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

Hello Great Machine!

Thanks for your comments and screen shot of your Account page. My account page Product Information screen looks nothing like yours, likely because I have never purchased any Microsoft Subscription Products.. On my "Services and Subscriptions" page shows only the 2 one-time purchases of Office Home & Business 2021, and the old Office Home & Business 2019 for my Mac computers.

My Office apps are working correctly on both my MaBook Pro and my iMac Pro, and both are on the latests releases issued by Microsoft. I believe the sudden appearance of the "Update License" links under the "About {MS App}" menu drop-down (for Word, Excel and PowerPoint) are part of Microsoft's plan to ultimately migrate customers to their MS 365 subscription products. I have no plans to participate in that evolution as Apple offers comparable apps that are included at no charge as part of the Apple Operating System (e.g., Sonoma).

I too have got too much else going on to continue pursuit of why Microsoft introduced the changes that started all this consternation in their January release. The Office Product is working for me and that's the important thing!

On a related note: my next-door neighbor has a 2013-vintage iMac and is using a one-time purchase Office Home & Business 2011 product!!! It continues to function properly despite being 10 years old, and they haven't mentioned being disrupted by "Update License" recommendations.

At least for the Windows version, I beginning to think this is a design change. Version 2401 Build 17231.20236 C2R and now Version 2402 Build 17328.20108 C2R still have 'Update License' where it appeared several builds ago (lower left on home page).

There has always been an 'Update License' button on the account page (highlighted in red)

Clicking on either this 'Update License' or the one that recently appeared just ask for the associated email address and then say activated/restart app.

So far my Microsoft 365 apps or friends/family have not deactivated. Unless my Microsoft365 apps actually deactivate, I'm not going to worry about it going forward.

I don't have a Mac so I can't speak to what's going on there and I did see at least one post earlier referring to users with Outlook having to reactivate to connect.

Hi Bagariccian,

I and others have been documenting our experiences with the "Update License" issues and efforts to resolve them on a separate thread here on the Community forum. I can tell you that despite extensive efforts including removing and reinstalling the Office software and removing and reinstalling the software license, that I can still use all of the apps in the Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac software. That includes Outlook, PowerPoint, Word and Excel. The software should function properly for the Microsoft Office 365 subscription product, despite the appearance of the "Update License" text/link under the "About (app)" menu drop-down.

For more information and illustrative screen shots and commentary about the issue, please link to it at the following URL:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/seeking-solution-to-office-for-home-business-2021/e40e6848-1a0e-40be-8d19-733c01ece837

Don in Ohio

I Have the Same issue my Microsoft office 365 family subscription is current to 17 September 2024 when i clicked on the update licence and sign in using my creditionals it keeps telling me to restart the app that it is opened when I restart word the update licence still appears.

I am not a big fan of subscription software and a number of software companies seem to be going in that direction. I was just notified that the Macintosh diagnostic utility software I use is going to stop offering one-time purchases and beginning in 2025 will only offer subscriptions for its software program at $90/year, limited to one Mac (I have 2). I'll be done using them when that happens.

Back to MS Office 365, including what I call "MS Office Home & Business 2021 for Mac". I believe it's sloppy and unvetted software engineering, exacerbated by Microsoft trying to rename all the variations of Office to simply be "Office 365". Does Microsoft still do beta testing before issuing new releases? It also appears they may have gone a bit overboard at trying to stop unauthorized use of their products by software pirates and similar miscreants. Unfortunately, a lot of innocent and legitimate users are suffering from the fallout.

Hopefully you won't be prevented to using the Office applications you've paid for in your subscription. Others I know of can no longer use their software due to the recent Office for Mac software releases. Ugh!