My subscription for Microsoft 365 needs to be renewed, but all last year there was an issue with Office

A subscriber to Microsoft 365 Family can share their subscription with up to 5 other people living in their household. Here's what that means:

The key thing to remember is that each copy of Microsoft 365 is associated with a unique Microsoft account. That means you can share your subscription with up to 5 other Microsoft accounts. Each Microsoft account can access the software on any combination of computers, tablets, laptops and phones, with the only limitation being that each Microsoft account can be concurrently signed into Office 365 apps on 5 devices at the same time.

Thus, a Microsoft 365 Family subscription can be signed in to a maximum of 30 devices (6 Microsoft accounts X 5 devices) at one time. If someone tries to sign in to a 31st device, they'll be stopped. Also, if someone tries to sign in with a Microsoft account is not one of the 6 Microsoft accounts that are allowed to use the apps (one subscriber plus 5 other Microsoft accounts) they will be stopped. Finally, if someone has an earlier version of Microsoft Office (e.g., 2024, 2021) they cannot use that software and Microsoft 365 apps at the same time.

Thanks to Microsoft's superb click-2-run installation procedure for Microsoft 365, nobody really bothers trying to fix Microsoft 365 if it turns wonky. Instead, you simply reinstall the whole thing and in a matter of minutes you're back at work.

Finally, seniors don't need more help than other people. But younger people sure could learn a lot from a senior!

Hi. I'm Brian.

Bulldog is correct, but he didn't explicitly say that you don't need Microsoft 365 Family in order to use Office on multiple computers. A subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal can be used by one person, but that person can install it on all their devices and use it on up to five devices simultaneously.