After 32 years, Microsoft has announced plans to retire the Microsoft Office brand. Microsoft 365, the new branding for its Office.com and Office cloud-based apps, will better reflect the company’s shift from a one-time purchase productivity suite to a subscription service. This change comes as part of Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to simplify its product line and unify its brands under the Microsoft 365 umbrella.
Microsoft Office was first released in 1990, with Microsoft bundling its popular Word, Excel, and PowerPoint applications under a one-time purchase productivity suite called Microsoft Office. Later versions introduced additional programs like Outlook and OneNote.
In 2011, Microsoft began offering Office 365, a subscription service that gave users access to the latest version of Office as well as other cloud-based services.
In the present day, the plan is for Microsoft to begin phasing out the Office brand. Beginning in November 2022, the rebranding will begin to roll out for the Office app on Windows, and the Office mobile app in January 2023.
After that, users can expect to see changes to the logos and icons for the various Office apps.
Additionally, the names of some of the apps will change; for example, OneNote 2016 will become simply “OneNote.”
And finally, Microsoft plans to retire the “Office” branding from its website and marketing materials altogether.