Why does signing out suddenly de-activate office?

I'm just saying that the wording indicates that signing out actually changes the activation status. 

I completely agree with you that this is new behavior.

Yes, but in the past all that meant was that Office 365 online features were not available. Which is what I expected to see and what many people still see. Yes we were prompted to sign back it, because MS is "happier" that way, but signing out did not completely deactivate Office 365.

There is no sense splitting this particular hare / hair. MS has changed the rules.

On the same page it says

<snip>

What happens if I sign out of Office?

You might lose some subscription features if you sign out. We recommend that you stay signed in to Office on the devices you use the most.

</snip>

 .

Here is another page that explicitly says what I expect to see

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/important-news-about-your-microsoft-365-subscription-06828297-4f1d-4059-8748-365d8e658968?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

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<snip>

What if I'm not connected to the Internet?

Microsoft 365 works without an Internet connection for 30 days. You'll see warnings if you haven't connected in awhile. After 30 days, Microsoft 365 will run in read-only mode. To enable editing, connect the device to the Internet.

</snip>

Talk about splitting hairs.  I did another test. I signed out of Office, unplugged my computer from the internet, closed then restarted Word.. Now it works just fine. I was able to create a new document and save it to my HD. Editor appears to work, but dictate gives a misleading message that only implies there is a problem connecting to the internet.  

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So it is adhering to the "letter of the law" not the spirit. It is still an unannounced change in behaviour, without a adequate informational message to indicate the fix to the problem. Either sign in or unplug the internet...

<sigh>

Rohn, the article says, "Office remains activated as long as you're signed in. If you sign out, you'll be prompted to sign in again." That is a clear statement that something has changed. Here is a screen shot from the article:

Rohn,  See this Article How Sign in Works answers the OPs Question:  "Why does signing out suddenly de-activate office?" 

PS: See the 'old' article 'Deactivate an installation of Office'   "If you have an Microsoft 365 subscription, you can sign out of Office on a PC or Mac remotely from any web browser to deactivate the installation. Because Office will sign you out of devices automatically to stay within your sign-in limit, there's no longer a need to use this process to free up installs. For more info, see How sign in works in Microsoft 365."

There is no longer any instruction about 'deactivating' as it used to advise.

Thanks for the link Stefan, BUT is says exactly the same thing I already knew,

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<snip>

You might lose some subscription features if you sign out. We recommend that you stay signed in to Office on the devices you use the most.

</snip>

.

That is what I expected. It is NOT what is happening.  When I sign out, the start an app I NOW  get

I don't want to sign in, so I click on that link then it asks for product key

Don't want to do that so I say Back, it takes me back to the first dialog, where I don't want to be.  So I click the "x" in the upper right (cut off from capture) to exit it, the app starts but it is DEACTIVATED

See the warning and the buttons disabled. The "Editor" is not part of 2016, so it is running 365 exe!

In File Account, it says 2016 Pro Plus, but I think that is an error, because I did have 2016 installed before 365. There is no way it is finding the 2016 application files, they were moved.

I searched for WinWord.EXE, the only one found was for 2010, which I also have (dual) installed)

So where did my 365 installation evaporate to?

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What EXE is it running to load the application that is not activated?

When I use the Win10 start menu to search for winword.exe, 365/2016 is not found!

When I search for Word, it does find a 365/2016 tile, so wtf is it looking at?

The 2016/365 shortcut is pointed to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\WINWORD.EXE"

Now I have to figure out why Everything, and the Start menu, did not show that Winword.exe . Everything uses the NTFS index, so obviously Windoze is "hiding" it ...

When I sign back in to one of those deactivated apps, it shows signed in and this message

Strangely, when I restart Word Dictate shows up, while it was not displayed in the deactivated program ...

Bottom line, formerly did NOT happen this way

It is not the way MS says it supposed to work.

I have also seen this problem confirmed by yet another person, on only 1 of serveral machines they tried.  It appears to be a (dis)"improvement" that MS is field testing on unsuspecting (NON "insider) paying customers, to see about pushback.

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2020 07 08- Customer login now required to use Microsoft 365 apps?

https://office-watch.com/2020/customer-login-now-required-to-use-microsoft-365-apps/

    Is Microsoft account now required?

    Does it matter?

    Rental by person not for a device

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RonBaker:

In theory, your theory sounds good, but I don't think that is the case, because this is not happening to everyone. It is a trial rollout of a "new feature", or as I characterize it, a (dis)"improvement".

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