In case you missed it (like I did), Microsoft Corporation is offering a free upgrade to Office 2016. This offer is valid if you own any standalone Office 2013 products, and if one of the two statements are true:
- you are an active Office 365 subscriber; or
- you have a valid Office 2016 license.
Standalone products are Office products not part of Office suites, such as Office Standard, Professional and Professional Plus.
If you have a retail license of Visio and Project 2013, you qualify for a free upgrade to their 2016 version counterparts. The official lists of products qualified for the free upgrade are:
- Project Standard 2013
- Project Professional 2013
- Visio Standard 2013
- Visio Professional 2013
- Word 2013
- Excel 2013
- PowerPoint 2013
- Outlook 2013
- Publisher 2013
- Access 2013
Users using counterfeit product keys are not qualified for the free upgrade. This upgrade is being offered because Office 2013 products and Office 2016 have compatibility issues.
Remember that this free upgrade offer is valid until June 30, 2016 only.
What Happens After the Upgrade
Since I have I an Office 365 University subscription, I was able to get the free upgrade offer. The Office standalone product will be linked to your Microsoft account. Just like what happened to mine:
In my case, I saved almost USD 1,750 from buying new Visio Professional 2016 and Project Professional 2016 licenses. That’s a lot of savings!
To get started, you may visit the official page and follow the instructions there by first clicking this link:
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