[Closed] The best way to buy Microsoft Office

Check with the school. Our schools office licence gives all students online office365 and can put office on 2 devices per student/teacher free of charge.

As above, the school may be able to help.
If not, I don’t think you can buy it as a one off anymore, it’s all subscription based. Should be able to get it cheap with a schools email address though.
Edit, also, if you use Office at work you may be able to use that sub too. Even before WFH, I used my work a office365 sub on my home PC.

If not, I don’t think you can buy it as a one off anymore

Yes you can. I just subscribed last night, there was also the option to buy it out right.

I just subscribed last night, there was also the option to buy it out right.

How much, if you don't mind me asking?

£120 I’ve think for one user.

Or £80/year for 6 users with 1TB OneDrive storage each.

Have a look at the Student versions, thats what we ended up with for the girls. Think we paid less than £20 each.

Libreoffice?

Free and compatible with MS office.
Feels and looks very similar in use.

Though most schools are giving pupils Office 365 logins for home learning now, you can use web-based versions of office with this or download the full version.

Check here first if you’re covered by the school’s agreement: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/education/products/office

If you have a few computers and the OneDrive storage will be useful then the subscription is good value (as a sub-averse person). Currys are doing a year for £40 - you don’t have to use the bundled mcafee and I wouldn’t. https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/software/office-software/microsoft-365-family-for-6-users-mcafee-livesafe-premium-2020-for-unlimited-users-bundle-1-year-10207271-pdt.html

I was plugging away with 2007 for ages. About 3 months ago I went for 365 and the only thing I really noticed was 365 is a lot slower. But I do like OneDrive.

you have a few computers and the OneDrive storage will be useful then the subscription is good value (as a sub-averse person). Currys are doing a year for £40 – you don’t have to use the bundled mcafee and I wouldn’t.

Thanks, I’ll get that bought. I’m on the free month so that will save me 50% when the month is up 🙂

Don't, it's not like they will use any of the advanced features anyway. Just use the free Google alternatives (gsuite).

Apart from some more complex spreadsheet features is there actually anything that Office gives you over the Google stuff?

Think this was it, gave them all they needed for school work.

https://softmall.co.uk/product/microsoft-office-2019-home-and-student-windows10/

If they're doing school work using 365 the compatibility and conversion between Google suite and Office could quickly become a PITA.

As others have said, they should just be able to log in to their school MS accouts and it will work cross device, that's kind of the point of it.

For laptops, get yourself down to the big John Lewis in Cheadle to see what they have in the sale. If nothing suitable, Dell outlet online or even one of the refurbishment companies which bash out ex-lease business machines at decent prices.

As a one-off, I bought a copy of Office 2019 from these people a few weeks ago for about £50 (Edit - looks like it was this version here although it's gone up to £60 at the moment). They sent a link to download it from, complete with license key embedded in it - all dead simple and painless. I could probably have found a cheaper version of the Microsoft products on their site (2016 or 2019), but was particularly looking to include Outlook in the applications, and that one seemed to do the job. Which it does. It includes OneDrive, along with Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote. Also Access, Publisher and Skype, although I have little use for those three. There's an option at the top of the pop-up application to 'Buy Office' which by the look of it, is a link to subscribe to O365 if wanted.

Open office on my PC... As far as I can tell it does everything I need.

Think this was it, gave them all they needed for school work.

Thanks Tracey

Laptop-wise my daughter has £600 ish to spend. However the shops aren't physically open for browsing so we'll look online.

I got (about 6 years ago) a Microsoft office disc with word and excel etc from John Lewis in a sale for £20

Might be worth checking for old copies in department stores?

We went with this

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/lenovo-ideapad-5i-14-laptop-intel-core-i5-256-gb-ssd-grey-10207993-pdt.html

Another vote here for open office. My daughters been using it for about 5 years now, the last few years of primary school and the first three of secondary, with no issues with compatibility or any conversion. It is totally interchangeable and comparable with the corresponding MS applications and even looks and feels the same. Also use it with a few pretty complex XL spreadsheets from work with some pretty advanced features being used and it was not phased at all. Even looks and feels the same as their corresponding MS product.

