Renewing Ms Office

[Maydup]

I need to use MS Office Personal rather than say Open Office as I’m doing occasional freelance works and Teams meetings.

It’s time for renewal and I’m compare prices. If I buy from say Amazon or other supplier will I have to reinstall like a new product or will it renew using a code?

[Bobbisox1]

Amazon send a code I believe Maydup

[Maydup]

Thanks Bobbi, that's what I was hoping for, just to input a code.

[Bobbisox1]

Do you buy the ‘family share one’ Maydup?
I remember when it was a free programme in a computer , can you?

[Maydup]

Yes it used to be a one time cost, now its annual. grrr!

I haven't gone for the family version as it would be a bit of a run around getting people to join in, so I'm just hunting round for the best price for the personal one.

[10ClarionSt]

I'm still using MS Office Professional 2000. Nothing's ever bettered it.

[Bobbisox1]

I end up giving some away which doesn’t bother me after all there’s 5 of them, I usually ask my friends on FB if they want it , I did on here last time before realising I didn’t want and I’m sure they didn’t either to exchange emails to send the code

[Buenchico]

>>> Yes it used to be a one time cost, now its annual.

Microsoft Office is still available as a standalone program, rather than as a subscription service (i.e. Microsoft 365). It's simply that Microsoft don't really promote it. The latest version is Microsoft Office 2019, which costs a whopping £250 if purchased from the Microsoft Store. (Microsoft Office 2021 is due out later this year though).

There are countless online sellers though who will offer you Microsoft Office 2019 for anything between about £20 and £60. (Check out Amazon and, especially eBay). Lots of people buy from such vendors but you need to be aware that they usually source their product keys (to activate the software) from recycled computers, so there's a potential risk of not being able to activate the program straight away. (Better vendors will then send you another key to activate the program. Read the seller's reviews to find out how good their support is).

For the vast majority of users though, there's absolutely no reason why an older version of Microsoft Office can't be used. A genuine Microsoft Office 2016 disc and licence key can be purchased on eBay for under £50.

Likewise, there's no real reason why you can't use OpenOffice (or LibreOffice or WPS Office Free) anyway. Such free software is fully compatible with Microsoft Office (unless, possibly, you're using incredibly complex macros, which most users never do) and can save into Microsoft formats. I can't really understand why you don't want a freebie!

[Buenchico]

PS: OpenOffice can save in older Microsoft Office formats (such as .doc and .xls) but not in newer ones, such as .docx and .xlsx. If you want an office suite that can save into the more recent formats (not that it actually matters that much), use LibreOffice instead:
https://www.libreoffice.org

To set LibreOffice to automatically save your files into the latest Microsoft Office formats, go to Tools > Options. Double-click 'Load/Save' and then click 'General'.

With 'Document type' showing 'Text document', change 'Always save as' to 'Word 2007-365'.

Then change 'Document type' to 'Spreadsheet' and select 'Excel 2007-365' as the save type.

Next, select 'Presentation', together with 'PowerPoint 2007-365'.

Click 'Apply' and then 'OK'.

Then LibreOffice will save files in exactly the same way that Microsoft Office does.

[mjwman]

Thank you Buenchico! I never knew that. I have been saving as Word .doc manually each time!

[Maydup]

////I can't really understand why you don't want a freebie!////

Because at worst, MS Office is £60 pa and that provides me with what I need and no faffing with compatibility! I use the One Drive storage, access shared One Drive folders and share files with colleagues; I use Outlook for emails; and I use Teams; and I need to to and from spreadsheets often written by others.

I think I'll just renew it direct as the reviews on Amazon aren't 100% successful.