Working in Office while signed out

Question

Is there any way or workaround to being able to use my Microsoft products while NOT being signed in?  I am loathe to remain signed in to an account while using the software.  I had an older version of Office that didn't require it, but recently upgraded to the family plan and didn't realize it required me to stay signed to the MS account at all times to use the product!  All I want is to be able to use word, excel etc. without having to be signed in.  I use it on one desktop computer and thats it.  Does anyone know of a way to have these programs be functional without remaining signed in?

Answer 1

Chis, sorry no.  Your mistake was  to purchase Office 365 rather than  Office 2019.

PS: This question has been raised on the forum before.  I am not sure what the difference is?  I do not have Office 365, but I have the internet all the time on with Office 2013 and 2019.  There is an option on Outlook to work Offline.  Again I have no idea what the difference is as I have never tried it.  I do know other than receiving email I can work with with no internet connection when on occasions the internet has gone down.  I do keep copies of documents on OneDrive but use a second hard drive most of the time.

This is what Microsoft says about Office 365 and need for internet connection:

Internet access is required to install and activate all the latest releases of apps and services included in all Microsoft 365 subscription plans. Note that if you are an existing subscriber, you do not need to reinstall or purchase another subscription.

For Microsoft 365 plans, Internet access is also needed to manage your subscription account, for example to install apps on other PCs or to change billing options. Internet access is also required to access documents stored on OneDrive, unless you install the OneDrive desktop app.

You should also connect to the Internet regularly to keep your version of Microsoft 365 up to date and to benefit from automatic upgrades. If you do not connect to the Internet at least every 31 days, your apps will go into reduced functionality mode, which means that you can view or print your documents but cannot edit the documents or create new ones. To reactivate your apps, simply reconnect to the Internet.

You do not need to be connected to the Internet to use Office apps, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, because the apps are fully installed on your computer.