Microsoft is officially phasing out Office in favor of Microsoft 365, but Office technically isn’t going anywhere. What’s specifically happening is the Office suite is being rebranded and updated, thus becoming its own version of the cloud-focused Microsoft 365 platform. This means you can look forward to a new look, an updated icon, and more features. Office 365 subscriptions are also sticking around, along with access to Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word (as well as one-time purchase options for those apps). But Office.com will become Microsoft365.com, and the Windows, Android, and iOS apps are definitely changing names. With the visual changes come several new features, like new templates coming to the Create module and an easier way to keep track of subscriptions and storage use with Badging. Another planned addition is the ability to search for and pin the tools you use the most often in the new Microsoft 365 app. Then there’s My Content, which lets you view all of your Microsoft 365 content from one centralized location, making the jump from business customers to personal use a bit easier. These changes will begin with Microsoft 365 premium subscribers, starting sometime in November. Changes for the Windows and mobile Office apps and the website version will start rolling out at some point in January 2023. Regardless of the versions you use, you won’t need to do or adjust anything for the changes to take effect, and all of your account details and files should be unaffected.
