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Why do I have to buy Office 365 just to use Word on my computer?

I went to use Microsoft Word on my computer only to see this screen:

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I click "Reactivate", and I'm told that I can either buy Office 365, enter some sort of "product key", or sign in. I tried signing in, but that didn't work, so since I don't have a product key, I'm left with having to pay at least $7 a month just to use an app that should already come free with the computer.

Am I the only one who's upset about this? Why am I being forced to pay for an application that's been completely free with all the previous Windows installments? I know you can use Word online, but what about when I'm offline? If I wanted a program that types online, I have Google Docs for that. I don't need a program that used to work offline to only be available online without forking over $70 a year for it. How much more money does Microsoft need from me?! My parents already paid about $2,000 to give me a laptop for college, and now you want more money just to use something as basic as Word?! This is like if Nintendo made you pay $10 a month in order to play games on the Switch, or Google charging you every month just to be able to use Chrome. This just isn't fair!

It would be one thing if you had to pay for some sort of premium Office subscription and programs like Word were still available for free. But I'm sorry, if I have to pay such a ridiculous amount of money just to type Word documents, then I'd rather downgrade back to Windows 8. The government sucks enough money out of people's pockets these days, we don't need Microsoft doing it too.

Unfortunately, downgrading to Windows 8 wont help you - the software will still be disabled because the subscription expired.

If you are a student, check with the IT department at your school - they may have a special student rate as part of their licensing plan.

Or buy just the perpetual version of Word - it's about $130US or so - this is the version installed on your desktop.
--
Diane Poremsky
M365 MVP, specializing in Outlook, Exchange, and Microsoft 365 apps.

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You're wrong: Word and the rest of Office have never been "completely free with all the previous Windows installments". If you bought a computer and Office came with it, you paid the vendor for it. You may be able to downgrade to Windows 8, but that won't give you a licensed copy of Office. The only word processor that comes free with Windows is WordPad, which can read and write documents in Word format.

If you had and still have a paid-for copy of Office on the computer, what you're seeing is probably a trial version of Office 365 that was installed by mistake during an update. We've seen numerous complaints about that, and Microsoft has been notified. In that case, go to the Windows > Settings > Apps dialog and look for two entries for Microsoft Office, one for Office 365 and one for your other version. If they're both there, uninstall Office 365. Then repair the older version to fix the registry entries that belong to it.

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You're wrong: Word and the rest of Office have never been "completely free with all the previous Windows installments". If you bought a computer and Office came with it, you paid the vendor for it. You may be able to downgrade to Windows 8, but that won't give you a licensed copy of Office. The only word processor that comes free with Windows is WordPad, which can read and write documents in Word format.

If you had and still have a paid-for copy of Office on the computer, what you're seeing is probably a trial version of Office 365 that was installed by mistake during an update. We've seen numerous complaints about that, and Microsoft has been notified. In that case, go to the Windows > Settings > Apps dialog and look for two entries for Microsoft Office, one for Office 365 and one for your other version. If they're both there, uninstall Office 365. Then repair the older version to fix the registry entries that belong to it.

I am having the same problem with my new laptop. It now tells me that I am using an unlicensed program. I took a look to see if maybe I had two of the Microsoft Office 360 like you explained. However I only see one on there. I am really wanting to find a fix for this issue. I refuse to continuously pay for a program that came with the PC (with functioning programs). Any other suggestions??

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What came with your PC was a trial version. If you want to continue using it, you need to either subscribe to Office 365 or buy a perpetual-license version of Office 2016 (keeping in mind that Office 2019 will be released within the next year).
Microsoft MVP (Word) since 1999
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://ssbarnhill.com
http://wordfaqs.ssbarnhill.com
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Last updated March 24, 2025 Views 150,868 Applies to: