Office FAQ
Find answers to commonly asked questions about Office and Office 365
About the new Office
Show Hide Which Office products are available for home and business?
New products are being released for home and business use. The products listed below may be used at home or at a small business, depending on license restrictions.
Office product Where can I use it?
Office 365 Home Premium At home
Office 365 University For eligible college students, faculty, and staff use only.
Office Home & Student 2013 At home
Office Home & Business 2013 At home or for business use
Office Professional 2013 At home or for business use
Office 365 Small Business Premium For business use
Word 2013 Office applications can be bought as standalone products, or as part of an Office suite or Office 365 plan. Usage rights vary according to the exact product purchased.
Excel 2013
PowerPoint 2013
Outlook 2013
OneNote 2013
Access 2013
Publisher 2013
Visit our Office for business pages for more information about the new Office for business.
Show Hide What's new in this release of Office?
The familiar Office applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint include new features that help you create, communicate and work even more efficiently from virtually anywhere. In addition to updating the traditional Office suites, we've developed brand new subscription versions of Office, specifically designed for the way you use Office today. Each new subscription offer will include the 2013 versions of the Office applications, for example Word, Excel and PowerPoint, plus offerings such as Skype world minutes and online storage with SkyDrive.
Subscribers will also receive future rights to version upgrades as well as per-use rights across multiple PCs or Macs and select mobile devices. The Office applications you can use across PCs, Macs and other devices varies by platform.
Show Hide I thought Office 365 was for businesses only. What's changed?
Office 365 remains a great option for businesses, with plans designed for companies of all sizes, from individual consultants to enterprises. New for this release is Office 365 Small Business Premium, which is designed for businesses with 1 to 10 employees.
Also, in this release, we're expanding Office 365 to include new plans optimized for use at home and school: Office 365 Home Premium and Office 365 University.
Show Hide What is the difference between Office 2013 suites and Office 365?
Microsoft Office is still the name we use for our familiar productivity software.
Office suites have traditionally included applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. All Office 2013 suites include the latest versions of the applications , for use on a single PC.
We use the name "Office 365" for products that include features enabled over the internet, such as additional online storage with SkyDrive, Skype world minutes for home use, Lync web conferencing or Exchange Online hosted email for businesses.
Most Office 365 plans also include the full-featured Office 2013 applications, which users can install across multiple computers and devices. All Office 365 products, such as Office 365 Home Premium, Office 365 University, and Office 365 Small Business Premium, are paid for on a subscription basis, monthly or annually. Active subscribers receive future rights to version upgrades as a benefit of their subscription. Entitlements vary by product.
Here are some examples of products that use the Office or Office 365 name:
Product name Contains
Office Home & Student 2013 Office programs: The latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote
Use: For home use on one PC
Buy: Single purchase, perpetual use rights
Office 365 Home Premium Office programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, plus OneNote, Access, and Publisher for Windows PCs.
Cloud services: SkyDrive and Office on Demand cloud services
Plus: Skype world minutes
Use: Install on up to five PCs and Macs, one household
Buy: Annual or monthly subscription, automatic upgrade rights
Office 365 Small Business Premium Office programs: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access
Cloud services: Hosted email, web conferencing
Use: Best for businesses with 1 – 10 users
Buy: Annual subscription, paid monthly
Buying Office
Show Hide Which Office products are available in my country/region?
The new Office products are available in more countries/regions than ever before. Visit Office.com/products to find out which products are available to buy online from Microsoft in your country or region.
Office subscription products are not available in all markets. In markets where subscription products are not available you can still buy perpetual versions of the new Office for one PC.
When you select the option to buy a subscription product, you'll see a country selector. It's important that you select the country in which you will be billed for the subscription and in which you'll be using the software. Selecting a country that you don't live in may cause issues with subscription setup and renewal.
Show Hide How do I know if my computer or devices can run the new Office?
You'll need Windows 7, Windows 8 OS, or Mac OS X version 10.6 or later to successfully run Office on your PC or Mac. Other system requirements are:
Computer and processor: 1 GHz or greater x86/x64 processor with SSE2 instruction set (PC), Intel processor (Mac)
Memory: 1 GB RAM (32-bit or Mac) /2 GB RAM (64-bit)
Hard disk: 3 GB free disk space (PC), 2.5 GB HFS+ hard disk format (Mac)
Operating system (PC):Windows 7 or newer, either 32-bit or 64-bit; Windows 2008R2 or newer with .Net 3.5 or greater. It isn't possible to install the new Office on a PC running Windows XP or Vista. To use the new Office with Windows 8, you must be running the Release Preview version or higher. Get the Release Preview.
Operating system (Mac): Mac OS X version 10.6 or later
Graphics: Graphics hardware acceleration requires DirectX 10 graphics card and 1366 x 728 resolution (PC), 1280 x 800 screen resolution (Mac)
More information
Show Hide Can I try Office before I buy?
Yes. You can sign up to try Office 365 Home Premium for one month free.
If you are signing up for a trial month on the Office.com website you will need to enter your credit card details and sign in using a Microsoft account. Your credit card will be automatically charged after the first calendar month, and then again on a monthly basis, so you can continue to access all the features of Office 365 Home Premium. You can cancel online without penalty at any time, during or after the trial period, by visiting www.office.com/myaccount.
Trials are also available for the Office 365 business plans, including Office 365 Small Business Premium.
Show Hide What do I get with the Office 365 Home Premium trial?
The Office trial gives you access to all the features of Office 365 Home Premium except the additional
20 GB of SkyDrive storage. You can install the Office trial alongside your existing version of Office.
Your free trial includes:
Show Hide What is my Microsoft account and why do I need it for my Office software?
A "Microsoft account" is the new name for what used to be called a "Windows Live ID." Your Microsoft account is the combination of an email address and a password that you use to sign in to services like Hotmail, Messenger, SkyDrive, Windows Phone, Xbox LIVE, or Outlook.com. If you use an email address and password to sign in to these or other services, you already have a Microsoft account—but you can also sign up for a new one at any time.
With this release of Office, you use a Microsoft account to start an Office subscription and to install and manage your Office software. You may also need to sign in with a Microsoft account when you install the latest Office 2013 suites.
The Microsoft account you use to sign up for your Office 365 subscription or install your Office suite will be the one you sign in with every time you want to manage your account. For example, you will need to sign in when you install Office on a new computer in your household, or change your subscription billing details.
Any time you want to install Office on another PC or Mac, choose a new language for an installation, or make other changes to your account, all you have to do is return to www.office.com/myaccount and sign in with your Microsoft account.
Benefits of the new Office
Show Hide How do I make sure I always have the latest Office applications?
Office 365 customers with active subscriptions always get the newest versions of the Office applications when they are available. When we release a new version of Office, you will be notified that you have the option to update your software to the latest version.
Show Hide Can I install the new Office on my Mac?
If you buy an Office 365 subscription, whether it's Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 University, you can install Office applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook on your Mac. The applications available for Mac users and the version numbers may be different from those available for PC users.
Current Office application versions for Office 365 are Office 2013 for Windows and Office 2011 for Mac. Customers with an active subscription will be entitled to the newest versions when available.
Show Hide Will Office be identical on a PC, a Mac, and a mobile device?
No, Office applications are tailored to work best on each platform and device.
Show Hide For which devices will Office be available?
At launch Office supports PCs running Windows 7 or higher, and Macs with Mac OS X 10.5.8 or higher. Office Mobile supports Windows Phone devices running Windows Phone OS 7.5 and higher. Check www.office.com/information for details.
Show Hide Can I use Office languages other than the one I originally purchased?
Your Office 365 subscription enables you to can install Office in 40 different languages. If you have Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 University, you can choose the language to install Office in by visiting www.office.com/myaccount. Not all languages will be available in all regions.
For information about language options that are available with the Office 2013 suites, visit www.office.com/language.
Show Hide Can someone open Office 365 or Office documents using earlier versions of Office?
Yes, a person with a previous version of Microsoft Office can easily open documents created with the latest release of Office by using compatibility and service packs.
Show Hide What is Office on Demand?
