Can I use my Office Home 2024 without also paying for 365?

Question

I just purchased office home 365, as my old office no longer allowed me to edit. Now, I have installed the new office, and when I attempt to use word, I am only in 'view only' mode still, and am being told to download 365, which is another 100 dollar purchase. Certainly I don't need both of these systems just to edit a word document. Please help!

Answer 1

So complicated. I bought office 2024 and installed it and nothing works. What a piece of crap.

Answer 2

Hello, thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

Office Home 2024 is a perpetual license for one PC, and it includes the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote apps. This is a lifetime Office license that is valid for a single PC.

In contrast, Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) is a subscription-based service that you pay for monthly or yearly. It includes all the premium Office apps, plus additional services such as 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage.

If you have purchased Office Home 2024 for your Mac, you do not need to pay for Microsoft 365. The reason your applications are showing in “View only” mode is likely because an old Microsoft 365 license is still present on your device. To fix this, you’ll need to remove the existing license using the Office license removal tool, and then reactivate your Office Home 2024 apps with your Microsoft account.

Once the old license is removed and Office Home 2024 is activated with the correct account, you should be able to edit documents normally without an additional Microsoft 365 subscription.

You can download the license removal tool from the link below.

How to remove Office license files on a Mac

Let me know if you still need more help.

Answer 3

You can use Office Home 2024 without paying for Microsoft 365. However, it seems that your installation might not have been completed correctly, or there may be a licensing issue. To resolve the 'view only' mode in Word, ensure that you have properly activated your Office Home 2024 license. Here are some steps you can follow:

1. Uninstall any conflicting versions: Make sure to uninstall any previous versions of Office or Microsoft 365 that might be interfering with your new installation.
2. Sign in with the correct Microsoft account: Your Office Home 2024 license is tied to the Microsoft account you used to purchase it. Ensure you are signed in with that account when trying to use Word.
3. Check for activation: Open Word and check if it prompts you to activate. If it does, follow the instructions to activate it using the same Microsoft account.
4. File attributes: If your documents are still opening in 'view only' mode, check the file properties to ensure they are not marked as read-only.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, you may need to contact Microsoft support for further assistance.