I'm so confused with the names of Microsoft Office

Here are some names I've encountered when I am looking for deals on the internet

Office Professional 2019

Office 2019 Professional Plus

Office Home and Student 2019

Office Home and Business 2019

Looks like there are more names... What are their differences?

In fact all I know is that 365 is bascially a subscription while 2016 and 2019 is a one-time purchase. I am then so confused with the extended names like Home, Personal, Professional, Business, Student etc... What are they?

I am looking for something cheap for one 1 person simple use which can be installed offline. I hate web-based

Tsw88 said:

Home, Personal, Professional, Business, Student etc... What are they?

Compare All Microsoft Office Products | Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office 2019 | Office 365



They are various combinations of certain individual Microsoft applications, such as:

Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, One Note, Publisher, Outlook, etc.

Each package will have a different combination of those individual applications.

You need to decide which of them you DON'T need or want and shop accordingly.

As an ordinary home user, you probably don't need the "Business" packages, which typically include Access and Publisher.

I need only Word and Excel, so I chose Office Home and Student. I think it includes Powerpoint, but I never use that.

Yes, avoid Office 365 if you DON'T want a subscription.

Stick with major sellers like Amazon or Newegg. Expect to pay over $100 somewhere. There are lots of bogus sellers out there at Ebay and elsewhere.

You'll likely just be paying for a "Product Key" and will have to download the Office package. I'm not sure if they sell Office on a USB flash drive, but the days of getting it on a DVD are gone as far as I know.

ignatzatsonic said:

Compare All Microsoft Office Products | Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office 2019 | Office 365



They are various combinations of certain individual Microsoft applications, such as:

Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, One Note, Publisher, Outlook, etc.

Each package will have a different combination of those individual applications.

You need to decide which of them you DON'T need or want and shop accordingly.

As an ordinary home user, you probably don't need the "Business" packages, which typically include Access and Publisher.

I need only Word and Excel, so I chose Office Home and Student. I think it includes Powerpoint, but I never use that.

Yes, avoid Office 365 if you DON'T want a subscription.

Stick with major sellers like Amazon or Newegg. Expect to pay over $100 somewhere. There are lots of bogus sellers out there at Ebay and elsewhere.

You'll likely just be paying for a "Product Key" and will have to download the Office package. I'm not sure if they sell Office on a USB flash drive, but the days of getting it on a DVD are gone as far as I know.

Do you think Office 2019 is fine for another 10 years? I am Excel beginner and wish to learn and use it for creating invoice and keeping track of my income and expenses for my small one man bank low budget business. What do you think

Tsw88 said:

Do you think Office 2019 is fine for another 10 years? I am Excel beginner and wish to learn and use it for creating invoice and keeping track of my income and expenses for my small one man bank low budget business. What do you think

Yeah, I'd think so.

I'm on Home and Student 2010 and have no current intentions of changing to a newer version.

Excel is a great program. I use it for stock market and financial stuff, as well as for almost anything that can be thought of as a list--anything that needs to be categorized in some way. That could be text stuff like recipes or keeping track of your PC maintenance by date, as well as stuff needing calculations/math.

It's good for anything that can take advantage of categorization by tabs, columns, and rows. For instance--all of your recipes in one file---fish on this tab, pasta on that tab, roast beef on this tab, etc; using the columns and rows for ingredients and amounts. I use it at least as much as Word, for most anything that can't really benefit from paragraphs.

Bite off a little at a time. I've been using it for over 20 years and am still learning. I don't use most of its capabilities.

I wouldn't think you need the 2019 versions if you can get the 2016 versions cheaper.

Support for both 2016 and 2019 ends in 2025, but they should be usable well beyond that. You never know for sure.

2019 works ONLY on Windows 10. 2016 works on Windows 7 or 10.

I think you will need a Microsoft "account" to activate either one.

You should be able to get Home and Student for 120 to 150 bucks. I'd order the Product Key version--you get a Product Key sent to you by US mail. You then download the program directly from Microsoft and install it and activate it with the Product Key you were sent.

The other choice is to buy a "download". NOTHING arrives by mail. It's all via Internet. This might work for you, but I see a lot of complaints in reviews about the entire process, so I'm personally spooked of that method.

I am Excel beginner and wish to learn and use it for creating invoice and keeping track of my income and expenses for my small one man bank low budget business. What do you think

You are looking at the wrong products. You need to be looking for products suitable for a Small Business not re-inventing the wheel with standard MS Office products.

I have MS Home & (very mature...) Student 2010 and use all 3 elements of that MS Office product. However this is not suitable for your specific requirements.

ignatzatsonic said:

Yeah, I'd think so.

I'm on Home and Student 2010 and have no current intentions of changing to a newer version.

Excel is a great program. I use it for stock market and financial stuff, as well as for almost anything that can be thought of as a list--anything that needs to be categorized in some way. That could be text stuff like recipes or keeping track of your PC maintenance by date, as well as stuff needing calculations/math.

It's good for anything that can take advantage of categorization by tabs, columns, and rows. For instance--all of your recipes in one file---fish on this tab, pasta on that tab, roast beef on this tab, etc; using the columns and rows for ingredients and amounts. I use it at least as much as Word, for most anything that can't really benefit from paragraphs.

Bite off a little at a time. I've been using it for over 20 years and am still learning. I don't use most of its capabilities.

I wouldn't think you need the 2019 versions if you can get the 2016 versions cheaper.

Support for both 2016 and 2019 ends in 2025, but they should be usable well beyond that. You never know for sure.

2019 works ONLY on Windows 10. 2016 works on Windows 7 or 10.

I think you will need a Microsoft "account" to activate either one.

You should be able to get Home and Student for 120 to 150 bucks. I'd order the Product Key version--you get a Product Key sent to you by US mail. You then download the program directly from Microsoft and install it and activate it with the Product Key you were sent.

The other choice is to buy a "download". NOTHING arrives by mail. It's all via Internet. This might work for you, but I see a lot of complaints in reviews about the entire process, so I'm personally spooked of that method.

Hi. One more question, can I install Office 2019 to two computers or if it can only legally installed to one PC like windows ?

Tsw88 said:

Hi. One more question, can I install Office 2019 to two computers or if it can only legally installed to one PC like windows ?

Just one as far as I know.

One at a time, that is. I think you can transfer it to a new computer when that time comes.

You used to be able to buy a 3-license package of Home and Student. That's what I bought for version 2010. But I think that option has gone away. You buy one at a time.

ignatzatsonic said:

Just one as far as I know.

One at a time, that is. I think you can transfer it to a new computer when that time comes.

You used to be able to buy a 3-license package of Home and Student. That's what I bought for version 2010. But I think that option has gone away. You buy one at a time.

What is outlook for office? Sending out the file through email immediately within the application ? Any other feature?

Tsw88 said:

What is outlook for office? Sending out the file through email immediately within the application ? Any other feature?

It's mainly an email program, but also has advanced functions like a calendar, task management, scheduling, note-taking, exchanging stuff with other employees, etc. Very common for businesses, but way more than you need for email. I've never used it---have no need for those functions. Been around at least 20 years.