Personal Microsoft 365 Review

Microsoft 365, which is the new name for the applications and services that were formerly known as Office 365, is the behemoth of office suites, and it is the one that every other competitor wants to equal. Microsoft 365 is the new name for the products and services that were formerly known as Office 365. It is compatible with virtually all operating systems, including web-based versions that are sleek and sophisticated, full-featured editions for Windows and macOS, apps for iOS and Android that are surprisingly powerful, and full-featured editions for both operating systems. In addition to all of the benefits that come with using disk-based applications, such as increased speed and security, and the ability to operate without an internet connection, Microsoft 365 includes all of the collaboration capabilities that can be found in cloud-only suites such as Google Workspace. Microsoft 365 also includes all of the benefits that come with using cloud-based applications. The apps that Microsoft provides aren’t perfect, and some of the functions are clunky and difficult to use, but you’ll need persuasive arguments to go with something else. Microsoft’s apps aren’t perfect, and some of the functions are cumbersome and difficult to use. Our staff strongly suggests using the document-editing software Microsoft 365, which comes highly recommended.

Microsoft 365 Personal

★★★★☆

Excellent

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Microsoft 365 is the only office suite that is just as powerful online as it is on a local computer, making it the industry standard for office suites everywhere. There is nothing else that comes close in terms of power, flexibility, or ease of use, despite the fact that there are a few bugs.

Microsoft 365, which is the new name for the apps and services that were formerly known as Office 365, is the mammoth of office suites, and it is the one that every other competition strives to equal. It is compatible with practically every operating system, including full-featured editions for Windows and macOS, apps for iOS and Android that are surprisingly strong, and elegant web-based versions. Microsoft 365 includes all of the collaboration capabilities that can be found in cloud-only suites such as Google Workspace, in addition to all of the benefits that come with using disk-based applications, such as increased speed and security, and the ability to operate without an internet connection. The apps that Microsoft offers aren’t flawless, and some of the functions are cumbersome and difficult to use, but you’ll need compelling arguments to go with something else. The document-editing suite Microsoft 365 is a recommendation from our editors.

MICROSOFT 365 PERSONAL SPECS

What are the Benefits of Microsoft 365 Personal?

Microsoft 365 Personal offers a range of benefits for users, including:

1. Access to the Latest Versions of Office Applications – With Microsoft 365 Personal, you always have access to the latest versions of Microsoft Office applications. This means that you can take advantage of the latest features and improvements to these tools, ensuring that you can work more efficiently.
2. Cloud Storage – Microsoft 365 Personal provides users with 1TB of cloud storage, which can be used to store files and documents. This feature ensures that you always have access to your files, no matter where you are.
3. Multiple Devices – Microsoft 365 Personal can be installed on up to five devices, including PCs, Macs, tablets, and smartphones. This means that you can use Microsoft Office on all of your devices, ensuring that you can work from anywhere.
4. Collaboration – Microsoft 365 Personal also includes features that make it easy to collaborate with others. For example, you can share files and documents with others, and multiple users can edit the same document at the same time.
5. Security – Microsoft 365 Personal includes built-in security features, such as two-factor authentication and encryption, that help to keep your data safe.

How much does it cost to subscribe to Microsoft 365?

Access to the Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and Skype apps for one user on up to five devices is included in the Microsoft 365 Personal subscription, which has an annual starting price of $69.99 and includes access to those programs. You will also receive Sway, which can be used to create interactive reports and presentations; forms, which can be used to create surveys and quizzes; and the To Do app developed by Microsoft. On the other end of the cost spectrum is the $99.99-per-year Microsoft 365 Family tier, which allows for up to six people and offers access to all of the same applications. Moreover, the premium edition of the Microsoft Family app is incorporated into this particular subscription tier.

The Business Beginning plan from Google Workspace costs $6 per month, while the Business Standard plan costs $12 per month. These pricing are generally comparable to those offered by Google Workspace. Microsoft’s costs are noticeably higher than those of SoftMaker Office, which ranges from $29.90 to $49.90 per year, however SoftMaker does not include web-based apps and only offers a beta version of an Android app. Microsoft’s prices are significantly higher than those of SoftMaker Office.

Every plan comes with 1 terabyte (TB) of storage space for OneDrive per user. Also, Microsoft allows users to log in to their websites using multi-factor authentication, which is a security feature that we appreciate seeing supported.

A standalone edition of Office Home & Student 2021, which includes the traditional versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, is currently available for purchase for a one-time price of $149.99. If you choose this edition, you will not receive any automatic updates nor will you have any storage space in OneDrive.

