How to go from Office 365 to Office 2016

[jtr1962]

Last year I was given a one year subscription to Office 365. It expired yesterday. I'm told the software will remain function for another month at least. Given that I don't need Office on more than one machine I've concluded it's better in the long run for me to just buy Office 2016 outright rather than pay $70 a year for a subscription. For example, here I can buy Office 2016 Professional for $130. On eBay I'm seeing lots of auctions for Office 2016 Professional Plus for ~$25 and up. Bottom line here is I'm not much of a fan of subscription-based software to start with, and for my uses I'm not seeing any compelling advantage over just buying Office 2016 outright.

A couple of questions:

1) Are the eBay sellers giving valid licenses? Some mention they're extracting the licenses from machines on which the software was uninstalled and reselling them. This is supposedly legal.

2) Same question for what appears to be more legitimate sellers selling at a higher price like the one I linked to.

3) Do I need to uninstall Office 365 first before installing Office 2016, or just enter the license key somehow?

 

[Clocker]

I purchased a cheap Office 2016 licence (for the complete suite with everything, I believe) from this seller for $29.88. http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...edj69&ftab=FeedbackAsSeller&searchInterval=30

He had multiple licenses available. I never went through the process of installing Office 365 on my new laptop and I went straight to the non-subscription version so I think you can uninstall Office 365.

The key was delivered to me via email and I downloaded the product from the MS servers using it. Oddly enough, the seller also provided a link to download the product from his own server "if there was an issue" which seemed odd.

I think there were some issues with the legitimacy of the posting because about a week after my transaction, I got email from eBay stating the listing was removed because it violated some terms of their service (or something to that effect) but I was never given any instructions or offered any type of refund. Now, the transaction doesn't even show up on eBay purchase history...it's like it never happened except for the fact it shows up in my Paypal payment history.

Nonetheless, my Office 2016 is working great and getting updates etc. w/o any problems.

 

[Stereodude]

Why do you need to buy Office at all? LibreOffice works great. WPS is another option. FreeOffice 2016 as well.

 

[Clocker]

My wife needs all the functionality of the actual MS products for the things she does that are work related. The develop some process automators etc etc.

 

[Stereodude]

My wife needs all the functionality of the actual MS products for the things she does that are work related. The develop some process automators etc etc.

I presume her job provides her with Office. AFAIK, JTR is a consultant / independent contractor. I wasn't going to presume he needed the real McCoy. I have Office 2003 on a number of computers at home because I got it through a Home Use program via a prior job that allowed installation on up to 5 computers. I get some number of installs of Office 2016 through my current job, but I'm not interested. I'm just using LibreOffice on my computers without Office 2003 installed on them. I haven't encountered any issues in my somewhat limited use so far (mostly just using the spreadsheet program, Calc).

 

[jtr1962]

AFAIK, JTR is a consultant / independent contractor. I wasn't going to presume he needed the real McCoy.

Actually, my job is the only reason I need it. LibreOffice doesn't render MS file formats 100% correctly. When I look at stuff my colleagues send I need to see exactly what they do. If it was just for my personal use, LibreOffice is fine.

I went with this for now. Hopefully it'll work forever like the one Clocker bought. If not, I can always try from somewhere else.

 

[Clocker]

I get one license from the HUP but that is all and it is used on my personal laptop. Wife has Office on her work laptop but likes to work off our Desktop a lot so I opted to spend $30 for the convenience of having another office.

 

[time]

Actually, my job is the only reason I need it. LibreOffice doesn't render MS file formats 100% correctly. When I look at stuff my colleagues send I need to see exactly what they do. If it was just for my personal use, LibreOffice is fine.

WPS *does* render MS file formats 100% correctly. I actually keep it to repair spreadsheets that Excel has screwed up. Yes, I'm saying the Chinese can write better software than Microsoft.

 

[jtr1962]

WPS *does* render MS file formats 100% correctly. I actually keep it to repair spreadsheets that Excel has screwed up.

That's worth knowing. I should download and give it a try.

Yes, I'm saying the Chinese can write better software than Microsoft.

Why does this not surprise me? I sometimes think MS intentionally writes buggy software just so they can clandestinely put spyware in with their patches.

 

[mubs]

I went with this for now. Hopefully it'll work forever like the one Clocker bought. If not, I can always try from somewhere else.

Is MS sw not region locked? jtr seems to have bought from the UK? Let me know if it works ok, jtr. Thanks.

BTW, when I was typing this inline (my typing window popped up just below jtr's message that I quoted), the space bar didn't work. I went to advanced mode (where I'm typing this now) and it does.

 

[jtr1962]

Is MS sw not region locked? jtr seems to have bought from the UK? Let me know if it works ok, jtr. Thanks.

It seems to work so far. I'll keep everyone posted if there are any issues.

Note: I uninstalled Office 365 before installation.

 

[sechs]

Keep in mind that 2016 is perpetually licensed to the machine, not you.

I haven't upgraded since 2007 and had no problems....

 

[jtr1962]

I haven't upgraded since 2007 and had no problems....

That was my reasoning here. While it's true Office 365 might add new features or upgrades to the software chances are nil I would need any of that. Point of fact, prior to getting Office 365 Office '97 still served most of my needs. With Office 2016 I should be good for a long, long time.

 

[sedrosken]

I run Office 365 that I got through the school. When that subscription expires I'll likely move to Office 03 with the compatibility pack, since I have a license for that kicking around here somewhere.

 

[jtr1962]

It seems to work so far. I'll keep everyone posted if there are any issues.

Note: I uninstalled Office 365 before installation.

I few months ago Office 2016 prompted me to activate it again. I had to sign in with my office account and reenter the product key but it worked. Today it prompted for activation again. Nothing I've tried worked, including and uninstall/reinstall and reactivation. MS says the product key is invalid. I looked Programs and Features and noted the installation date was 07-28-2017. WTF? Apparently it had automatically updated last week and maybe that caused the problem. Today was the first time I've used it in a while. When I bought this in December I was under the impression I would just need to activate it once and then I'm good forever.

Is there a way to permanently disable these stupid activation features? And why isn't my product key working any more?

 

[LunarMist]

I few months ago Office 2016 prompted me to activate it again. I had to sign in with my office account and reenter the product key but it worked. Today it prompted for activation again. Nothing I've tried worked, including and uninstall/reinstall and reactivation. MS says the product key is invalid. I looked Programs and Features and noted the installation date was 07-28-2017. WTF? Apparently it had automatically updated last week and maybe that caused the problem. Today was the first time I've used it in a while. When I bought this in December I was under the impression I would just need to activate it once and then I'm good forever.

Is there a way to permanently disable these stupid activation features? And why isn't my product key working any more?

Those bastards!

 

[sechs]

Is there a way to permanently disable these stupid activation features? And why isn't my product key working any more?

1. Stop using the software
2. Microsoft sucks