Office on Demand comes with your Office 365 plan. It lets you use your Office applications on PCs that don't have Office installed on them or that are running older versions of Office, for example a PC in the library, at a business center, or one that you borrowed from a friend. The applications are streamed to the PC instead of being permanently installed on it. Streaming speed depends on Internet connectivity speed. Once you close the applications, they are no longer available to other users of that PC. Documents you save to SkyDrive will also no longer be available to other users, unless you saved them locally on the computer. You can use Office on Demand on a PC that is connected to the Internet and running Windows 7 or later.
Show Hide How do I use Office on Demand?
If you have an Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 University subscription, you can create a new document using Office on Demand by going to www.office.com, signing in with your Microsoft account and then, on the MY OFFICE tab, clicking Create New for the application you want to use. You will be able to start working on your new document within seconds—even before the streaming of all features is complete. You can also access existing documents using Office on Demand, either from Office.com or from SkyDrive. Just sign in with your Microsoft account and open the document you want to work in.
If you have an Office 365 Small Business Premium subscription, you can use Office on Demand by logging into your account at www.office.com on a PC that doesn't have Office installed. Then, go to SharePoint and open the file you want to work on, selecting the option to edit the document in its application.
Show Hide What is the difference between the Office Web Apps and Office on Demand?
The new Office on Demand can instantly stream your Office applications to any PC running Windows 7 or higher, when you want it to. Like Office Web Apps, Office on Demand allows users to access Office and their documents from anywhere.
Office Web Apps are best suited for quick viewing and editing, while Office on Demand provides the full featured Office on your desktop.
Office Web Apps are available across a variety of operating systems, devices and browsers, providing access to Office tools and your documents when working from non-Windows 7 PCs (and earlier), from other platforms (Mac OS and Linux, or from non-Windows Tablets).
About SkyDrive
Show Hide What is SkyDrive?
SkyDrive is a service that enables you to upload files to cloud storage and then access them from a Web browser, PC or Mac, or devices—no manual syncing or cables needed. Use your SkyDrive storage and you'll never be without the documents, notes, photos, and videos that matter to you. Just log on to a web browser, sign in to skydrive.com, and go to work viewing or editing.
Show Hide Why does Office save documents to SkyDrive?
Saving your documents to SkyDrive allows you to easily access and edit them on multiple devices from virtually anywhere. Office 365 Home Premium and Office 365 University subscriptions include an additional 20 GB of storage space on SkyDrive.
Show Hide Are my documents stored on SkyDrive also available offline?
Yes. For most PCs and Macs, when you save a document in Office, the default option saves it to a local SkyDrive folder on the computer, which automatically syncs to SkyDrive online. You can access your documents in the local SkyDrive folder on your computer at any time, even if you are not connected to the Internet.
Show Hide How much SkyDrive storage do customers get?
All SkyDrive users receive 7 GB of SkyDrive storage for free. Additional storage can be purchased if needed. Customers with an active Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 University subscription get an additional 20 GB of SkyDrive storage as part of their subscription service, for a total of 27 GB of storage. This additional 20 GB of SkyDrive storage is applied to the SkyDrive account that is linked to the Microsoft account used to create the Office 365 subscription account.
About Skype world minutes
Show Hide What is Skype?
With Skype you can call friends, family or colleagues over the internet, through your computer, mobile phone or other devices. Call, video call and instant message other people with a Skype account for free, or you can use Skype world minutes to call friends or family with or without a Skype account on their mobile phone or landline.
Show Hide What are Skype world minutes?
Skype world minutes lets you easily call anyone, anywhere. And now Office 365 Home Premium and Office 365 University come with 60 minutes per month of Skype calls to phones in over 40 countries. It's easy. Just dial from Skype and your friends and family can pick up on their phone.
Skype world minutes are included with Office 365 Home Premium and Office 365 University at no additional cost.
Show Hide Can I use Skype world minutes plan from my mobile phone?
You can use Skype world minutes from any device where you have Skype installed, whether it's your mobile phone, tablet, TV, or other device.
Show Hide How do I activate my Skype world minutes?
