Why is my computer still using Microsoft Office 2021 after installing Office 2024?

Anonymous
2024-10-03T23:45:42+00:00

I just bought and installed the stand-alone Microsoft Office 2024 (Home & Business edition, 64-bit) after using Microsoft Office 2021 since it came out several years ago. I was expecting my Office files I open in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint to open in Office 2024 tonight, but they're still opening in the Office 2021 apps (and it's not just a matter of 2024 still carrying 2021 logos because none of the features new to 2024 are there; it's just the same layout as always).

I can't even find any .exe files in my Program Files → Microsoft Office → Office16 folder. Everything is still intact in the Microsoft Office 15 folder, but that "Office16" folder has hardly anything in it, and definitely nothing that looks like it could launch an app. I am reasonably sure that my computer isn't the issue: I'm running Windows 11 Pro on an MSI Titan with three SSD cards and 64 Gb of RAM. I've rebooted my computer twice, just in case it was one of those Microsoft things about installations not completing until the reboot, but that didn't help. So what's going on? Did I just pay $250 plus tax for vaporware?

***Moved from Microsoft 365 and Office / Other / For business / Other***

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | Other | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-01-08T17:27:42+00:00

    Preach it, brother.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-01-11T22:09:22+00:00

    what I cannot understand we people in the forum with this particular problem office 2024 upgrade is still showimg office 2021 for word/excel office 2021? In my case, my outlook is now showimg 2024 and I didn't loose my data and settins despite the message saying I would if I said yes to the office message button. I thought worse case if I did loose data, i e emails, I had my pst file backed up.

    I clicked yes and the 2024 was there! although the new format , yuk

    however, clicked on Help and clicked "Classic Outlook" and the old look, easy to use and file to folders!!!

    no surprise, Word/Excel still reflecting office 2021 despite using the swap Office 21 to Office 24 button.

    very exprienced person saying nothing will happen until "fixed !!!" by MS..

    there must be around 100 on this forum with quite few having done some of self fixes to get it working as expected but most still not working.

    Not living in the US (born there, served there) it looks 1000's did get it to work here in the UK and many times more in the US.

    Has MS been alerted in the US about the folks on this forum with this issue? have responded.

    Could someone do that please. If no success, we have a tech magazine here that will and have followed through these types of problems to a result. phoning the ceo until a respone is received.

    Could a specific type of hardware built say on specific production date, maybe something a relative small number with the same hardware or sofware environment could be problem.

    just some thoughts after a few weeks of despair

    pc saxon

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-01-11T22:53:15+00:00

    The problem likely runs to far more people than we even know about this from this forum, although I have found angry users on other forums, too. Another issue is that Office 365 is so widely used that only a small group of people would even be interested in stand-alone versions of the product. I, myself, am running a state-of-the-art MSI Titan laptop that handles the heavy lifting of everything from digital art to vast algos in Python, as well as databases that routinely shuttle, both in to and out from, (get ready for this) Excel. I have no desire to have rentware from Microsoft or Adobe, so I need the best of the stand-alone products these companies have to offer.

    Microsoft is in an oligopoly — technically, a quasi-duopoly — and, as such, it has no interest in resolving the problems of a small group of end users. That's why this forum has no direct connection to anyone at Microsoft who could solve the problem we're having. We are left with "solutions" being offered by people who know no more than we do. I was appalled at how complicated and definitive some of the solutions were that actually showed fundamental ignorance of the file deployment architecture of the Office 2024 vaporware. No, there were no license files in the empty Office 16 folders, although that gave me a clue regarding what was really going on: Office 2024 doesn't actually exist on my computer, notwithstanding my having downloaded a massive file and endured a long "installation" process after I bought it.

    Are we going to sue Microsoft? No, Microsoft's lawyers would turn us into a dot of chicken salad that would get tossed out of court before we could say, "Don't eat me." Are we going to make a big thing of this on social media and make Microsoft do the right thing? No, hardly anyone would care enough to give us even one repost. So, what are we going to do? We're going to come here to fuss in vane and try every new solution offered by an "expert" who really just wants attention.

    As I tell my business students, corporations do not fulfill their goal of maximizing shareholder wealth by being good to people; they fulfill that goal by doing what is best for their business. The two are rarely synchronous.

    I wish you well and thank you for coming here to join the conversation.

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-01-12T00:27:56+00:00

    I had the same problem and used this suggestion by tyurias on Oct 23 successfully, PLUS the one on the third page by UMrhh on Nov 23.......after uninstalling all versions of Office. Then I re-booted and installed Office Home and Business 2024, and it came up as the correct version.

    Many thanks to these two contributors and others on this topic. Shame on MS for making this such a difficult issue.

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-01-12T14:24:46+00:00

    I had the same problem and used this suggestion by tyurias on Oct 23 successfully, PLUS the one on the third page by UMrhh on Nov 23.......after uninstalling all versions of Office. Then I re-booted and installed Office Home and Business 2024, and it came up as the correct version.

    Many thanks to these two contributors and others on this topic. Shame on MS for making this such a difficult issue.

    Yes, this is the best bet (there is another more detailed post regarding removal of licence. This problem is caused by installing a illegitimate Pro Plus licence. They are volume based and not legally sold for retail purposes. Microsoft is setup to assist the user by installing the best one for the user and although the Pro Plus licence is illegitimate the software is good, so Microsoft choose it. Users cannot remove it from https://account.microsoft.com/services So Microsoft will choose it. There are all sorts of conflicting scenarios, but all caused by the Pro Plus licence. Removing the licence or in some cases the credentials and other files pertaining to Pro Plus is the best chance you have of running a legitimate retail version of Office. Good luck. Below if from my Office Account. I have legitimate Office Professional 2021 and a legitimate version of Office Home and Business 2019 (which is not installed) but I get an option to switch to the 2019 version. It changes the plash screen, but Office 2021 is still installed.

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