Say Your Goodbyes to the Microsoft Office Brand (Sort Of)
Microsoft will replace its well-known Office brand name with Microsoft 365 in January 2023—almost three years after it renamed(Opens in a new window) Office 365 as Microsoft 365.
Office is such a well-known name that it's surprising to see it dropped, but offering Microsoft 365 and cloud-linked services is the new focus. Microsoft describes 365 as its "flagship productivity suite(Opens in a new window)," and it encompasses many more apps than those typically associated with Office.
The full list includes Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, Exchange, Intune, Defender, Windows Virtual Desktop, Azure Information Protection, and Conditional Control; more are surely planned.
(One-time purchases of Office 2021 and Office LTSC plans will still be available for those not yet ready to embrace Redmond's cloud-based productivity suite.)
The switch from Office to 365 is happening for business, education, and personal users. Existing subscribers will see nothing change except the name. Existing accounts, profiles, subscriptions, and files will all remain the same.
In November, the name change will occur on Office.com(Opens in a new window) along with a new look to match. The Office app on Windows and the Office mobile app will change in January next year. Microsoft says "Office remains at the heart of Microsoft 365 apps," but "the new name helps convey the larger value while keeping Office central to the experience."
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