Plans for Microsoft 365 Business begin at $5 per user per month, while the Business Premium plan, which is the most expensive option, costs $20 per user per month. In comparison to the Personal plans, all of the Business plans include the cloud services Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Exchange. Windows-only applications The Business packages also include Publisher, which allows users to create layouts that are too difficult for Word, and Access, which allows users to build databases. Users of the Business Premium subscription receive mobile-device management capabilities as well as the Azure Information Protection service.

Microsoft 365 can be accessed over the web, and apps can be downloaded for usage on devices running Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Both older Intel Macs and the most up-to-date Apple Silicon (M1) Macs are able to run the macOS version that Microsoft has developed natively. When I’m in a hurry to go to work, the Microsoft applications on my Intel-based computer occasionally run more slowly. On an Apple Silicon (M1) Mac, Microsoft’s applications run at lightning-fast speeds, which is a testament to the cutting-edge engineering of both Apple’s hardware and Microsoft’s software.

The platforms and devices you utilize may very well determine which office suite is the most suitable option for you. Edge for Linux has been released, and maybe this is a hint that Microsoft will more generally support Linux-based operating systems. Currently, Microsoft does not offer versions of its Office applications on Linux platforms. On Linux, you should have no trouble using the web-based version of any office suite because there are no barriers to doing so. Both the open-source LibreOffice and the commercial SoftMaker Office include apps that are specifically designed for that platform.

Google Workspace is the most direct competitor to Microsoft 365; however, its applications are only available in the cloud, unless you configure your files in advance to allow you to open them in a browser even when you are not connected to the internet. With the exception of a third-party product known as Collabora Office, LibreOffice does not offer mobile applications of any kind. Desktop and mobile applications are available for use with Softmaker Office, just like they are with Microsoft 365; however, there is no provision for using the software online. The Corel WordPerfect Office suite can only be used on a desktop computer.

How to Get Microsoft 365 Personal?

Getting started with Microsoft 365 Personal is easy. Simply follow these steps:

1. Visit the Microsoft 365 Personal website.
2. Choose a subscription plan that suits your needs.
3. Create a Microsoft account or sign in with an existing one.
4. Complete the payment process.
5. Download and install Microsoft Office on your devices.
6. Start using Microsoft Office and taking advantage of all its features.

Plentiful Functions Included Inside Stylish Applications

Microsoft’s major applications—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook—have been developing and evolving for almost forty years. They are packed with capabilities, which may often make them appear cumbersome and bulky in comparison to relative newcomers like as Apple’s Pages and Numbers. Also, unlike other vendors such as Apple and Google, Microsoft continues to use a single app called Outlook for its email, contacts, calendar, and to-do list features. Other vendors, such as Apple and Google, have separated these features into smaller, more streamlined apps that collaborate with one another more seamlessly.

It is very evident that Microsoft has managed to outdo itself in terms of the design of each of its distinct office applications. They are easy on the eyes, very adjustable, and offer a large interface that feels at home with current hardware in a way that other applications don’t. This is something that competing apps don’t offer. The support for Dark mode that Microsoft provides is continually being enhanced, and the most recent improvements include subtle color-shifting effects. They can be accessed right now through the beta channel, and it is likely that they will be incorporated into the production build in the not too distant future. If you change a setting, such as the default color scheme, on one platform, the change will instantly get applied to all of your Microsoft apps on other platforms. This is another great trick. The ribbon can still be difficult to understand; for example, in order to modify an existing header or footer, I need to travel to the Insert tab. But, there is an item on the top-line menu that reads “Tell me what you want to do,” which allows me to skip directly to the desired functionality.

A Well-Known Office Package That Continues to Thrive

Word and Excel are, without a doubt, the two programs that get the most work done within the suite, and for good reason. Both programs work well, have a high level of polish, and receive regular upgrades that make them simpler to employ. For example, despite the fact that Excel already dominates all other spreadsheet applications and is able to effortlessly manage extremely large worksheets without straining itself, Microsoft keeps introducing new capabilities. One of the more recent additions is the LET function, which gives users the ability to use named variables within a formula and insert the same function multiple times within a worksheet. As a result, calculations may be completed more quickly and are simpler to keep track of. This is representative of the kinds of upgrades that are made available to users of Microsoft 365, but which are not incorporated into the standalone edition of Office.

Word and Excel both include a number of useful features that are not offered by any of their rivals. For instance, Microsoft Word enables users to compose lengthy documents in a viewing mode that conceals the white space at the top and bottom of each printed page while displaying the actual formatting that is present on the page. This mode is available for use when viewing a document. If you do it this way, there won’t be a gap of white space measuring two inches long and two inches wide between the beginning and the finish of a sentence that spans across multiple pages. To activate this function, simply double-click anywhere in the area between the pages.

