With help from major retailers, Microsoft has another way to make people pay more for Microsoft 365 Family or Personal. Amazon and Best Buy and other offer Microsoft 365 renewals charging full price for the first and later years. Ever since Microsoft 365 plans started, Microsoft has enticed people with
The popular employee discount program for Microsoft 365 (Workplace Discount Program or Home Use Program) has some changes in 2025 at the same time as the price rise and Copilot addition to the Family and Personal plans. Office Watch compares the two options with a suggestion about what to do.
Here’s how to find out what type of Microsoft Office licence you have; Subscription, Retail, Volume or OEM and other hidden details of your Office license. For perpetual non-subscription versions of Office like Office 2024, Office 2021 or Office 2019, it’s important to know if your purchase is Retail/Volume or
Black Friday means many software deals, on Microsoft 365 and especially Microsoft Office. Here’s how to navigate the treacherous waters of Black Friday sales and ensure you get genuine products without falling prey to fraudulent offers and scams. Recognizing Too-Good-To-Be-True Deals It’s easy to be tempted by offers that seem
Australian Microsoft 365 customers have a chance to extend their Family or Personal plan for near the old price, before the recent price hikes. As part of the trial of Copilot with Microsoft 365 Family/Personal, prices in some countries rose by 20-30% overnight. See Copilot comes to Microsoft 365 with
Australians are now paying up to 31% more for Microsoft 365 after the prices were quietly raised. A limited Copilot trial is now included. Both the Microsoft 365 Personal (one person) and Family (six people) plans have risen in price. Microsoft 365 Personal now AUD$159 Microsoft 365 Family now AUD$179
There are simple and legal ways to save money on consumer Microsoft 365 plans, either Personal or Family. Don’t give Microsoft more money than you have to. Microsoft 365 is NOT a normal subscription Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plans are different in three, potentially, money saving ways: A Microsoft
The Workplace Discount Program (formerly Home Use Program) offers 30% discounts on Microsoft 365 to employees of many organizations and government agencies. Here’s how the Workplace Discount Program (WDP) works, the tricks and traps. What is the Workplace Discount Program – WDP? Organizations (companies, governments etc.) that have Microsoft 365
What’s the story behind the “Update Licence” option that’s appearing in Microsoft 365 apps? What does it mean and when to use it? In Microsoft 365 for Windows you might see a new item on the bottom of the File menu called “Update Licence”. It’s strangely prominent and misleading, based
How can you buy an older version of Microsoft Office to fit in with your other computers? Fran, a loyal Office-Watch.com reader has that problem getting an older version of Office. “ I have Office 2013 on two computers now. Is there a way to get another copy for the new Microsoft Surface
There are two different types of Microsoft Office you can buy retail and that difference makes hundreds of dollars difference you buying Office 2021 back to at least Office 2007. It can be hard to know which type of Microsoft Office you purchased – and it really matters to what
Better to stick with a stable, known Microsoft Office instead of monthly updates with new and changed features. That rational customer approach isn’t understood at Microsoft who push the regular Microsoft Office 365 changes on the assumption that it’s a universal good which suits all customers. Brian X Chen in
There are two different year-round Microsoft 365 discount offers available to US and Canadian military in all branches. Office-Watch.com talked about these Military Appreciation offers before, going back more than a decade. There are TWO different military related discounts – the Military Appreciation Edition and the Home Use Program. Military
Argos, a major UK retailer, is now offering Microsoft 365 Family for £30 less than usual. That’s a great saving for a new, renewal or ‘top-up’ of a Microsoft 365 plan. There’s a little trick to getting this price, we’ll explain. Office Watcher, Julian H, sent us a tip about
Microsoft is making crucial changes to their Microsoft Office 365 Education licenses that will increase costs to many schools and colleges. Office 365 A1 plus – gone! The Office 365 A1 Plus program for Education will be retired by Microsoft on August 1, 2024. A1 Plus included Office desktop apps
Microsoft has surprised by putting a high extra price on their upcoming AI features in Microsoft 365. To get these innovations, add another $30 a month to the cost, which in many cases doubles the price of Microsoft 365. Copilot is Microsoft’s name for their AI features that can write,
Microsoft has a better, smarter option for the telephone activation of Office 2021, Office 2019 or earlier versions of Office with a method nowhere near as painful or clumsy. All you need is a smartphone, iPhone or Android. What is Microsoft software activation? Software Activation happens after installing perpetual license
Amazon’s European sites are offering good deals on Microsoft 365 Family (for 6 users) including an unusual offer we’ve not seen before. The best deal amounts to just €5 a month which you can use to extend an existing Microsoft 365 Family plan. We’ve looked at each offer, figured out
Get real Microsoft Office running on Linux in four different ways – a virtual machine, remote access, browser apps or Wine. There’s no ‘Microsoft Office for Linux’ and unlikely there ever will be. That doesn’t mean a Linux machine can’t access the full power of Office for Windows or Mac
Is it possible to use very old versions of Microsoft Office like Office 2000, Office XP (2002) or Office 2003 on Windows 10 or Windows 11. Should you even try? Office Watcher, Clyde R asks: “What is the oldest version of Office which would be loadable on Windows 10 Pro,
Here’s how to check how many days are left before Microsoft 365 needs an online ‘license check’ to confirm your license. Microsoft calls this a ‘grace period’. Also what’s the maximum possible offline access period. See Restart or renew Microsoft 365 licence before going offline Microsoft 365 software and apps check
Can Office 2007 and other older versions of Office (Office 2010, Office 2013) be installed on Windows 11? What are the licensing, activation problems? How about moving documents? There are four issues to consider; licencing, compatibility, support/patches and migrating documents: Officially only these versions of Microsoft Office are supported on
Can Office 2007 and other older versions of Office (Office 2010, Office 2013) be installed on Windows 10. What are the licensing, activation problems? How about moving documents? Eileen G asks a common question to Office Watch: “I got a new HP desktop computer, but can I install the old
How to tell which Microsoft 365 plan (Personal, Family/Home, University etc.) you’ve bought and the expiry date. Or maybe you’re sharing a Microsoft 365 Family/Home plan. The Microsoft 365 plan, status and expiry doesn’t appear in the Office software (that would be too easy). See: Microsoft 365 which email address am
