How To Get Microsoft Office For Free?

Microsoft Office is one of the most popular productivity suites for students, educators, office workers, businesspeople, and entrepreneurs.

With apps like Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Microsoft Office is an essential software suite for desktops, laptops, and mobile phones. Many jobs require experience using Word, Excel, or the other apps that make up part of Microsoft Office.

Microsoft has decided to rebrand Microsoft Office as Microsoft 365, although most people are still familiar with the older term, Microsoft Office. Regardless, they refer to the same thing.

Unfortunately, Microsoft Office has historically been a premium software. You can buy a single license for use on your desktop, and organizations can purchase licenses in bulk.

But what if you can’t afford to pay for a Microsoft Office/Microsoft 365 subscription or license? Today, I will show you the best ways to get Microsoft Office for free without paying any money at all.

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How to Get Microsoft Office for Free?

Use Microsoft Office Online

Since 2010, Microsoft Office has been available as a cloud-based service, initially called Office 365.

Microsoft currently offers its suite of software apps as a free online service. It’s called Microsoft 365 for the web, formerly Office Online and Office 365.

Don’t bother keeping track of all the different names for it, as it can get quite confusing. At the end of the day, the most important takeaway is that Microsoft offers Microsoft Office for free in your browser.

You won’t get the whole experience unless you pay – the premium downloadable version has a lot more features than the free online version.

However, it’s still a good option.

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The free version gives you access to Microsoft Word, along with free Word templates, free add-ins, and formatting tools. You also get Excel for the Web, OneNote for the web, and PowerPoint for the Web.

Microsoft Office Online is not only free but also offers excellent collaboration opportunities. Due to being based in the cloud, you can work with others on documents and projects and see each other’s edits in real time.

Your documents will be stored in the cloud in your OneDrive account. As a free user, you get 5 GB of storage space in your OneDrive account, which you can use for any of your files.

You can access them from any browser on any computer, regardless of operating system or location – it’s an authentic cloud experience.

However, not all Office apps are available in the online version. The main ones available in Microsoft 365 for the web are:

• Word for the web
• OneNote for the web
• PowerPoint for the web
• Excel for the web

Those are the official names for the online versions of Word, OneNote, PowerPoint, and Excel.

You will, of course, also have access to Outlook, which is Microsoft’s email client. Outlook also includes other tools, like a calendar and contact manager.

Other free apps include Skype, which allows you to make video calls with friends and family. Skype is a VoIP solution – you can place calls using your internet connection as an alternative to using your landline or mobile phone data.

You can also use Microsoft Teams for free. Microsoft Teams allows you to collaborate with friends, family, team members, and fellow students – you can make plans, chat, and more.

However, not all apps are available online. For example, SharePoint, Access, and Publisher are examples of Microsoft Office apps that you need to download.

Not only are some apps not available, but the apps that are available are more limited compared to the desktop version. That’s no surprise – not everyone needs all the extra features when using the online versions.

Besides, keeping the online version with fewer features helps ensure it offers a fast and smooth experience. Otherwise, it could get slow and buggy.

Overall, though, Microsoft 365 for the web, also known as Office Online, is the best way to get Microsoft Office for free. You will get access to the most critical apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint – those are probably the apps you’re looking for anyways.

You also won’t need to download any software. Whether you’re using a Windows, Linux, Chromebook, Mac, or another computer or laptop, you can use it on any browser.

To get started, visit this page. You can also learn more about the free apps available online here.

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Use the Microsoft Office Mobile Apps

In addition to browser-based apps that operate in the cloud, Microsoft also offers downloadable mobile apps for your phone. They are available for Android, iOS, and Amazon devices.

Microsoft now offers Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, all bundled together in one mobile app. You do not need to switch from one app to another.

That makes it a lot easier to be productive and get things done. Simply go to this page and enter your phone number or email address to get a link to download the app, or find it in your phone’s app store.

However, Microsoft still offers separate mobile apps for different Office tools. There are apps for:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• OneNote
• OneDrive
• Skype

There are also apps for:

• Microsoft Family Safety
• Office Lens
• Yammer
• Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft Stream

As you may expect, though, mobile apps offer limited functionality compared to desktop apps, although you can still get quite a lot done with them.

You might think that since Microsoft’s mobile app is free to download, you can simply download it on a tablet and hook it up to a keyboard, thus using your tablet as a laptop. That will work if your screen is smaller than 10 inches.

However, if your screen is larger than 10 inches, Microsoft might ask you to purchase a subscription to continue using the apps. That’s because Microsoft doesn’t want people to get away with using its apps for free by downloading them on large tablets and hooking them up with keyboards to mimic a laptop experience.

