Office365 Abruptly Updated and New "Update License" Option Appears- Unsure What to Do

Anonymous
2024-02-02T06:59:02+00:00

when I logged on today, Office abruptly decided to automatically update itself which never happens; now when I open Word, there's a subtle new option called "Update License"

I can still open, edit, save, and create documents to my heart's content but this new option just exists now. I also manually updated Office on my laptop once I saw this "Update License" didn't exist there, and after it updated, this option appeared

is this just something that's happened? is it security-related or an annual thing or whatever else?

anyway I'm not sure what exactly I'm meant to do. I have my own Microsoft account and I use Office365 under my Microsoft account but I think it's under my mother's account/subscription, as like a Family

I'm nervous to try and "update the license" using my credentials in case it signs me into a fresh new account or logs me out, or something similar.

I'm not sure if I need to use my Microsoft account credentials with this "Update License" option, even if my account and Office subscription is managed under my parent's account

Microsoft 365 and Office | Subscription, account, billing | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-03-15T13:54:02+00:00

    Thanks for your comments lindros2! Well stated and we can only hope someone with authority (and common sense) in Microsoft's leadership is made aware of what their Office engineers have been foisting upon the user community. I feel fortunate that I'm now retired and simply a personal user without the deadlines and obligations that required using well-designed and user-friendly software tools.

    As a Mac user, I can choose to use Apple's apps that are equivalent to MS Office (and at no cost as they're included as part of the Apple OS). But as a long time Office user, I've been content to purchase the Office suite periodically (e.g., Office 2011, 2016, 2019 and now 2021). I'm beginning to think it's becoming a bad investment when dumb problems like the Update License fiasco occur and despite the outcries for help and a timely resolution for the user community, we are told we can use the product(s) with confidence.

    As for the "Sign in to verify your subscription" process that results in Error code 29 or Error code 44, rinse and repeat, the only analogy that comes to mind is this:

    Image

    As far as Copilot is concerned, I seriously doubt I'd ever use it, but here's one more analogy ... (for the Airplane fans)

    Image

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-03-15T11:59:53+00:00

    part 1: sign in (note - this license had just been [re]activated two DAYS ago):

    part 2: success!

    but wait - option still shows!

    So I cancelled:

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-03-15T11:53:42+00:00

    This is both an eyesore and a hassle on my PERSONAL machines - personal O365 license - and commercial/BUSINESS licenses (F500 company and midsize consulting firm/3000 employees).

    While Microsoft doesn't care - MORE COPILOT FOR ALL! - this has lit up helpdesks near and far (I'm not in IT).

    PREVIOUSLY, if a license had to be activated, the option would show. Got it. Makes sense.

    NOW? It's all the time. It's an annoying hag/nag/hassle that permeates ALL versions of Office, regardless of Current, Current Preview, or Insider/Beta.

    But I'm preaching to the crowd here (the ones looking for help, not those 'experts' or 'advisors' posting senseless boilerplate to get points).

    OUR SOLUTION - we just informed our Microsoft rep and his leadership that we're taking 50,000 Office users and moving to Google Workspace.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-03-14T22:34:38+00:00

    Hahaha - those were the good old days! Life (and software) was so much simpler then!

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-03-14T22:13:03+00:00

    Don,

    Or... I could explore my CD version of Office 2000... with confidence. I still have my old Windows XP laptop!

    No subscription. No updates. Lol.

    :-D

    Rupertsland,

    Canada

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