / Personal / University

·    Office 2016 Home and Business

·    Business Office 365, several possible bundles

·    “Office in the Windows Store” aka Office Hub

·    MS Office Online

·    Non-profit license

·    WordPad

·    Works 9.0

·    Free/low cost Office Alternatives

·    Where can I buy Office product keys

You will have to decide for yourself. You can to trade off long term cost and features If your needs are very simple, you won’t need to spend much or work with one of the free options. But if you are a more “advanced” user, using multiple Office applications and sharing documents/files with others you will have to pay for one of the Office 365/2016 bundles.  

 .

Office 2019 came out in October 2018, so, you might have had Office 2016. If it was installed and activated on the same computer, then you likely have a digital license attached to your Microsoft Account.

Here is how you can reinstall it.

Step 1 - Sign in to download Office

Go to http://www.office.com and if you're not already signed in, select Sign in.

Sign in with the account you associated with this version of Office. This account can be a Microsoft account, or work or school account.

Forgot your account details? See I forgot the account I use with Office.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/i-forg...

On the Office home page, do the following depending on your version of Office.

If you signed in with a Microsoft account, from the Office home page select Install Office > Install.

This begins the download of Office. Follow the prompts on your screen to complete the install.

(hint: you don't have to make the same reply to multiple people since we all see all of the replies)

Since there is an "Expire" date, what you have is Office 365. So there is nothing special you have to do to 'get back' your copy of Office.

That would be one of the "free" Office 365 Personal subscriptions that started showing up in the last year or so.

Since the expire date is July 25, you would have started with the "2016" version of Office which then would have been updated to "2019" as part of the subscription. Actually, for 365 there is no distinction between 2016/2019

Now you have to decide if you really need the OneDrive space (and Skype time) and most particularly the features that are restricted to 365 only, or if you would rather save some money and switch to a one-time payment license.

You didn't get a one-time payment license, so all you have to do is pay to extend your Office 365 subscription.  Either provide MS with a credit card in the MyAccount site to pay for a 1 yr or monthly subscription.   If offered the option of getting an extra month for turning on "auto renew", take the offer. Otherwise turn it off.   Or you can buy a product key some place else and have it on hand for when your current subscription fully expires and goes into limited function mode.

Some people have reported that their subscription did not fully expire on their renew date. It continued for some unspecified time later. Effectively "free" time. If you want to try that, just make sure you have a valid credit card or product key on hand for when Office finally does lock up so you don't lose time.

Bottom line, the best way to find out what you have is to log in to the myaccount site and see what type of license is associated with your ID

https://account.microsoft.com/services/office/overview - Overview of Subscription

https://account.microsoft.com/services/office/billing - Manage Devices / Shares