I’ve been using software since the “dark ages” where you actually bought a copy that you could use forever. In modern times, it seems that every company is shifting to an annual subscription model where you have to keep paying or your entire access to all of your files VANISHES like a summertime mist.
Just how is Microsoft Word faring in this arena in 2023?
Very surprisingly, Microsoft Word still offers you options! You can choose to go with an annual subscription or you can outright ‘buy’ a copy for your home system that will keep on working once that year goes past.
I adore Microsoft Word. I use it for all 500+ of my novels and expect to keep on using it going forward. It has a wealth of options I need for my book writing. So here are the options available right now, in 2023, for Microsoft Word.
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Microsoft 365 Personal – One Year Subscription
The annual subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal gives you twelve months access to an always-updated version of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Defender (antivirus), Outlook (email), Editor, Clipchamp, OneNote, and Teams. I use Microsoft Word and Excel fairly non-stop for all of my daily activities. I also use Outlook to manage all of my email. I pretty much never use PowerPoint any more, but I don’t mind that it’s in the mix. Sometimes people send me PowerPoint files I need to read, and it’s useful to have that there.
This is a one-user license, but that one user can have the software on multiple devices – your desktop PC, your laptop, and so on. I have both a PC and a laptop so this comes in handy for me.
You also get 1TB cloud storage via OneDrive, but in general I prefer my files backed up wholly under my control.
Note that the online listings only seem to feature the Word/Excel/PowerPoint trio, but if you look into the details you should see the other packages included as well.
For a bit more money, you can also buy a family option which supports up to six users.
Microsoft 365 Personal on Amazon
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Office Home & Student
This is a buy-once-and-be-set option. There are no annual upgrades. That also means you don’t get features added that could protect you from new virusses or AI-improvements to make things easier to use. You can only install this on ONE machine. It includes just these four apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. There’s no antivirus software, no cloud backup, and no email. For me, I can’t use this version. I absolutely need the email software.
Microsoft Home & Student on Amazon
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Office Home & Business 2021
If you don’t mind using old software which might be missing some features, you can still get your hands on Office Home & Business 2021. This download-once version has Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook all bundled together. Since I primarily use Word, Excel, and Outlook, this would seem like an option for me – but it’s already nearly three years old. With the amount of heavy work I use Word, Excel, and Outlook for every single day, I need them wholly bug-free, virus-safe, and updated. It costs pretty much three times the regular subscription rate. And it doesn’t look like they’re ever going to update it again. So if I keep using my existing 365 account, it’ll be three years before I cross the threshold of it being a ‘break even’ – and after that I really wouldn’t want to be using the old software, considering how many of the new features I end up using.
Office Home & Business 2021 on Amazon
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Take a look through the options and determine which is a best fit for you. For me it’s the annual subscription to Microsoft 365 Personal. That is primarily because I use all three quite heavily every day and I need Outlook. Your needs may vary!
Good luck!
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