Office 2024 from StackSocial license question

OldMainframeGuy · Aug 9, 2026

I'll preface this by admitting it's probably a stupid question, and I won't be offended if you tell me so.

Back in 2022, I bought a copy of Office 2021 from gHacks, upgrading at the time from LibreOffice and Thunderbird, neither of which I was having any problems with. Now that Office 2021 is about to enter end of support, I've been getting emails from StackSocial offering Office 2024 for $55 USD.

I think that's a good deal, but the caveat is that the license is tied to your machine, not your Microsoft account. I *assume* this means that if I bought a new PC, I could not uninstall the software from the old PC and reinstall it on the new PC. That would be a showstopper for me. Am I assuming correctly?

Part of me wants to just scrap Office anyway and go back to LibreOffice & Thunderbird for my own senile reasons.

Rob

wiganken · Aug 9, 2026

If you only use your Office for creating local documents on your own machine then keep running Office 2021 even after support ends. That's what I am going to do.
It only becomes important to upgrade to a supported product if you are file sharing.

gunrunnerjohn · Aug 9, 2026

wiganken said:
If you only use your Office for creating local documents on your own machine then keep running Office 2021 even after support ends. That's what I am going to do.
It only becomes important to upgrade to a supported product if you are file sharing.

I'm still using Office 2010, it's the last licensed version I had. Works fine, and I don't expose my documents to anyone but me. If I share, I put it in a PDF.

OAT · Aug 9, 2026

OldMainframeGuy said:
I'll preface this by admitting it's probably a stupid question, and I won't be offended if you tell me so.

Back in 2022, I bought a copy of Office 2021 from gHacks, upgrading at the time from LibreOffice and Thunderbird, neither of which I was having any problems with. Now that Office 2021 is about to enter end of support, I've been getting emails from StackSocial offering Office 2024 for $55 USD.

I think that's a good deal, but the caveat is that the license is tied to your machine, not your Microsoft account. I *assume* this means that if I bought a new PC, I could not uninstall the software from the old PC and reinstall it on the new PC. That would be a showstopper for me. Am I assuming correctly?

Part of me wants to just scrap Office anyway and go back to LibreOffice & Thunderbird for my own senile reasons.

Rob

I got mine here, about a year ago.
It is for 3 machines, have used it on 2 so far.
It's also less expensive.

pparks1 · Aug 9, 2026

In theory, it's typically a single install version of the software. however, it should be movable to another PC if it's uninstalled on the current PC. But with the cheap licenses, I guess there is no guarantee

JohnsonInAfrica · Aug 9, 2026

I used to buy office when I needed it for each machine, I personally have many. I did 2016, 2019, 2021 and I considered it for 2024. I looked at the cost and ended up with a 365 subscription. Now I have it on 2 of my Microsoft accounts, private account and business account, my daughter and stepdaughter have it on their computers and phones on their Microsoft account, my girlfriend and her son has a copy on their computers and phones, on their Microsoft account, every account has 1tb of cloud and it costs a shed load less than individual licenses every 3 years.

It's currently on 7 computers and a number of phones and tablets. All legal and genuine. And a lot less than 2 stand alone licences.

Oh I still use thunderbird as my mail client.

OldMainframeGuy · Aug 9, 2026

OAT said:
I got mine here, about a year ago.
It is for 3 machines, have used it on 2 so far.
It's also less expensive.

Thanks; cost aside, I'd rather buy a version that wasn't neurotic about how many machines it was running on or transferred between. Appreciate the post!

OldMainframeGuy · Aug 9, 2026

djohnson1966 said:
I used to buy office when I needed it for each machine, I personally have many. I did 2016, 2019, 2021 and I considered it for 2024. I looked at the cost and ended up with a 365 subscription. Now I have it on 2 of my Microsoft accounts, private account and business account, my daughter and stepdaughter have it on their computers and phones on their Microsoft account, my girlfriend and her son has a copy on their computers and phones, on their Microsoft account, every account has 1tb of cloud and it costs a shed load less than individual licenses every 3 years.

It's currently on 7 computers and a number of phones and tablets. All legal and genuine. And a lot less than 2 stand alone licences.

Oh I still use thunderbird as my mail client.

I think 365 can make a lot of sense if you have people you can share it with and/or you're a big fan of OneDrive. I'm neither plus for whatever reason I resist buying subscription software (not saying it's rational; it's just me). We use OneDrive for Business at work and frankly it drives me nuts; I can never figure out where anything is; I'll attribute that to old age.

