MS Office options

[Carpet_pissr]

Anyone have any words of advice for someone looking to buy MS Office?

I can log in to a few apps using one of my kids' edu accounts, but that does not include Outlook (and I'm not sure it includes PP).

I tried the yearly sub model a few years back (Office 365), but I would much rather plunk down for an "owned" version since I REALLY don't care about the minimal updates they do every year or so.

Any advice on where to buy legit keys, but not crazy expensive like $300?

Oh, and yes I am fully aware of the Google office products, and use them. But if the professional world is similar to what it was...5 years ago, almost everyone (that I dealt with) used Outlook. Being on the hunt for a job, I thought I would jump back in and get "compatible".

I currently use an online Outlook account, but it really isn't the same.

[Isgrimnur]

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microso ... verviewtab

$150 for Office 2021

[LawBeefaroni]

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microso ... verviewtab

$150 for Office 2021

No Outlook, just Word, Excel, PPT.

Oh, and yes I am fully aware of the Google office products, and use them. But if the professional world is similar to what it was...5 years ago, almost everyone (that I dealt with) used Outlook. Being on the hunt for a job, I thought I would jump back in and get "compatible".

If you get a job somewhere that uses Office they'll provide it. You really don't have to be compatible. Unless you're talking about brushing up on skills. If that's the case, just get 365 for a month. $7.

[LawBeefaroni]

Should note that unlike 5 years ago, remote access is fairly ubiquitous now.

[Carpet_pissr]

If you get a job somewhere that uses Office they'll provide it. You really don't have to be compatible. Unless you're talking about brushing up on skills. If that's the case, just get 365 for a month. $7.

Yes, brushing up on skills is part of it too, I guess. I would probably try to buy a cheap (legit) key for a year or two old non sub version if they didn't limit you to one PC (that sucks! I would want access on both my laptop and desktop).

Also aware that any decent professional job will give me a laptop and of course Office installed, but I'm currently unemployed, so that doesn't help atm. What prompted me to start looking was that I got an meeting invite today from an HR manager, and it just looked funky from my online only account. I'm probably being paranoid, but I don't want to give off the vibe of "home user scraping by on the free Office tools" Now that I write that, it looks absolutely absurd.

Best (legit) I have seen so far is $40 for Office 365 for one year sub. That gives you the ability to install on multiple machines.

I should also add that while online Outlook is very much like old Hotmail, and VERY different than local/installed Outlook, online Excel is amazingly similar, and very fast, surprisingly. I was impressed the first time I used it.

[Kraken]

For many years MS sold the desktop version cheap to anyone with a .edu address. IDK if they still do -- a quick search didn't turn up any hits -- but that's an avenue to explore if you want to dig deeper than I did. It might be gone now that they're pushing the subscription version so hard, or it might just be well-hidden.

I just ran into something similar with QuickBooks. My CPA recommended that I upgrade. Turns out that 2021 was their last desktop version. Now it's subscription-only, so I'm stuck in 2016. It's not worth $250/yr for my very modest needs.

[Anonymous Bosch]

I just ran into something similar with QuickBooks. My CPA recommended that I upgrade. Turns out that 2021 was their last desktop version. Now it's subscription-only, so I'm stuck in 2016. It's not worth $250/yr for my very modest needs.

Seems like good motivation to check out the free and open source GnuCash instead.

[Kraken]

I just ran into something similar with QuickBooks. My CPA recommended that I upgrade. Turns out that 2021 was their last desktop version. Now it's subscription-only, so I'm stuck in 2016. It's not worth $250/yr for my very modest needs.

Seems like good motivation to check out the free and open source GnuCash instead.

I'm pretty married to QB. My company file is 17 years old, and it's what my CPA uses to prepare my tax returns. He mentioned that he might be able to get me a discounted subscription, so I'll follow up on that after tax season (he's in crunch time right now).

[Jeff V]

Office 365 is pretty easy to deal with, a monthly fee (something like $10), inclusive of any or all upgrades and one account can be installed on up to 5 computers.

We just dropped it last month because of austerity measures, and that it wasn't giving us anything that Google Docs didn't provide for free. I don't use Outlook, but isn't there a free web client available?

[Carpet_pissr]

We just dropped it last month because of austerity measures, and that it wasn't giving us anything that Google Docs didn't provide for free. I don't use Outlook, but isn't there a free web client available?

Yes, there is, which has transitioned over the years from Hotmail,to Live, to now Outlook. Not nearly as robust as locally installed Outlook though.

In hindsight, this was probably another impulsive thing that I didn't really need to do, but I started to panic when a HR person emailed me back with a meeting invite (no doubt, created in local Outlook), and it looked funky. Again, probably completely paranoid, but trying to give off the vibe that I am not sitting at home all day in my underwear, looking for jobs (which I'm not, I'm only doing that about 3 hours per day!).

[Carpet_pissr]

I just ran into something similar with QuickBooks. My CPA recommended that I upgrade. Turns out that 2021 was their last desktop version. Now it's subscription-only, so I'm stuck in 2016. It's not worth $250/yr for my very modest needs.

Seems like good motivation to check out the free and open source GnuCash instead.

This is great. If I can get it working well, I might switch from my Google Sheets doc I have carefully honed over the past year or two.

I used to use Quickbooks (and maybe MS Money before that?) and it just got to be a pain having to constantly upgrade, with no real benefit to the software (in fact, most people agree it actually got worse over time). When you have to justify constant upgrades, you get garbageware eventually IMO.

"welp, boys, how are we going to justify forcing them to upgrade THIS time?"
Boys: tons of ideas that help their bottom line, but end up making the UX worse.

