Microsoft 365 Family is a good deal. And on-sale it's a steal. However, these new product keys NO LONGER EXTEND your current subscription. It replaced my Microsoft purchased subscription with an Amazon subscription and gave me 1 year from date the new key is applied. So if you are an existing Microsoft subscriber don't buy unless your subscription is ending soon.

The transaction went flawlessly and I can continue to curse Microsoft for another year. But why oh why do the feel they have to play the hide the menus somewhere new game every year or so? And why torture me by putting the menus and keystrokes in different places on various platforms, even within the Windows operating environment. Office on windows server is different than windows 10 on my lappy and different still on Windows 7, not just the menus but also things like function keys! Would drive me nuts if I wasnt already nutty

I've been a lifelong user of Word, and owned the older versions, ending with Office 2007. The newer Windows 10 decided to make older versions obsolete by putting me through a long boot process to "reconfigure" Ver. 2007. Deciding I'd had enough of it, I sucked up and bought the newest Word Office 365. It takes almost as long to boot, which I assume requires the program to access the web. The Word program is okay (despite lags in response when using Thesaurus or Dictionary, or even finding a file), the Excel program had been changed so much, I find myself still using the 2007 version. Thank you Microsoft for making pay for a new program that forces me to cough up a $100 every year now.

Updated 12/29/2020Resovled, but what a PITA! Original review was made while waiting on Microsoft support chat. Instead of 2 hours, I waited 4 hours before a Microsoft support representative came on the chat. He was apologetic and very sincere in troubleshooting the problem and figured it out after about an half an hour. He said I needed to upload some info and Microsoft will contact me about the status. After uploading proof of purchase and a few emails to Microsoft reminding them of my situation, it was resolved more than a week later. Issue is since I had a previous active Microsoft 365 family and activated the new Microsoft license thinking it would just continue after the previous one expires, it actually deactivated all licenses once that first one expired. So, if you have an existing valid license, let it expire first before activating the new one. Now I know. 3 stars since there is no info about this and many people probably renew their MS 365 Family license the same way and have no way of knowing this issue.Original Review: 12/20/2020Bought last year and needed Microsoft support to get activated. Cumbersome, but they were able to help. Bought again this year (2020) and entered key into my Microsoft account. That was before my subscription purchased last year was to expire and I thought it would just rollover to the new subscription. Nope. All keys were deactivated. Got on Microsoft support and first level couldn't resolve issue and needed to transfer to another "Support team member". Waited 2 hours on a chat. Never heard from next level of Microsoft Support. Just frustrating since I know I have to go through the same process over and over until someone competent figures it out.

Microsoft's decision to require annual subscriptions for this suite has been lambasted by enough others that I'll leave that disappointment alone. I bought this through Amazon for the few dollars in savings off the standard $99 pricetag. Doing that, however, means your order is now stored in the Amazon Subscriptions folder. To "Activate" the subscription Amazon asks you to "connect" your Microsoft account.I try to avoid connecting different companies as often as I can. (Regardless of how "simpler" it might make things, I avoid automatic 'sign-ins' using Facebook or Google accounts for privacy, security, and other reasons.) Instead, I simply copied down the Activation Key in the Amazon Subscriptions receipt folder and entered it manually into the window on the Microsoft website where I was re-activating my MS 365 subscription.The 3 stars refers to the pricing and need for "connecting" accounts on Amazon's part. Microsoft 365 itself probably rates at least 4 stars. At this point, however, a heavier computer user really has no choice but to bite the bullet and get it. It's getting to be as much a distasteful necessity of life as having to get a Gmail account for day-to-day navigation in the digital world.

Still like Word Perfect better, but reality is that you can't work very well without Office 365. It's okay, but it's not great. And not a fan of the subscription model of software.

Microsoft Word is all I need, and only because other people only use Word. But every year I have to pay $100 plus to use Word, a trap by Microsoft. The moment I find something compatible to word and accepted by others, I'm out. Moreover, I was told I was eligible for a free version of Word, but nope. They charged me anyway. We need to get rid of this Microsoft monopoly. Can someone come up with a free version of Word that other accept? They are getting rich by screwing us.

I bought this last year to update my resume. I forgot it was subscription based and thought it was a one time purchase to have for the rest of my laptops life (like it was when you bought the CD copies). I saw a charge to my bank account that I did not recognize and I hunted all over my Amazon account to try and match it up. The only way I found it was by starting a claim with CS and then them sending me a link to cancel. Even when I go to my subscriptions now, it’s not listed under subscriptions or cancellations. That irritates me.

Not given any indication that I had to go into Excel and then Word and hit an obscure button labeled “Activate” in order to get software to work. I had already hit the ACTIVATE button when software was downloaded, but not told about the second step.

The software works as it should. But I take 2 stars off because you have to pay every year. And it deactivates any included versions that may have come on your computer if you stop renting (buying) it. If you didn't register your original software or have the key for it. MS says tuff luck pay us again. So if you ever quit this software and you didn't register the included version, or have the key. Be very careful when removing this software!!! I had Photoshop for a long time (since 4.0) and they went the rental route (after CS6). I finally weened myself off of them last year when prices shot up. Will probably do the same with this. For the most part the software is stable and for my uses works. But paying $120 a year to rent it is probably not a wise spending choice for the level that I use it (just basic word, and excel).