If you've got a decent deal on MS Office then fair enough, but if not or don't want to pay anything then Open Office will do everything you need.

Thanks OP, Good question, I will be going with the Lawman's link.

@Wally - just bear in mind my discovery since posting that link. The amount of OneDrive that comes with it is a bit limited, certainly it's not a full 1TB at any rate. I've not worked out how big it is yet. So if you want a lot of space for photos or music, it might force you into an upgrade to O365 in time. Sorry if the original note was overly optimistic!

There is no need to buy it if you have students in the house. Every Microsoft license with local authorities includes access for students and anyone who can help them with their homework. I just gave my dad a code to download as helpful granddad who helps with homework.

If your kids has a Glow account you can get the download link from there. If not just ask the school.

Thanks again @Tracey. My daughter has just ordered that Lenovo in teal with a pink mouse.

There is no need to buy it if you have students in the house.

Don't know why this keeps being ignored even though it has been posted multiple times

Let's try again;
YOU DON'Y NEED TO COMPRISE IN ANYWAY BY INSTALLING AN ALTERNATIVE - YOU WILL ALREADY HAVE FREE ACCESS TO MS OFFICE.

As above, you will/should have free access to MS Office with students in the house.

However if you really must buy it then keep an eye out for special offers which you can stack to buy several years of MS Office at once. I never pay more than about £50 for a year of the family version.

The school will probably be running Office 365 or Google Suite as their online offer with Teams or Google Classroom. Both come with online versions of "word", "excel" and "PPT"

Just for my own satisfaction as its been said many times. As long as the school is using Microsoft and not Google as its platform your kids will already have access to the online versions of Office apps, but they can also then download and install the desktop versions for free from their account.

If you're in Scotland then I can confirm that your kids will have free access to Office 365 (which includes online and offline versions) via their GLOW account.

Otherwise, you can check here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/education/products/office#:~:text=Get%20started%20with%20Office%20365,Teams%2C%20plus%20additional%20classroom%20tools.

YOU DON’Y NEED TO COMPRISE IN ANYWAY BY INSTALLING AN ALTERNATIVE – YOU WILL ALREADY HAVE FREE ACCESS TO MS OFFICE.

This. Last time I looked all you needed was an academic email account.

If you don't have such a thing, the online version of Office is free for everyone.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/free-office-online-for-the-web

Schools usually provide office as part of their package to students IME. It’s usually tied up with their subscription to other systems like student email so worth checking first

Though some schools do use google docs.

You shouldn’t need to buy it. If it’s for the occasional essay/presentation then libreoffice, google docs, or whatever should suffice.

if you’re definitely in for getting office and the school doesn’t supply office 365 accounts and you can’t get discounted office 365 through your own employer then the office 365 home pack is fairly good value at £80/year inc VAT. Comes with the essential apps online and as downloads for up to 5 household members and 1TB OneDrive storage each.

Despite the subscription nature and the occasional update hiccough O365 is pretty good for what it is.

Update:

My daughter is using Google Classroom and specifically wanted MS Publisher so I bought Office Professional one off downloaded for £36 from thelawman's link. There was an offer today with a further 10% discount code.

Can't say that it was an easy install as I'm not very good with this sort of thing, but I got there in the end.

Thanks for all of the input above, especially from Tracey and the lawman.

My daughter is delighted with here teal coloured Lenovo Ideapad (with pink mouse) and Office Pro.

I need a stiff drink!

I need a stiff drink!

Sun is well over the yardarm. Crack on!

Glad you got it sorted. 👍

I bought a CD from ebay for £25ish. lifetime! & it works!!

Well done. We have it through work, on a few of our home PC's although did buy a license off ebay for MrsF's new laptop.

Slight bump to see if anyone has purchased recently

Tempted by Tracey's link to softmall but a few negative reviews on Trustpilot recently....still thinking of going with at present unless any other suggests?