MICROSOFT OFFICE - Free Trials

williacg

Apologies in advance if my query comes across as quite dim, as I am no techie wizard, but my issue is as follows:-

I have recently purchased a laptop, unfortunately, not being the brightest spark in the box when it comes to such matters, I did not realise that the Office facility for Version 10 was simply for a trial period, I do plan to purchase a full version, but in the short term, is there another trial version available?

I'm aware that that there is an Open Office product available, however, when attempting to use it, it completely throws my formating out of sync.

Many thanks for any assistance.

*Boris*

Office 365 Home Premium is only £7.99/month which might be a more affordable solution if you can't afford to pay for the full version in one go.

It's a subscription though, so if you can it would work out better long term to just buy the whole thing on DVD and it's yours to keep forever.

williacg

*Boris* wrote: »

Office 365 Home Premium is only £7.99/month which might be a more affordable solution if you can't afford to pay for the full version in one go.

It's a subscription though, so if you can it would work out better long term to just buy the whole thing on DVD and it's yours to keep forever.

Dear Boris,

Many thanks for your quick and informative response, as the subscription route was one of the many solutions that I looked at, however, after looking through just a few of the Google listings, became somewhat wary as to which entries were in fact legitimate.

My only concern with regards to the subscription route, is that I intend purchasing the full package at the end of next month, and don't wish to be tied into a lengthy subscription package once I have bought it.

Thanks again for your assistance.

*Boris*

I think you just buy the subscription direct from Microsoft to be honest.

Cheapest Office deal is £93 for Office 2013 Home & Student from eBuyer (£95 from PC World). You can get the older 2010 version cheaper as well, if you have a fast-ish broadband connection and you want the older 2010, buy the "PKC' version - this stands for Product Key Card, basically it's still a legit version of Office but it doesn't come with the DVD so you'll have to download the software from the Microsoft website (it's just under 1GB I think).

Be wary of eBay ones though, especially silly cheap ones as they are usually fake copies of Office.

Jivesinger

The current Evaluation/Trial version of Office 2013 is here. Not sure if this is the one you've already tried (in which case you probably can't trial it again)?
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/jj192782.aspx

Note that this isn't Office 365, so doesn't have some of the new web features. However it is the latest version of Excel, Word, Access etc.

It should work for 60 days.

williacg

Jivesinger wrote: »

The current Evaluation/Trial version of Office 2013 is here. Not sure if this is the one you've already tried (in which case you probably can't trial it again)?
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/evalcenter/jj192782.aspx

Note that this isn't Office 365, so doesn't have some of the new web features. However it is the latest version of Excel, Word, Access etc.

It should work for 60 days.

Many thanks Jivesinger,

It is in fact part of the same Windows trial that I have just subscribed to, but many thanks for your help, it's appreciated.

Best wishes

Williacg

williacg

*Boris* wrote: »

I think you just buy the subscription direct from Microsoft to be honest.

Cheapest Office deal is £93 for Office 2013 Home & Student from eBuyer (£95 from PC World). You can get the older 2010 version cheaper as well, if you have a fast-ish broadband connection and you want the older 2010, buy the "PKC' version - this stands for Product Key Card, basically it's still a legit version of Office but it doesn't come with the DVD so you'll have to download the software from the Microsoft website (it's just under 1GB I think).

Be wary of eBay ones though, especially silly cheap ones as they are usually fake copies of Office.

Thanks Boris,

Have taken the subscription route, it's taking forever to install, but fingers crossed.

Best wishes

Williacg

geewhiz

If your employer uses Office it's always worth checking if they are a member of the home use scheme that allows companies who buy large volumes of licences to offer Microsoft products to their staff for a massively reduced cost, in this case 2 Office 2013 licenses for just £8.95 with lifetime free updates.

Here's the website for anyone that's interested, I've installed it this morning on a PC and Laptop, took around 15 mins in total to do both:

http://www.microsofthup.com/hupuk/ho...?country_id=GB

williacg

geewhiz wrote: »

If your employer uses Office it's always worth checking if they are a member of the home use scheme that allows companies who buy large volumes of licences to offer Microsoft products to their staff for a massively reduced cost, in this case 2 Office 2013 licenses for just £8.95 with lifetime free updates.

Here's the website for anyone that's interested, I've installed it this morning on a PC and Laptop, took around 15 mins in total to do both:

http://www.microsofthup.com/hupuk/ho...?country_id=GB

Thanks for the tip geewhiz, but I actually run my own small business.

Best wishes
Williacg

grumpycrab

A bit off topic but if you only need a basic feature set, Microsoft Starter (not Trial and with advertising) 2010 works well for me (Word and Excel). Also works under 8. Not sure if its widely available though.
e.g.
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/downloads/3250058/microsoft-office-starter-2010/70706/

bmewsd

remember, they're changing the rules with office 2013. They are heavily promoting an online licencing method. You will get to install on up to 5 yes FIVE systems. They will be limiting traditionally bought software (non subscription) to a single system.

This may work out cheaper for you. They will also be trying to pursuade you to use Skydrive a lot more (their online cloud storage). this is ok but be wary of putting anything personal or compliance related on it (even though it's based in ireland or amsterdam, they're a US company and have to comply with USA patriot act).

the online model is actually very good. If you want to go the open office route it's worth a look but personally, I'll continue to use office, though I won't be storing any of my stuff on their systems.

hope this helps