I discovered after (the fact) when I downloaded and installed Catalina to my iMac, that my previously purchased Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint apps no longer worked. (Grrrr!) When I tried to update them, I learned that I now need to purchase an annual license for each one. But for now, I only seem to be able to order a trial version of each, with the option to purchase the licenses in a month. I was hoping I could purchase all of them in a package (that would save me a bit of money) and complete the transaction immediately. I thought I saw a license that covered all three, but it looks like that is only available for the iPhone. I do *not* want the package that offers the three Microsoft products plus three more tied to their “cloud” services, since I already use iCloud extensively. I tried working with Apple Support and she couldn’t seem to get the story straight as to what was actually available from Microsoft and how I go about ordering now. Can you please help clarify what the heck is going on? Thanks so much for any help you can provide!
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Michelle Nicholson
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How Do I Order New Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint for Use With My iMac?
Comments: 2 Responses to “How Do I Order New Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint for Use With My iMac?”
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You have several options. But really only two that make sense. The first is to buy the "Office Home & Student 2019" version for one price. This gets you the current versions of those apps. You download them and update them from Microsoft. Eventually, those will become old and out of date just like your previous purchase.
The other way is to buy a subscription from Microsoft. This is what I do. But I don't download the apps from Microsoft at all. I get them from the Mac App Store. Just search for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint. Each app is free to download, but without that subscription, you won't be able to use them for much. You get other things with the subscription too, like cloud storage space and more. The OneNote app is also pretty good.
You can get the subscription from Microsoft and also download from Microsoft, but I think it is better to get them from the Mac App Store instead to keep updating simpler.
You can find the subscription option and the one-time price option at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-microsoft-365-products-for-mac
Thanks for your help, Gary. I ended up going through Microsoft and bought a subscription to the Office Home and Student 2019 version. The agent gave excellent advice and walked me through the download, plus helped me with clearing out the old versions. Everything is running great now!