Install Microsoft 365 apps
Microsoft 365 Apps is a subscription version of Office. Whether your business is small or large, there are monthly or annual subscription plans to fit your organization's needs. Microsoft 365 is also available for home users, education, government, and non-profit organizations.
Microsoft 365 Apps includes productivity services that require an Internet connection, such as Teams web conferencing, Exchange Online hosted email for business, SharePoint, and online storage with OneDrive. Not all Microsoft 365 plans include all productivity services.
Most Microsoft 365 plans also include a version of the Office apps that you can install. The list of applications includes Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft OneNote, and Microsoft Outlook, as well as Microsoft Access and Microsoft Publisher for PCs.
You can install Microsoft 365 on up to five personal computers (PCs) or Macs per user. You can also install the Office Mobile apps for iOS and Android on up to five tablets and phones per user. When you have an active Microsoft 365 subscription that enables you to install the desktop version of Office, you'll receive updates, which provide you with up-to-date versions of the applications.
Many plans that enable installed applications are limited to five installations on a PC or Mac, and five tablets and five phones per user. Other plans only allow access to web-based Office apps.
Microsoft 365 plans
There are more than 20 different Microsoft 365 plans that that are suitable for organizations of all different types and sizes. The following table lists some of the most common plans together with some of the features for each plan.
Feature
Microsoft 365 Apps for business
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Enterprise E1
Microsoft 365 Enterprise E5
Desktop versions of Office applications
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Office mobile apps for tablets/phones
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Web versions of Office
Yes (except Outlook)
Yes
Yes
Yes
File storage per user
1 TB
1 TB
1 TB
Unlimited
E-Mail Hosting
No
50 GB per mailbox
50 GB per mailbox
100 GB per mailbox
FastTrack deployment support (included with 150+ seats)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Information Protection
No
No
No
Yes
Microsoft 365 deployment options
The locally installed version of Microsoft 365 requires Windows 8.1 or newer Windows client operating system, or Windows Server 2012 R2 or newer Windows Server operating system. You can use some of the same methods to deploy Microsoft 365 that you use to deploy desktop apps. These deployment options include the following choices:
- Click-to-run. You download Microsoft 365 directly from the Microsoft website. Click-to-run uses the same streaming and virtualization technologies as App-V, so you can use the Microsoft 365 apps before the installation completes.
- Configuration Manager. This provides native integration for deployment of Microsoft 365, providing extensive control over installation, updates, and settings.
- Microsoft Intune. You can assign Microsoft 365 Apps apps to devices managed by Intune.
- The Office Deployment Tool (ODT). The ODT is a command-line tool that you can use to download and customize your deployment of Microsoft 365 Apps. The ODT can be used to customize and manage Click-to-run deployments as well.
- App-V. You create Microsoft 365 App-V packages using the Office Deployment Tool.
- Remote Desktop Service (RDS). You can install Microsoft 365 on a computer that runs RDS.
- Group Policy. You deploy Microsoft 365 Apps as a startup script to target devices.