Why does signing out suddenly de-activate office?

Anonymous
2020-07-16T15:23:12+00:00

I have office 365. I used to be able to sign out of an office application and the application still worked. I recently made the mistake of updating the office application where Office 365 is now Microsoft 365. It now seems I HAVE to sign in and stay signed in on my own computer where I downloaded and installed my office products to keep using MS Office. When I sign out, the office product deactivates. I don't want to be signed in to use the product that I paid for. It now means that everyone in my family who use the same computer also use my Office account with my name on each office application. Why did this policy change and can we get the previous policy back?

At https://www.reddit.com/r/Office365/comments/fyzfe6/how_to_logout_from_office_365_word_without/ a user commented:

"Yes you used to be able to sign out of Office 365 and it would still stay activated based on the original MS account that has the Office 365 subscription on it... BUT NOW since they changed the name to Microsoft 365 the NEW installers/program are different and if you sign out then it will deactivate Office and make you sign back in... if you updated from an older install then it still seems to let you log out even with the newest updates... but if you did an Online repair then you will be forced to stay signed in... once signed in with a valid subscription account you can sign in with any another microsoft account instead and it will keep the activation still.."

Please revert this manner of using Office products that have been paid for.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Windows

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  1. Stefan Blom 353.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2020-07-24T12:39:39+00:00

    Yes, we all have to be signed in (that is a fairly new requirement), but some people suggest that it is possible to be signed in without having an internet connection. I haven't tried if that actually works, though.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-07-24T12:33:20+00:00

    Apparently, you don't have to be connected to the internet all the time, though.

    Stephan:

    The point of the original question is that some of us now (not everyone yet, it appears to be a "test in production"), unexpectedly, with no notice from MS are now FORCED to remain signed in when we are connected to the internet. 

    .

    I'm with DDK, since I don't use the new 365 dependent features, I don't particularly want to be forced to login in to Microsoft all the time I am connected to the internet.

    DDK:

    Send a feedback to MS complaining about this (dis)"improvement". The only trivial chance we have of defeating this problem is by getting enough people to submit feedback to MS. If a high enough proportion people in the secret trial scream about it maybe MS will get the message and back off. I have seen 2 examples of that in the last 7 years (better than nothing).

    .

    (Feedback Hub) ********************** Send Feedback to MS Developers

    . 

    “Official” MS does not pay much attention to this forum. However, you now can send your complaints and feature requests directly to MS developers and managers using one of the 4 possible (parallel) “Feedback” mechanisms described in this link:

    . 

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install/send-feedback-to-ms-developers/506e7654-8ced-405b-911e-c58d8f253069

    . 

    Please post a share link to your feedback, back here, so other people who find your question here will be able to vote for your feedback and add their comments to it.

    .

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-07-24T11:57:47+00:00

    Sorry for my last post which I deleted wrong link.  This is what Microsoft says about>Is internet access required for Office 365?

    Internet access is required to install and activate all the latest releases of apps and services included in all Microsoft 365 subscription plans. Note that if you are an existing subscriber, you do not need to reinstall or purchase another subscription.

    For Microsoft 365 plans, Internet access is also needed to manage your subscription account, for example to install apps on other PCs or to change billing options. Internet access is also required to access documents stored on OneDrive, unless you install the OneDrive desktop app.

    You should also connect to the Internet regularly to keep your version of Microsoft 365 up to date and to benefit from automatic upgrades. If you do not connect to the Internet at least every 31 days, your apps will go into reduced functionality mode, which means that you can view or print your documents but cannot edit the documents or create new ones. To reactivate your apps, simply reconnect to the Internet.

    You do not need to be connected to the Internet to use Office apps, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, because the apps are fully installed on your computer.

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  4. Stefan Blom 353.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2020-07-24T11:53:41+00:00

    Yes, it is a requirement to be signed in, for Office programs to remain activated. See my previous screen shot from the article that we have been discussing here.

    Apparently, you don't have to be connected to the internet all the time, though.

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