If you have a Skype account, sign in at www.office.com/myaccount with your Microsoft account, and then click the link to activate your Skype world minutes. If you don't have a Skype account, sign up for one and then follow the steps above to activate the minutes. You will see a confirmation at www.office.com/myaccount when the minutes have been activated.
Show Hide Will Skype world minutes work with my existing Skype subscriptions?
Yes. Skype ranks your subscriptions and uses them in the following order:
  • Rate per minute: The lowest rate ranks first, which means that Skype world minutes are used before any pre-paid minutes.
  • Plan type: An unlimited plan is used before a limited plan.
  • Minutes reset date: The monthly minutes reset date that is nearest is used first.
Show Hide Which countries are included with Skype world minutes?
You can call the following countries:
Both landlines and mobile phones: Canada, Guam, Hong Kong SAR, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.
Landlines only: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia (Moscow and St. Petersburg only), Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and Venezuela.
You can call from any country in the world except Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Namibia, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Taiwan, Tunisia, and United Arab Emirates.
Note that special, premium, and non-geographic numbers are not covered by Skype World Minutes. Additionally, it isn't possible to place emergency calls.
Show Hide Can I use Skype world minutes to call a country that isn't included?
Skype offers a variety of pay-as-you-go and subscription options to supplement Skype world minutes. Visit www.skype.com for more details.
Office 365 University
Show Hide What is Office 365 University?
Office 365 University is a four-year subscription for full- and part-time enrolled university and college students, faculty, and staff in accredited institutions. Alumni of these institutions are ineligible.
After purchasing Office 365 University at a participating retailer, you need to go online to verify your eligibility in order to activate Office. You are also subject to the Office 365 University EULA and will be required to accept the agreement before activating the product. Internet access is required. The academic verification and redemption process occurs online. Each eligible user can redeem Office 365 University product once in a three year period and can only activate a maximum of two.
Show Hide How many licenses/installations does Office 365 University allow?
The Office 365 University plan allows you to install Office on up to two PCs or Macs and on up to two smartphones or tablets, for use by a single person. Check www.office.com/information for supported devices.
Download and install Office
Show Hide Is Internet access required for Office?
A. Internet access is required to install and activate all the latest releases of Office suites and all Office 365 plans. After purchase, you must visit www.office.com/setup to enter a product key and create an account (using a Microsoft account).
For subscription versions of Office including Office 365 Home Premium you will need to go online to manage your subscription account, for example to install Office on other machines, or to change billing options. You will also need to connect to the Internet regularly to keep your version of Office up-to-date and benefit from automatic upgrades. Internet connectivity is also required to access Office 365 offerings such as SkyDrive and Skype world minutes.
Show Hide How do I install Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 University?
A. Visit www.office.com/myaccount on the PC or Mac that you want to install Office on, and then sign in with the Microsoft account that you used to purchase the plan. Once signed in, click Install Office and follow the onscreen instructions.
Show Hide How do I install Office Home & Student 2013, Office Home & Business 2013, or Office Professional 2013?
Go to www.office.com/setup and follow the onscreen instructions to download the software to your computer. You can install Office on one PC.
Visit www.office.com/myaccount to order a back up copy of Office or reinstall Office on the same PC
Show Hide How long does it take to download and install Office?
Office installs more quickly than ever, thanks to Click-to-Run, a streaming technology that lets you begin to use Office applications before installation is complete. All versions of the new Office use Click-to-Run. The actual download speed depends on the speed of your Internet connection.
Show Hide Should I install the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Office?
The 32-bit version of Office is installed by default. Even if your computer is running a 64-bit version of Windows, we recommend that you install the 32-bit version of Office, because it is more compatible with the applications and add-ins that work with Office. If you do want to install the 64-bit version of Office, you can do so by taking the following steps:
  • Office 365 Home Premium Preview: Go to www.office.com/myaccount, click Languages and install options, and then click Additional install options.
  • Other Office 365 plans: Log into your account at www.office365.com and choose the option to install the 64-bit version of Office.
It is not possible to install both the 64-bit version and 32-bit versions of Office on the same computer.
