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RESOLVED: Being asked to pay for Office 365 on MacOS?

Anonymous
2019-09-16T15:02:26+00:00

I've had microsoft office installed on my laptop for 3 years, and never paid anything after the initial package. I recently updated, and I'm not being allowed to edit documents because I don't have Office365 by monthly/yearly subscription. What is this about? Can I go back to using Office 2019 without the 365 thing?

RESOLVED: Apparently it was a bug with the office update. I went into the app store and updated word, ppt, one note and excel again, and it returned to my normal office suite (not 365)

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-09-17T12:32:15+00:00

    Exactly what do you mean "recently updated"?

    You are right, Office 2011 on the Mac is a one-time payment license, you can continue to use it.

    It sounds like you somehow got an Office 365 "free trial" installed. 

    When you get this error, check to see what version of Office you are running. This page has Mac specific instructions (scroll down on the page).

    https://www.howtogeek.com/288001/how-to-find-out-which-version-of-microsoft-office-youre-using/

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-09-17T12:13:33+00:00

    Hi Craig,

    It was the 2011 Office Mac: home & student (family pack..not 365)

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-09-16T15:34:22+00:00

    Office 365 is always a temporary rental which they call a "subscription". It comes in monthly and yearly increments. You can "stack" up to 5 x 1 year subscriptions, so it is possible, but unlikely that your 365 subscription lasted for 3 years.

    Yes, you can switch to a one-time payment license, like 2010 and earlier used to do. It was (dis)"improved" to allow the license to be installed on only one computer at a time.

    You would buy a 2019 license / product key. Uninstall 365, Install and activate 2019

    NOTE: when you buy 2019, be sure you are getting a MAC specific one

    Uninstall Office 2016 / 365 – 2007

    https://support.office.com/en-us/article/uninstall-office-from-a-pc-9dd49b83-264a-477a-8fcc-2fdf5dbf61d8?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

    Method 1: Uninstall from Control Panel (or Settings dialog)

    Method 2: Completely uninstall Office with the uninstall support tool (SetupProd_OffScrub.exe)

    Method 3: Remove manually (Registry Hack)

    The Method 1, “Normal uninstall”, is designed with the assumption that you will be re-installing Office. It does NOT delete everything. It leaves configuration files like NORMAL.DOTM and other templates etc. It also leaves configuration Registry entries. Normally these “carry-overs” are safe. But if method 1 didn’t fix your problem, they may be the cause.

    Note:Method 1 includes links to Office version specific re-install instructions

    So if Method 1 doesn’t fix your problem, try Method 2. Method 2 does a more thorough job that the “normal” uninstall (aka Method 1). It deletes “everything” associated with Office  except your personal (document, spreadsheet etc) files created using Office

      *  Boot the computer.

      *  After the restart go to http://office.com/myaccount to re-install Office 365.

     Here is a link to the MS store for one of the 3 offered Office 2019 bundles

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/office-home-student-2019/cfq7ttc0k7c8?activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-09-16T15:21:56+00:00

    Hi harmony .f

    Thanks for participating in the Microsoft Community. I'm Craig, an Independent Advisor and I'll do my best to help today.

    Could you tell me what type of license you have and what type of installation did you do ???

    What initial package did you install what version or what year?

    Please let me know if you need further assistance.

    Best Regards,

    Craig S.

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