Microsoft recently raised the price of its Microsoft 365 subscriptions, justifying the change by adding more AI experiences to the service. Of course, that decision upset a lot of people, so Microsoft is now taking a U-turn by making Office apps free for Windows users.
Some Office users have recently noticed that it's possible to use Office apps on Windows without a license. When you first launch them, a prompt asking you to sign in with a Microsoft account will appear with a " Skip for now " button. Clicking that will take you to another window, with a " Continue for free " button — no Microsoft 365 or perpetual license required.
What Do You Get?
Pretty much. Most of the features work, and you can view and edit documents without any major limitations. However, Microsoft only lets you save files to OneDrive (as it clearly states in the final announcement before you can start using the app), so you won’t be able to save files locally or edit them locally (you’ll have to upload them to OneDrive first). Additionally, you’ll see ads in a sidebar with a button to remove them by subscribing to Microsoft 365.
Missing Features
Here's a quick list of what users can't do in the free Office apps.
Word
Excel
PowerPoint
It seems like Microsoft is testing this new plan with a limited group of users and regions right now, so you may not see the change right away. Microsoft has not released any official information yet.
Windows 11 version 21H2 is one of the major original releases of Windows 11 that began rolling out globally on October 4, 2021.
The year 2023 saw Microsoft betting heavily on artificial intelligence and its partnership with OpenAI to make Copilot a reality.
Microsoft introduced Bluetooth LE (low energy) Audio support with Windows 11 22H2 KB5026446 (build 22621.1778), also known as Moment 3, in May 2023.
After keeping things the same for years, the Sticky Note update in mid-2024 changed the game.
Today, Microsoft officially announced the general availability of Windows Server 2025 along with System Center 2025.
There's always something incredibly cool about the nostalgic user interface of 90s versions of Windows.
More than three years ago, when Microsoft announced Windows 11, the operating system immediately caused a lot of controversy.
The October 2024 report provides an overview of Windows 11's market share compared to other versions of Windows.
Microsoft is said to be getting closer to launching its first foldable smartphone when it was granted a patent for a foldable phone with the ability to fold 360 degrees but without creating wrinkles on the screen on October 1.
In a new post on its Tech Community website, Microsoft has announced plans to discontinue WSUS driver synchronization in favor of its latest cloud-based driver services.
Windows Photo Viewer was first released alongside Windows XP and has quickly become one of the most frequently used tools on Windows.
The latest previews of Windows 11 that Microsoft released this week include an improved About section in the Settings app, where users can get more information about the hardware inside their computer.
To address common issues faced by PC gamers, Microsoft has finally made the Windows operating system easier to navigate with an Xbox controller.
The April security updates for Windows 11 silently created a new empty folder on the C drive.
Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI since 2019, although the Redmond-based software giant is by no means the primary investor in the innovative AI startup.
Error code 0xc0000098 in Windows causes a blue screen error on startup. The ACPI.sys driver is often to blame, especially on unsupported versions of Windows 11 like 23H2 or 22H2 or Windows 10.
In some cases, sometimes you start your computer in Safe Mode and the computer freezes. So how to fix the error in this case, please refer to the article below of WebTech360.
Snipping Tool is a powerful photo and video capture tool on Windows. However, this tool sometimes has some errors, such as constantly displaying on the screen.
Every network has a router to access the Internet, but not everyone knows how to make the router work better. In this article, we will introduce some router tips to help speed up the wireless connection in the network.
If the results seem slower than expected, don't be too quick to blame your ISP - mistakes when performing the test can skew your numbers.
In the article below, we will introduce and guide you to learn about the concept of QoS - Quality of Service on router devices.
Windows has a built-in Credential Manager, but it's not what you think it is—and certainly not a replacement for a password manager.
Microsoft charges for its official codecs and doesn't include them in Windows 10. However, you can get them for free without pulling out your credit card and spending $0.99.
While having trouble accessing files and folders can be frustrating, don't panic—with a few simple tweaks, you can regain access to your system.
After creating a USB boot to install Windows, users should check the USB boot's performance to see if it was created successfully or not.
Although Windows Storage Sense efficiently deletes temporary files, some types of data are permanent and continue to accumulate.
You can turn off Windows 11 background apps to optimize performance, save battery and reduce RAM consumption.
When a computer, mobile device, or printer tries to connect to a Microsoft Windows computer over a network, for example, the error message network path was not found — Error 0x80070035 may appear.
We can block Internet access for any application or software on the computer, while other programs can still access the network. The following article will guide readers on how to disable Internet access for software and applications on Windows.
Instead of paying $30 for a year of security updates, keep Windows 10 safe until 2030 with this simple solution.