JohnsonInAfrica · Aug 9, 2026

I just got fed up of everyone in my family complaining they had filled up their 15gb Google drive due to endlessly uploading selfies automatically. So they all have access to 1tb of cloud on their phones and I turn off automatically uploading photos to Google and enable it on OneDrive. Saves me having to move them manually every few months and them just creating new Google accounts and letting old Google accounts attached to Microsoft account being forgotten about. I think the subscription is worth it just for my mental wellbeing

Stigg · Aug 9, 2026

djohnson1966 said:
I just got fed up of everyone in my family complaining they had filled up their 15gb Google drive due to endlessly uploading selfies automatically. So they all have access to 1tb of cloud on their phones and I turn off automatically uploading photos to Google and enable it on OneDrive. Saves me having to move them manually every few months and them just creating new Google accounts and letting old Google accounts attached to Microsoft account being forgotten about. I think the subscription is worth it just for my mental wellbeing

The 1TB of storage each for 6 people is a great deal, even if they're not big Office users.

mccmw · Aug 9, 2026

I originally tried Professional Plus 24 as a replacement to 21. That was about a year and a half ago. Even though Windows Settings showed the correct version, it looked no different than 21. Last year, I found a deal for Home & Business. That one worked...the revised user interface, icons, etc.

PurSpyk!! · Aug 9, 2026

Stigg said:
The 1TB of storage each for 6 people is a great deal, even if they're not big Office users.

This is the reason I have an office 365 subscription (the price though has increased quite a bit over the years), the 1TB space for 6 users is a good deal. My wife is a graphic designer, and the extra 1TB storage is a real blessing, and her other pc also shares a license, so essentially, she has 2TB storage. Out of all the office apps, I mainly use Excel and Outlook (pity it's not easy to remove the other crap that’s installed)

OldMainframeGuy · Aug 9, 2026

mccmw said:
I originally tried Professional Plus 24 as a replacement to 21. That was about a year and a half ago. Even though Windows Settings showed the correct version, it looked no different than 21. Last year, I found a deal for Home & Business. That one worked...the revised user interface, icons, etc.

This is what StackSocial has to say about Office Professional 2024 which corroborates your remarks. Now that you bring that up, it feels like Office 2024 is a snapshot of some iteration of Office and it won't ever receive feature updates (but hopefully security updates):

Key Features of Office 2024 Professional Plus

Refined and Stable Advanced Functionality: Access mature productivity tools designed for consistent, dependable performance.
Enhanced Security and Compliance Capabilities: Benefit from built-in protections and features that support security and regulatory requirements.
Streamlined User Interface with Dark Mode Support: Enjoy a modern, intuitive workspace with a comfortable dark mode option.
Reliable Performance with Minimal System Requirements: Run efficiently on a wide range of compatible devices and hardware.
Predictable Long-Term Support Without Feature Churn: Work confidently with a stable platform focused on reliability and continuity.
Advanced Data Analysis and Database Management Tools: Leverage powerful features for organizing, analyzing, and managing business data.

Stigg · Aug 9, 2026

PurSpyk!! said:
This is the reason I have an office 365 subscription (the price though has increased quite a bit over the years), the 1TB space for 6 users is a good deal. My wife is a graphic designer, and the extra 1TB storage is a real blessing, and her other pc also shares a license, so essentially, she has 2TB storage. Out of all the office apps, I mainly use Excel and Outlook (pity it's not easy to remove the other crap that’s installed)

It's been a while since I installed Office. I can't remember what choices I had.

Have you ever tried the Office Customization Tool? I've seen third party tools too.

Overview of the Office Customization Tool - Microsoft 365 Apps

The Office Customization Tool creates the configuration files that are used to deploy Office in large organizations.

learn.microsoft.com

PurSpyk!! · Aug 9, 2026

Stigg said:
It's been a while since I installed Office. I can't remember what choices I had.

Have you ever tried the Office Customization Tool? I've seen third party tools too.

Overview of the Office Customization Tool - Microsoft 365 Apps

The Office Customization Tool creates the configuration files that are used to deploy Office in large organizations.

learn.microsoft.com

Office 365 installs the entire suite, not like the older versions like office 2010 where you could choose what to install. I will have a look at the Customisation tool, but in reality, these options should be included in the default install program as they used to.

Try3 · Aug 9, 2026

OldMainframeGuy said:
I bought a copy of Office 2021 from gHacks

So did I.

OldMainframeGuy said:
I've been getting emails from StackSocial offering Office 2024

I have not.

OldMainframeGuy said:
the caveat is that the license is tied to your machine

Please would you post a link to that caveat.
The published licence terms do not include the caveat you mention. Transfer to another device is provided for in para 3b as always - see the 2024 Office Professional Plus subheading in www.microsoft.com/useterms#areaheading-uid6738232

Denis

Edwin · Aug 9, 2026

Oh, for feck sakes Microsoft..., this is a Retail version of Home & Business 2024!!!

Stigg · Aug 9, 2026

Edwin said:
Oh, for feck sakes Microsoft..., this is a Retail version of Home & Business 2024!!!

View attachment 179168

Yeah, I see that.

Edwin · Aug 9, 2026

Stigg said:
Yeah, I see that.

It's getting out of control!!!
Frustrating as hell!!! They want your money badly!!!

Reminiscent of the Is OneDrive malicious malpractice thread!

Edwin · Aug 9, 2026

Stigg said:
Yeah, I see that.

I completely disabled Office SignIn, hopefully that keeps rid of it!!!

Office 2024 from StackSocial license question

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