Here is yet another illustration using Excel. If your worksheet contains a list of people with their first names in one column and their last names in another, you can easily create a column in which each cell contains both of the person’s first and last names by quickly building a column with the first names in one column and the last names in another. To begin, locate a column in which there is no data already present and fill in the first cell with the first person’s first and last names. Excel will offer to fill in the entire column with the first and last names of everyone else on the list as soon as you move to the next cell and begin typing the second person’s first and last name. This is a clever and useful addition to the overall productivity of the system.

Also, explicit feedback is provided by Excel before an automatic feature is really applied. When you Autosum a column of figures, for instance, Excel will display the formula that it will enter into the cell you’re now working in. Alternately, when you use the method described above to combine first and last names in a single column, Excel will initially display the combined names in a gray color and provide you with the option to cancel the action.

Excel is compatible with a large number of add-ons and features developed by third parties, allowing users to do a variety of specialized tasks. For instance, a new feature in Money in Excel works in conjunction with the Plaid service to make managing one’s personal finances more convenient.

In terms of the features it offers, Microsoft PowerPoint is the only presentation program that can compete with Apple’s KeyNote. PowerPoint, much like its predecessor, enables you to organize and edit movies directly within the program, eliminating the need for a separate video-editing app. In addition to that, it enables you to incorporate online films into your presentations. You can easily waste countless hours on PowerPoint, just like you do with KeyNote, by designing transitions and making other minute adjustments. PowerPoint is an excellent option for folks who do not operate in the Apple ecosystem and are looking for desktop-based presentation programs that allow them to create stunning effects.

Automatic Features, with Complexities Hiding in the Background

But, some of Word’s built-in automation capabilities can be quite unpleasant. For instance, you may not want Word to format ordinals (the letters that follow the numbers in 1st and 2nd), but Word will automatically superscript them until you backspace over the ordinal number and input it again. This is because ordinals are treated as separate entities by Word. If you want to disable this automated feature, you will need to be familiar enough with Word to navigate to the Options menu, then to the Proofing menu, then to the AutoCorrect Options menu, and finally to the AutoFormat section. It’s unlikely that very many regular users will figure this out. Word also has other annoying quirks, such as the way it automatically inserts horizontal lines whenever you input a string of hyphens. This is another example of an automated formatting function that needs a number of steps to disable. You can get a general notion of the dozens of settings that are available to you in Word’s vast Options menu. These settings allow you to fine-tune the way that Word maintains files and formats text.

Word’s powerful Styles feature allows you to choose a set of layout and formatting options that can be easily applied to a section of text. When you apply a style, you may notice that Word removes any previous formatting, such as italics, although this is not always the case. If you use the Styles feature, you can find out more about it by visiting the Microsoft website. In circumstances such as this, Word appears to be unpredictable. The vast majority of this is due to the fact that Microsoft does not document the guidelines it follows when applying styles. When you apply a style to a paragraph in Word, for instance, Word will erase any existing formatting in the paragraph if the existing formatting impacts more than fifty percent of the text in the paragraph. [Citation needed] The only reason I am aware of this is because many years ago, a mysterious someone working deep within Microsoft shared this information with me.

Several of Microsoft Word’s most powerful and widely visible capabilities have gradually gone from the program’s user interface over the course of its roughly four-decade lifetime. However, these features are still accessible to advanced users who are aware of where to look for them. For instance, Microsoft Word was an industry pioneer in the usage of variables in fields. If you use a field in Word called BookTitle to enter the title of your book, Word will use whatever you enter in that field instead of the real title anywhere it appears in your document. In the event that you subsequently decide to alter the title—for example, from War and Peace to Captain Underpants—you need only modify the information contained within the field to bring all of the relevant instances up to date. This feature is not available in the ribbon toolbar in the current version of Word; however, the help system will inform you which keystrokes to use in order to handle it.

Mail and Web Applications

Outlook is able to cram an astonishing number of capabilities into a relatively small container, but using all of those functions might be a little bit intimidating. When it comes to my own use, I favor more lightweight applications such as the open-source Thunderbird, as well as commercial entrants such as Mailbird on Windows and Apple Mail on the Mac. Even Microsoft’s built-in mail client for Windows 10 has some redeeming qualities. Nevertheless, when it comes to handling email, calendars, and contacts all in one place, Outlook’s one-stop interface offers a level of power and flexibility that its competitors do not.

