The Office login didn’t have to be linked to the original Office 2019 purchaser. Office 2019 is allowed on a single computer with any account login or none. work and personal) with fast switching between them. Multiple Office logins are possible (e.g. The Windows and Office logins don’t have to be the same account, though they often are with the same Microsoft account for both. Office 365/2010 software also has a login – it appears at top right of Office software like this: The online/offline distinction will become important later. A local (offline) is possible though that option is hidden. Many Windows 10 logins use an online Microsoft account which is what most people have because Microsoft strongly encourages it. There’s a login to a computer, in this case a Windows 10 computer. Two logins – Windows and OfficeĪ short pause to explain there are two logins at play with Microsoft, Windows and Office licencing. None of this applies to Office 2019 for Mac for reasons that will become obvious in a moment.

Now the Windows login may prevent Office 2019 from working fully. Each could run Office 2019 as a separate user. Commonly a couple might have separate Windows logins on the same computer. Until recently, more than one person could use Office 2019 on a single computer.

See Does an Office licence work for two users on a computer? (Microsoft 365 is licenced by user, not device). In Microsoft legalese, Office 2019 is a single ‘per device’ licence. You buy the right to install and use on just one computer. Office 2019 is the perpetual licence, one-time payment version of Microsoft Office.

Some people are discovering that they can’t use Office 2019 the way they did a few months ago. It seems that Microsoft has quietly changed how they enforce Office 2019 licences on a single computer.

Why is my microsoft account not working