A one time Microsoft Office purchase?

JustAnotherSaver

I'm aware of Libreoffice. I'm also aware of the online version of MS Office. Thanks for the suggestion. Moving on...

I was looking at MS Office but getting lost in the jumble of subscriptions and non-subcriptions etc.

So I thought it might be better if I just say what I'm looking for & then someone here can tell me if it even exists or not & best way to go about getting it.

1) Legal. Obviously if it was dodgy then we couldn't discuss it here. Been there & done that with these kinds of things & I just can't be bothered with the hassle.

2) Word, Excel & Outlook for sure.

3) NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT a subscription. Sick of them flipping things! 1 time purchase only!

4) Here's the cruncher - not ridiculously expensive. Don't want to be spending £300 here.

5) Doesn't have to be the latest version if the one before that is a fraction of the cost.Obviously if we're talking £5 difference (no I don't expect it to literally be £5 different) then I'd get the newer one.

As an end note - what about these online keys you buy for dirt cheap? Seem too good to be true to me but then you read about people saying they work perfectly fine, usually. Whether these folk are telling the truth or not, who knows.

Exist?

wongataa

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-one-time-purchase-multilingual-download/dp/B09BPG39VC?th=1

Latest MS Office stand-alone version.  One time payment.  No Outlook though.  Outlook really isn't a great email client for home use as it is very heavily business orientated.  For a home email client there are many options.  I use eM Client and Thunderbird.

The previous stand-alone version was 2019.

Clive_Woody

wongataa said:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-one-time-purchase-multilingual-download/dp/B09BPG39VC?th=1

Latest MS Office stand-alone version.  One time payment.  No Outlook though.  Outlook really isn't a great email client for home use as it is very heavily business orientated.  For a home email client there are many options.  I use eM Client and Thunderbird.

The previous stand-alone version was 2019.

The 2019 version is about £20 and will probably do everything your average user would want to do. That's the version I went for from Amazon and it has worked fine.

shiraz99

Maybe have a read through this - Cheapest Way to get MS Office? - Page 7 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

pmartin86

I know you've specifically stated "No subscriptions", so feel free to tell me to do one - But do you have any family members you might share with? Do you need/want/use cloud storage at all? I appreciate its not useful for everyone, but the "Microsoft 365 for Family" plan can be exceptionally good value if utilised properly. In my use case, I've got my account, my wife, my mum and my father in law all under one annual subscription (£79.99 a year) that gives 5 installs of office per user, with the web versions 2 and 1tb of OneDrive per account - In addition to the 4 "proper" accounts I use one of the "spare" licences purely as a backup - I log in once a month or so, copy all my family photos etc over, and log out again. Essentially I pay for myself and my wife, and the Mother and FiL pay £20 a year, so for all that, its costing me £3.33 a month. 

Compare All Microsoft 365 Plans (Formerly Office 365) – Microsoft Store

grumpycrab

Not the cheapest, but wowcher and groupon do MS Office Professional licenses (with Outlook).
e.g. https://www.wowcher.co.uk/deal/shop/20760962/microsoft-office-professional-2021

wongataa

JustAnotherSaver said:

Does the 2019 come with Outlook then?

I know it's been mentioned Outlook is more business orientated which is fine. I haven't fully decided yet what I'd opt for. Right now I use Windows Live Mail but now I'm setting up a new hard drive with Windows 10 (although same PC), I'm considering moving to Thunderbird or MS Outlook.

The Home versions of Office don't come with Outlook.  If you are used to Windows Live Mail I would strongly recommend forgetting about getting Outlook.  It is very different and is actually rather too complex for home use.  For home email stuff just use Thunderbird or something like eM Client which are simple and straightforward to use and should be easily accessible by someone use to Windows Live Mail.

