I paid for a new year subscription for Outlook but cannot send or reply or forward emails

Question

Plus I cannot copy anything on Word or type any letters. I paid over an hour ago. I've closed down and opened my PC but nothing has changed. Both Outlook and Word still show there is a BILLING ISSUE. See my payment details below.

Microsoft 365 Basic

Next charge on 2/17/2027, $19.99 plus applicable taxes

Recurring billing on

$19.99 Every year plus applicable taxes

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Moved from: Microsoft 365 and Office | Other

Answer 1

Hello Scott Cooper,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I understand that you recently paid for Microsoft 365 Basic and are now unable to send emails in Outlook or type and edit content in Word, and I know how frustrating it can be when core features stop working right after a purchase.

Microsoft 365 Basic is primarily a storage and web-based plan. It includes 100 GB of OneDrive cloud storage and access to Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on the web and mobile devices only. It does not include the desktop versions of Outlook or Office apps for Windows or macOS. Because of this, Outlook and Word installed on your PC will remain in a limited state, which prevents sending emails or editing documents.

To restore full functionality on your computer, you will need to upgrade to Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family, which include the full desktop versions of Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Once upgraded, sign out of the Office apps, close them, and sign back in using the same Microsoft account to activate the desktop apps correctly.

Hope this helps.