Although while Google’s Workspace suite is known for its simple yet effective design, the browser-based applications developed by Microsoft stand out for their sophistication and ease of use. In the same way that Google’s apps let you dictate text through a microphone, Microsoft’s apps let you transcribe text from an existing recording as well as dictate text through the microphone. I found that the voice-to-text feature of Microsoft worked exceptionally well from mobile apps on a phone or tablet; but, I was never successful in getting it to work from within a desktop or laptop browser on either a Mac or a Windows-based computer.

Even accessing my Office documents on a Windows or Mac computer with the majority of the browsers I tried was a frustrating and never-ending ordeal for me. Firefox and Safari allowed me to open and edit the files, but Chrome and Microsoft’s Edge browser both reported that they were unable to locate the address of the remote files. It appears that this has been an issue for quite some time, and before you make the decision to use Office through a browser, you should determine whether or not you experience the same issue.

You may interact in real-time through a browser in a manner that is comparable with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, and there are lots of visual signals to show what your colleagues are doing in both cases. If you save your files in OneDrive, Microsoft will make it possible for you to work together with other users within the desktop apps and take use of all of the benefits, including ease and power, that those desktop programs have to offer. This capability is not matched by Google Workspace in any way. In contrast, LibreOffice only includes collaboration features in its Calc spreadsheet, and these features do not support real-time collaboration.

Mobile version of Microsoft 365

The smartphone versions of the key Microsoft Office apps—Word, Excel, and PowerPoint—are surprisingly strong and beautiful. You can download a unified iPhone app called Office that has the primary functionality of the distinct applications if you don’t want to clog up your phone with the entire feature sets of separate mobile versions. This software is available for download.

The standalone mobile applications—I was only able to test the iOS versions—have the feel of native mobile applications rather than scaled-down clones of the desktop applications. They feature interfaces that are easier to use than the ones that Google offers. The desktop versions of Microsoft’s applications come equipped with a number of useful extras that appeal to me, such as a “Welcome Back” banner that shows me where I was working when I last saved a file and the capability to export data in a number of different file formats.

Mobile Outlook and OneNote complete out the choices, but you may also want to consider purchasing Microsoft Lens, a mobile scanning and OCR app that allows you to photograph text with your camera and integrate it into an office document. Mobile Outlook and OneNote are available for free. When I took images of books, I got a variety of results, but it was definitely an improvement than doing nothing, and the seamless interface with Word and Excel is a significant benefit.

Still the Same Outstanding Quality

The applications that come included with Microsoft Office are, without a doubt, the most capable of their kind. If you wish to share documents that can be edited with other people, you should almost probably send them in a format that is compatible with the applications developed by Microsoft. This is a reasonable method to assure that other people will be able to make edits to the documents you share. While testing, I encountered intermittent problems connecting to the internet on a number of different browsers, which was the only significant issue I discovered with Microsoft’s suite.

I have used the Microsoft Office programs for a good number of years on all of my devices, including my desktop computer, my laptop, and my mobile phone. If you need to get real work done in papers or worksheets, the Microsoft Office suite is not only worth the money, but it is an outstanding deal as well. Users and enterprises that are comfortable with a cloud-first approach to document editing have another excellent option to consider, and that is Google’s Workspace.

If you’re still unsure whether Microsoft 365 Personal is the right choice for you, consider the following additional benefits:

1. Automatic Updates – With Microsoft 365 Personal, you never have to worry about manually updating your software. Updates are automatically installed, ensuring that you always have access to the latest features and improvements.
2. 24/7 Support – Microsoft 365 Personal also includes 24/7 support from Microsoft. If you ever have any issues or questions, you can reach out to their support team for assistance.
3. Flexible Payment Options – Microsoft 365 Personal offers a range of flexible payment options, including monthly or yearly subscriptions. This allows you to choose the payment plan that works best for you.
4. Easy to Use – Microsoft 365 Personal is designed to be user-friendly, with intuitive interfaces and easy-to-navigate menus. This means that even if you’re not tech-savvy, you can still use Microsoft Office with ease.

Overall, Microsoft 365 Personal is a versatile and powerful tool that can help you streamline your workflow and increase your productivity. With its many features and benefits, it’s easy to see why it’s such a popular choice among individuals who need access to Microsoft Office on their personal devices.

Microsoft 365 Personal is a powerful productivity tool that can help you work more efficiently and effectively. With access to the latest versions of Microsoft Office applications, cloud storage, multiple devices, collaboration features, and built-in security, Microsoft 365 Personal is an excellent choice for individuals who need access to Microsoft Office on their personal devices.

Thank you for considering our comprehensive guide to Microsoft 365 Personal. We are confident that this article will help you make an informed decision about whether Microsoft 365 Personal is the right choice for you.