[Jeff V]

We just dropped it last month because of austerity measures, and that it wasn't giving us anything that Google Docs didn't provide for free. I don't use Outlook, but isn't there a free web client available?

Yes, there is, which has transitioned over the years from Hotmail,to Live, to now Outlook. Not nearly as robust as locally installed Outlook though.

In hindsight, this was probably another impulsive thing that I didn't really need to do, but I started to panic when a HR person emailed me back with a meeting invite (no doubt, created in local Outlook), and it looked funky. Again, probably completely paranoid, but trying to give off the vibe that I am not sitting at home all day in my underwear, looking for jobs (which I'm not, I'm only doing that about 3 hours per day!).

That's odd. I use Gmail, and haven't had an issue with Outlook invites ever. My last company was Google's biggest customer when I got there, they used Gmail as an email provider and there were no issues on an enterprise level either.

The free web clients might be a little more limited, but unless you are using plug-in apps I wouldn't imagine it's that much of a problem?

[hitbyambulance]

In hindsight, this was probably another impulsive thing that I didn't really need to do, but I started to panic when a HR person emailed me back with a meeting invite (no doubt, created in local Outlook), and it looked funky. Again, probably completely paranoid, but trying to give off the vibe that I am not sitting at home all day in my underwear, looking for jobs (which I'm not, I'm only doing that about 3 hours per day!).

yeahhhh i think you're overthinking this a bit. you really don't need to be wasting money on Office 365.

[Carpet_pissr]

In hindsight, this was probably another impulsive thing that I didn't really need to do, but I started to panic when a HR person emailed me back with a meeting invite (no doubt, created in local Outlook), and it looked funky. Again, probably completely paranoid, but trying to give off the vibe that I am not sitting at home all day in my underwear, looking for jobs (which I'm not, I'm only doing that about 3 hours per day!).

yeahhhh i think you're overthinking this a bit. you really don't need to be wasting money on Office 365.

Fortunately I took LB’s advice and just got the monthly for $7 or something.

[UsulofDoom]

I just purchased a key last month for Microsoft office 2019 Pro plus from amazon. I had 2010 but it lost support from office 365 server. They only sent me the key. I went to Microsoft to download, and the key was validated. It is a life time key I purchased for $63. Sold by Key-market. It was a prime purchase so I was not worried about not getting it.

2019 should last me 8-10 years. Don't know if you really need the newest version.

I went to a local PC show that dealers where selling disks for $50 that you could install on any PC. I just did not feel safe buying it. Who knows what's on it.

[Isgrimnur]

I got 2019 through the HUP at work, but that's no longer an option, apparently. It's 329 or nothing.

[Victoria Raverna]

O365 subscription is a good choice. You get 1 TB cloud storage with it. So think of it as free Office when you get 1 TB cloud storage.

[Victoria Raverna]

I got 2019 through the HUP at work, but that's no longer an option, apparently. It's 329 or nothing.

I used to get it through HUP but they no longer provide it. Now HUP is only a discount on O365 subscription.

[Carpet_pissr]

I just purchased a key last month for Microsoft office 2019 Pro plus from amazon. I had 2010 but it lost support from office 365 server. They only sent me the key. I went to Microsoft to download, and the key was validated. It is a life time key I purchased for $63. Sold by Key-market. It was a prime purchase so I was not worried about not getting it.

I read more than a few horror (ok, not horror, but crappy outcomes) stories about those key resellers. Seems like a little more than half deliver the keys, but of those, many appear to stop working or get unvalidated or whatever, after a few months.

The biggest drawback to those versions are they are usually one install only vs 365 where you can have up to 5 I believe.

[UsulofDoom]

I just purchased a key last month for Microsoft office 2019 Pro plus from amazon. I had 2010 but it lost support from office 365 server. They only sent me the key. I went to Microsoft to download, and the key was validated. It is a life time key I purchased for $63. Sold by Key-market. It was a prime purchase so I was not worried about not getting it.

I read more than a few horror (ok, not horror, but crappy outcomes) stories about those key resellers. Seems like a little more than half deliver the keys, but of those, many appear to stop working or get unvalidated or whatever, after a few months.

The biggest drawback to those versions are they are usually one install only vs 365 where you can have up to 5 I believe.

I have not heard or seen that a amazon PRIME key has been invalidated. I have been using mine for a 5 weeks now.

I can always buy a new one and return it, if amazon does not back me up. I ordered 3 kitchen magnetic knife holder till I received one not broken. If they certify the company as PRIME, they seem to stand by them.

I only needed one install but it should last till they discontinue support.

[Carpet_pissr]

I just purchased a key last month for Microsoft office 2019 Pro plus from amazon. I had 2010 but it lost support from office 365 server. They only sent me the key. I went to Microsoft to download, and the key was validated. It is a life time key I purchased for $63. Sold by Key-market. It was a prime purchase so I was not worried about not getting it.

I read more than a few horror (ok, not horror, but crappy outcomes) stories about those key resellers. Seems like a little more than half deliver the keys, but of those, many appear to stop working or get unvalidated or whatever, after a few months.

The biggest drawback to those versions are they are usually one install only vs 365 where you can have up to 5 I believe.

I have not heard or seen that a amazon PRIME key has been invalidated. I have been using mine for a 5 weeks now.

I can always buy a new one and return it, if amazon does not back me up. I ordered 3 kitchen magnetic knife holder till I received one not broken. If they certify the company as PRIME, they seem to stand by them.

I only needed one install but it should last till they discontinue support.

AFAIK, "Prime" is not a seller certification, or guarantee of quality of any kind, it's simply a logistics relationship. Could be wrong, though. Not sure how it would even matter in the case of a software key, though. Maybe some indication of how quickly the key is delivered to your inbox?