SteveR Loc: Michigan

I am interested in upgrading my Excel Office to Excel 365. In talking to Microsoft overseas customer service it is very difficult to get any real concept of what the various upgrades would entail. One upgrade, though, is a subscription for $12/mo. However, another can be purchase for a one time fee of $139. What I'm really interested in is an Excel version that works and operates like a business model Excel that I was used to using at work. What I have is a cheap version of that and it doesn't work for me. Anybody have experience with 365? I used to have Microsoft Office Pro and it was excellent.

asaya Loc: Syracuse, NY

I use 365 basically it's a subscription version of what you were using in the past. Although they have spruced it up and 365 comes with the other "Office" Apps as well. They use "One Drive" cloud storage to save documents so you can have access through multiple devices, ie; cell phone, tablet, etc.. I wasn't real excited at first but I have come to like the product particularly the cloud aspect ofit.

rck281 Loc: Overland Park, KS

Excel is one program in the Office Suite of programs. You can purchase Office 2016 or 2019 and get the Office Suite on a perpetual license. Or you can purchase Office 365, which is cloud based, on a subscription basis.
I have never heard of a "business model" Excel. It may have been Excel with custom designed templates.

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Before you decide which way to go, I recommend you try Libre Office, which is compatible and downloads for free. Donations are asked for. I know of more than one Brit corporation that use it. For me it is a superior office suite.

df61743 Loc: Corpus Christi, TX

SteveR,

Just letting you know, there is a free alternative to Microsoft Office that you can download. You might take a look at Apache OpenOffice. If you try it and find it does not suit your purpose, you can always continue using Microsoft.

OpenOffice includes all the functions found in MS Office except Outlook:

Writer a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.

Calc a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyze, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.

Impress the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.

Draw lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.

Base lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within Apache OpenOffice.

Math lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Libre Office and Open Office are both excellent office suites with full functionality to open and save to native Microsoft formats. It's like the best of both worlds.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

We use Excel 365 (online) at work, and I find it very limited compared to the feature set of the local version (not sure if that’s what you’re asking). I use an early version (maybe 2014) locally, and it has every feature imaginable (at least for me).

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Your license doesn't provide a local copy of Office? My work computer has Office 365, and we can either work online (limited like you mentioned), or we can open up locally and it still syncs to the online document.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

It does, but I often work from home with my old edition. What struck me was how limited in terms of functions that the online version is - I always choose the local version when I edit a file.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

SteveR Loc: Michigan

What do you mean by local version. Previously I had what was called MS Office Pro, and the version of Excel that came with that was perfect. The one that comes with the generic MS Office is not. For instance, on Pro, I could copy the format of one file without the data to make a new file. On the generic Office version, you can't do that.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

With my company’s license, can run the applications of Office 365 either online (the application resides in the Microsoft cloud) or locally (the application resides on your PC). In our case, the local version is much more full featured than the online version. When I edit a file, I get the choice of editing online or opening the ap locally. Make sense?

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Yes....but what I have on my machine now and what I used to have in Office Pro are two different things. Does that make sense?

Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

Concur, pretty much transparent when compared to MS products.
You can "save as" a MS Office product. I find that Libre Office is compatible with MS Office.
It is free so just download and take her for a spin.
If you don't like it, delete it.
I will refund what you paid for it. . . if you don't like it.. . . .
Smile,
JimmyT Sends

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

CAUTION OLD MAN'S RANT
Virtue and vice of improvements in programs. I date back to Quatro Pro by Corell when Excel was dumb as mud and the reps sent out to Dallas to plug Office Suite did not know what a log-log graph was. Excel and Office did indeed improve 2003, which I still use was fine, but then came my copy of 2007, Yikes! The Menu.. ribbon!!.. Why, just to be different?

Time went on as the Excel "improved" until it began knowing what you wanted and gave you its rendition which was NOT what you wanted your graph to look like. Better that you tell the program what units, divisions, and exactly the type of graph you wanted. Better dumb semi-Ai made by programmers to please his boss neither of which ever had a real involve task like trace metal analytical data, or tracing 50 toxic pollutants in 50 areas of a huge plant or plotting monthly the data from ground-water monitoring well. These well-meaning Office Suite programming people set their programs so that my Aunt Sally will have no problem plotting the profits and contribution of each girl in Sally's Brothel.

Go with suggestions for more primitive programs. Perhaps stick with the one you have once you figure out on paper with a sharp pencil that you want the program to do. If it takes you 40 hours to create an Excel [or other spreadsheet programs] Excel Symphony then it is time well spent. You tell the program what to do... do not let the program limit or take charge.

Excuse my rant... but having set up spreadsheets for data and graphing automated by my-skills to monitor for example: "Hazardous Super Fund Site" and for a huge silicone-wafer [as for CPUs] factory prior to building, to obtain environmental clearance for permitting ... give me license to rant about programs that think they know what I want them to do...