Managing My Office 365 account
Show Hide How do I manage my Office 365 subscription?
A. You can manage your billing information, install or remove Office from additional PCs or Macs, and manage your installations of Office on other devices at any time. The steps for doing so depend on which plan you've installed:
  • Office 365 Home Premium or Office 365 University: Go to www.office.com/myaccount and follow the on-screen instructions.
  • Other Office 365 plans: Log into your Office 365 account at www.office365.com to edit your profile as a user or manage your organization as an administrator.
Show Hide How can I change which devices have Office 365 installed?
Office 365 Home Premium can be installed on up to five PCs, tablets, or Macs. If you have already installed Office on five PCs or Macs and want to use Office on another a different PC or Mac, you can deactivate a computer from your subscription, by on the logging in to www.office.com/myaccount. From the My Account page you can then install Office on a new PC or Mac. The copy of Office on the PC or Mac that was removed from the subscription will revert to reduced functionality mode, but the customer will not lose the documents that are saved locally on the original PC.
Show Hide How do I uninstall Office?
To uninstall Office:
  • Office 365 Home Premium: Go to www.office.com/myaccount. In the Current PC Installs section, click deactivate. Then, to remove Office entirely, go to your PC's Control Panel and uninstall Office 365 Home Premium.
  • Other Office 365 plans: Log in to your account at www.office365.com to manage your installations, including deactivating Office. If you want to remove Office applications completely from your computer, you must uninstall Office 365 from your PC's Control Panel.
Show Hide What's the difference between deactivating Office and uninstalling it?
Deactivating Office leaves the Office applications on your PC in read-only mode, which means that you can view documents but can't create new documents, edit, or save them. To remove Office applications completely, you must uninstall Office from your computer using your PC's Control Panel.
Show Hide How do I obtain a back-up copy of my Office product?
There are several ways to get a back-up for your Office product:
  • Office 365 Home Premium and Office 365 University customers can download or reinstall from office.com/myaccount.
  • You may order a DVD back-up copy for the latest release Office products for a fee. Visit www.office.com/backup for details.
  • If you are using an Office for business product, please see the Office 365 for business FAQ:
For more information on obtaining back-up copies visit, www.office.com/backup.
Back-up copies are not available in the following markets:
Bhutan, Brazil, China, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cook Islands, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Iraq, Jan Mayen, Kiribati, Libya, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Niue, Palau, Pitcairn Islands, Saba, Samoa, Sint Eustatius, Timor Leste, Tokelau, Wallis and Futuna.
Show Hide What happens when my subscription ends? How can I continue to work with my documents?
As the expiration date approaches, you will receive notifications in the Office applications and via email, alerting you to the upcoming expiration. Once your Office 365 subscription expires, the Office software applications enter read-only reduced functionality mode, which means that you can view or print documents only, but you will not be able to create new documents or edit existing documents.
To return to full Office functionality, you can purchase a new subscription or one PC another version of Office, from Office.com or any participating retailer. You could also return to using an older version of Office, or use the free Office Web Apps on SkyDrive for basic editing.
Show Hide What happens to the documents I have stored in SkyDrive when my subscription expires?
Your documents will remain accessible to share and download. If you have reached your free 7 GB storage limit, you won’t be able to add any further documents You will have the option to access and edit your documents saved on SkyDrive using Office Web Apps. or edit documents and upload the edited version. You may save your SkyDrive documents to another computer or disk drive at any time.
Show Hide Am I going to be notified before I'm charged?
Yes, if you're on an annual subscription, you will be notified before you're charged. If you are on a monthly subscription, you won't be notified. You will be billed monthly and can cancel online at www.office.com/myaccount at any time.
Support and resources
Show Hide I need help buying Office for home use
You can contact Microsoft Order Support for questions on the subjects below.
  • Order Status
  • Billing
  • Download
  • Product Key
  • Installation/Un-installation
  • Product Activation
Show Hide Where can I get technical support?
Visit Microsoft Technical Support Center for help on technical issues, including:
  • Installation/Un-installation
  • Product Activation
  • Product Use
  • Technical Assistance
Show Hide Are there other support options for Office?