However, you can still use Microsoft Office Online, or Microsoft 365 for the web, in your browser if you are using a larger tablet.

Get a Free One-Month Trial

Another option is getting a free one-month trial, which will give you access to Microsoft Office’s premium features. You will get access not only to the apps available in Office Online but to the entire suite of Microsoft Office apps.

Your subscription will include access to the following:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Microsoft Defender
• OneDrive
• Outlook
• Microsoft Teams
• Clipchamp

When you are using the free trial, you will be able to download the apps to your desktop, laptop, and mobile devices. You will get access to everything premium members get access to, which includes the usage of Microsoft 365 on up to five devices.

Note that getting a Microsoft 365 subscription is different from buying a standard license to Office, which used to be the only way to get Office. That involves a one-time fee.

Microsoft now offers a monthly or yearly subscription option.

This subscription option used to be known as Office 365. It has been renamed Microsoft 365, but again, don’t let the many names confuse you.

If you buy a one-time license, you will only be able to use Office on one computer, not five. It also does not include updates, so when a new version comes out, you will have to buy a new license.

The subscription option, on the other hand, gives you access to continuous updates as long as you renew your subscription.

The free trial option will only give you access to apps for one month. After that, you will have to pay.

However, if you only need the apps for a school project and you will be able to complete the project within one month, it could be an excellent option.

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Get Microsoft Office From Your School

If you’re a student in high school, college, or university, you should check to see if your school offers free access to Microsoft Office. Many schools get organizational plans that allow all of their students to access Microsoft Office and its entire suite of apps.

You will likely get a unique university Outlook email address, which you will use to access PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Office, and other tools.

You can also simply check if you are eligible by going to the Microsoft Office 365 for Education page and entering your school-given email address. It must be a .edu address from an approved school.

If you are eligible, you will be able to use OneNote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Teams for free. You will get forever-free access as long as you are a student and have access to your valid school email address; it’s not a free trial.

What if you are not eligible for free access to Microsoft Office? In that case, you can still get an Office 365 Personal subscription for a nominal fee of just $2.99/month – while it’s not free, it’s incredibly cheap and just a fraction of the regular price.

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You will need to be enrolled at a Title IV accredited US college or university and sign up with your school email address to be eligible for this student discount. Additional ways to verify your student identity include:

• International Student Identity Card
• Dated student ID
• Current school progress report
• Acceptance letter to your university
• Dated class schedule

However, this discount is only available for students. After verifying once, you can’t just keep paying the same price forever.

Microsoft will ask you to re-verify your student identity at some point to show that you are still eligible. If you are no longer a student or are no longer able to verify your student status, your subscription price will increase to the standard price, although you can always cancel your subscription at any time.

For more information about the student discount and to sign up, click here.

Use Microsoft Office at Your Local Library

Your local public library might have Microsoft Office installed on its public computers. Microsoft offers discounts to organizations, such as libraries, for Microsoft Office, Azure, and Dynamics.

Microsoft Office apps at your library might include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams. Most likely, it will be the downloadable version, as having the cloud-based version is a bit more complicated when you have many users using the same device.

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Get a Friend to Install It on Your Device

If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, you can use Microsoft Office on up to five devices, as I already mentioned. If a close friend, romantic partner, or relative has a subscription, they can add your device as one of the five devices.

Technically, a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription is not meant for multiple people to use. However, people do share their subscriptions with others, just like they share their personal Netflix passwords with others.

However, if your friend has a Personal subscription, they will need to give you access to their Microsoft 365 account. They will also be breaking the terms of the license.

If they have a Family subscription, though, they can add you to their plan, as it’s meant to be shared with up to five people.

Have a Friend Lend You Their laptop

If your friend has a version of Microsoft Office installed locally on their device, you can ask them to lend you their laptop or computer. You can do your work for free, download your files, and then transfer them to your own device.

This option is less convenient than the previous one. It works best when you live with roommates or in a college dorm or have a friend you see every day at school or work.

Use a Pirated Version

There are various pirated versions of Microsoft Office floating around the internet. Pirated versions of many popular software tools and apps exist; that’s just the nature of the world wide web.

There are also activation scripts that you can use to activate Microsoft Office on your computer without a license key.

However, using a pirated version of Microsoft Office – or a pirated version of any tool or software – is not without its risks.

The first thing to know is that it is not legal to pirate software that is copyrighted and meant to be paid for. That doesn’t mean that you will get in trouble for doing it – most people do it without any legal consequences, as it can be tough for any law enforcement agency to follow up on such activities.

Any law enforcement activity is usually directed toward sites that distribute pirated software, not toward users who download and use that software. It’s simply too much work to chase after every individual who pirates software; the government doesn’t have the resources to do that.

Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that you won’t experience other issues as a result of downloading pirated software. The most considerable risk is downloading viruses and malware together with the software.

If someone is offering software for free when it is usually sold at a premium, you have to ask yourself why. What are their motivations, and what do they get out of it?

Sometimes, it’s because people believe in free software and want to build a community where everyone can access software tools, not just rich people. These individuals are driven by idealism.

However, many times, it’s because they want to trick you into downloading malware. They have malicious intent and bundle the pirated software with hidden viruses or adware.

A great place to find safe pirated content is the Piracy subreddit on Reddit. There, in the mega thread, which you can see in the top menu of the subreddit, you can find a list of popular pirated software tools, including Office.

Check it out here.

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There are also Microsoft Activation Scripts in this GitHub repository.

Try a Free Microsoft Office Alternative

If you can’t get Microsoft Office for free, there are many free alternatives you can use. Many of these are just as good as Office, depending on what your needs are.

1. Google Workspace

Google Workspace, formerly G Suite, is Google’s suite of apps and tools. One of the most essential tools in Workspace is Google Docs, which you can access for free.

Google Docs is Google’s competitor to Microsoft Word. It is accessible from the cloud, so you can use it from any browser on any device, and your data will sync across all devices.

Unlike Microsoft Office, Google Docs provides all of its features for free. Furthermore, it has a great mobile app that allows you to edit your documents on the go.

While Google Docs doesn’t have the vast range of features that the downloadable version of Microsoft Word does, it still has tons of features – enough for many freelancers, writers, editors, and publishers to work in Google Docs alone.

Google Workspace has other free apps that you can use instead of Microsoft Office.

For example, Google Slides allows you to make presentations and is an excellent alternative to PowerPoint. There is also Google Sheets, which is a good alternative to Microsoft Excel, although Excel is superior if you have large amounts of data to process.

Google Chat is the alternative to Microsoft Teams, and you can use Google Meet instead of Skype, although you will be capped to 60-minute meetings of up to 100 participants on the free plan.

There are various other tools, such as Google Keep, which you can use instead of OneNote.

Business plans are available as well. Overall, Google Workspace is the best free alternative to Office.

Also Read: Google Docs Tips & Tricks

2. iWork

iWork is Apple’s competition to Microsoft Office, designed for macOS. There is also a version designed for iOS mobile devices.

However, it is also available on any device via the iCloud version.

Here are some of the specific Office alternatives in the iWork suite of apps:

• Pages as an alternative to Word
• Numbers as an alternative to Excel
• Keynote as an alternative to PowerPoint

While iWork used to cost money, it is now free for all macOS and iOS users.

iWork for iCloud is now also available to all iCloud account owners. You can use it on Safari, Chrome, and Internet Explorer, and it allows you to use Pages, Numbers, and Keynote online with real-time collaboration.

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3. Apache OpenOffice

While both Google Docs and iWork are freeware, they are proprietary software. Apache OpenOffice, on the other hand, is an open-source alternative to Microsoft Office that was released back in 2012.

It is a successor of the discontinued OpenOffice.org, which was a successor of StarOffice.

Apache OpenOffice is free and easy to use. It is built around a community of users and developers who help contribute to the project by reporting bugs and contributing to its development.

Some of the tools available in the OpenOffice suite include:

• Writer as an alternative to Word
• Calc as an alternative to Excel
• Impress as an alternative to PowerPoint

Other apps include:

• Draw for creating diagrams and illustrations (similar to Microsoft Visio)
• Base for manipulating databases (similar to Microsoft Access)
• Math for creating mathematical equations

4. LibreOffice

LibreOffice is a fork of the original, discontinued OpenOffice.org. It is the most actively developed of all the OpenOffice.org successors, and it is free and open source.

It includes the following applications:

• Writer
• Call
• Impress
• Base
• Math
• Draw

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5. WPS Office

Finally, a great alternative to Microsoft Office is WPS Office, which is available for free for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It also has mobile apps for iOS, Android, and HarmonyOS (Huawei’s operating system).

It includes the following apps:

• Writer as an alternative to Word
• Spreadsheet as an alternative to Excel
• Presentation as an alternative to PowerPoint
• PDF, a PDF editor

It is compatible with 47 popular document formats. The free version comes with ads, but you can upgrade to get more storage, remove ads, and use your account on up to nine devices.

Explore the best alternatives to WPS Office in this post.

Wrapping It Up

Getting Microsoft Office for free is easy. You can use the online version or access it through your school, library, or a friend who has a subscription.

Furthermore, there are many free Microsoft Office alternatives that will likely work just as well for your purposes.