365 subscription

Question

I want to switch from my current 365 family subscription to personal subscription and use a code for 3 free months I got with my new computer

Answer 1

To switch from Microsoft 365 Family to the Microsoft 365 Personal subscription, that is switching to a version that has fewer features, so you need to first cancel the Family subscription on your Microsoft account using the process provided on this link.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/cancel-a-microsoft-365-subscription-46e2634c-c64b-4c65-94b9-2cc9c960e91b

Then you should be able to activate the free Microsoft 365 subscription on the new computer by opening the Store app and you should see the 'Included with this Device' section at the top of the library section.

Answer 2

To switch from Microsoft 365 Family to Microsoft 365 Personal and use a prepaid code (such as the 3 free months from the new computer), follow these steps depending on how the current subscription is billed.

1. If the current Family subscription has recurring billing through Microsoft
2. Sign in to Subscriptions at https://account.microsoft.com/services with the same Microsoft account used for Microsoft 365 Family.
3. For the Microsoft 365 Family subscription, select Manage.
4. Turn off recurring billing or cancel the subscription, following the instructions in How to cancel your Microsoft subscription (linked from the payment-method article).
5. After turning off recurring billing, allow the Family subscription to expire.
6. Once it expires, redeem the new code:
   • Go to Redeem a gift card or code to your Microsoft account (linked in the payment-method article) and follow the instructions to apply the 3‑month code.
7. When redeeming, choose or confirm Microsoft 365 Personal as the subscription type if prompted.

This uses the guidance that for prepaid codes, recurring billing on the old subscription must be turned off, and the new prepaid subscription is applied after the old one ends.

2. If instead upgrading/downgrading between home subscriptions without a prepaid code

If switching plans without relying on the code timing, the general rule is:

• Switching to a subscription with more features (for example, from Basic to Personal/Family/Premium) is done by buying the new subscription with the same Microsoft account; remaining days are converted and added.
• Switching to a subscription with fewer features requires cancelling the existing subscription and then buying the new one; the old subscription continues until it expires, then the new plan starts.

Since Microsoft 365 Personal and Family are both full-featured home plans, the supported path for changing between them is described in the “Switch between Microsoft 365 subscriptions” article, which is also referenced from the payment-method article.

To ensure the 3‑month code is used for Microsoft 365 Personal, redeem it with the same Microsoft account after the Family plan is no longer renewing, as described above.

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References:

• Change your Microsoft subscription payment method and options
• Switch between Microsoft 365 subscriptions
• How do I upgrade Office?