How I upgraded Office 365 Personal to Office 365 Home for $10

Microsoft Office is a need for some, a preference for others. In both cases it's an expensive proposition, with the one-user Office 365 Personal edition costing $69.99 and five-license Office 365 Home costing $99.99 -- per year.

However, there's a way to game the system, to turn a Personal subscription into a Home subscription for a one-time charge of $9.99. I tried it, it works, and there's nothing shady or illegal about it; it's just an oddity in the way Microsoft manages accounts. Upgrade to Microsoft Family


The broad view goes like this: If you already have a paid subscription Office 365 Personal, you'll "buy" Office 365 Home on the 1-month auto-renewal plan. Then you'll turn off auto-renew, but still end up with Home. I'm not sure why this works or how long it'll be until Microsoft closes the loophole (though my source on this, veteran tech writer Paul Thurrott, first covered it back in January -- so maybe never). In any case, you're only risking $10.

The broad view goes like this: If you already have a paid subscription Office 365 Personal, you'll "buy" Office 365 Home on the 1-month auto-renewal plan. Then you'll turn off auto-renew, but still end up with Home. I'm not sure why this works or how long it'll be until Microsoft closes the loophole (though my source on this, veteran tech writer Paul Thurrott, first covered it back in January -- so maybe never). In any case, you're only risking $10.

Step 1: Visit the online Microsoft Store and sign into your account, making sure to use the same e-mail address associated with your Office 365 Personal subscription.


Step 2: Head to the Office 365 Home page, choose the $9.99 per month option, then click Buy and download now.

Step 3: Complete the checkout process. As a reminder, this will cost you $9.99 now, but only now -- after you're done, you'll be turning off auto-renew.

Step 4: Head to your Office Online account page to verify that you're now the proud owner of an Office 365 Home subscription, with all the extra licenses afforded it.

Step 5: While there, click Manage Account, then choose Turn off automatic renewal.


And that's it! Even though you've effectively ended your Office 365 Home subscription, your existing Personal subscription will continue on as one -- for a full year, from the time you "upgraded."

Now for a big fat your-mileage-may-vary caveat: While there's lots of anecdotal evidence this works, including my own experience, I can't promise this will work for you, or that Microsoft won't close this loophole at some point and downgrade you back to Personal. Let's just hope nobody blabs about it in a public forum!


  

  Call 1-856-514-8666 for help and support of Upgrade to Microsoft Family.



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