I use Outlook at work.  I have used Outlook in the past at home.  I used to use Windows Live Mail when it was supported as I found much better for home email use.  I transitioned to Thunderbird and eM Client as they are similar and easy to use after Windows Live Mail went end of life.

gefnew

But if you are moving to win 10 then use the app for mail that comes with it.
How to get started with the Mail app on Windows 10 | Windows Central

giraffe69

"I've got my account, my wife, my mum and my father in law all under one annual subscription (£79.99 a year) that gives 5 installs of office per user, with the web versions 2 and 1tb of OneDrive per account - In addition to the 4 "proper" accounts I use one of the "spare" licences purely as a backup - I log in once a month or so, copy all my family photos etc over, and log out again."

If you do go down this route Amazon, for example, sells the 5 user sub for around £64 a year.

JustAnotherSaver

pmartin86 said:

I know you've specifically stated "No subscriptions", so feel free to tell me to do one -

Not at all. You at least acknowledged what I had requested so you'd read my post.

It's when people come & just ignore your request & say "do this" when "this" is exactly what you said you didn't want.

But still, it's a no

I'm very against subscriptions.

I would rather buy something that wasn't quite as good that was a 1 off payment than something that's better where I'm renting it.

I know some will say that's stupid & that's fine. I'll be the stupid guy against subscriptions but at least I'm happy that way. I don't try and force my view on to these people. They're perfectly fine enjoying their subscriptions. Makes no odds to me.

grumpycrab said:

Not the cheapest, but wowcher and groupon do MS Office Professional licenses (with Outlook).
e.g. https://www.wowcher.co.uk/deal/shop/20760962/microsoft-office-professional-2021

Wow (not sure if I'm intending that pun or not )

That sounds a superb deal. It also sounds like a 'too good to be true' deal.

Question is, is it?

Pay £50 instead of £400? Quite a saving.

What I'm weary of is paying for something, be is '19, '21, Pro, Home, whatever & then x-months down the line, the key I got gets blacklisted or something & bam - no more working programs (or buy a new key).

wongataa said:

JustAnotherSaver said:

Does the 2019 come with Outlook then?

I know it's been mentioned Outlook is more business orientated which is fine. I haven't fully decided yet what I'd opt for. Right now I use Windows Live Mail but now I'm setting up a new hard drive with Windows 10 (although same PC), I'm considering moving to Thunderbird or MS Outlook.

The Home versions of Office don't come with Outlook.  If you are used to Windows Live Mail I would strongly recommend forgetting about getting Outlook.  It is very different and is actually rather too complex for home use.  For home email stuff just use Thunderbird or something like eM Client which are simple and straightforward to use and should be easily accessible by someone use to Windows Live Mail.

I use Outlook at work.  I have used Outlook in the past at home.  I used to use Windows Live Mail when it was supported as I found much better for home email use.  I transitioned to Thunderbird and eM Client as they are similar and easy to use after Windows Live Mail went end of life.

Thanks for the view.

Just searched eM Client & I can instantly discount that - the free option says you can only have 2 email accounts (I certainly have more than that) and I don't pay for programs if I can help it.

Yes for the picky bunch, I understand Outlook isn't 'free' but it's part of a bundled package so you get it when you get the rest & then it's a 1-off payment at that.

I saw a YouTube video where a guy used Outlook as sort of a diary/organiser & I thought - that's a decent idea, as I usually get ideas/things to do while on the PC but then forget them.

Whether it provides something like that is one question and whether I'd then ACTUALLY use something like that is the second more important question.

Who knows.

But I accept what you've said and I possibly will end up going the Thunderbird route.

grumpycrab

gefnew said:

But if you are moving to win 10 then use the app for mail that comes with it.
How to get started with the Mail app on Windows 10 | Windows Central

Does anybody use the Windows mail app?  Its pretty horrible if you're used to Windows Live Mail or Outlook.
I've given up suggesting Windows-Live-Mail-like apps (Thunderbird, em client) because people find them too difficult to use (!)
I get much less hassle if people stick to web mail.  (although yesterday somebody asked me why they get NDRs when they send email to @btinternet.com addresses!)