Is this another tactic by the greedy Microsoft organisation, I wonder?
My recommendation would be to download and install the free Libre Office. You can save documents in Word format if you want.
Further to all that, the laptop which is failing, shows the Update 1803 on the 13th & 15th May.
After these two automatic updates, the Outlook Pro Plus on that machine showed that activation failed & left the PC Outlook App usable for a month.
After backing out this update everything is back to normal and Outlook 2016 pro plus is back to being installed & activated.
Iāll watch tonight & see if it does it again - if it does Iāll have to call the activation telephone line and request activation there.
My Main PC has also activated with none of these problems.
The other version of Pro Plus on there is fine.
That makes it look like one or other of the codes I bought is not liked at activation time although they have been working for some months since installationā¦
A quick look at Amazon & EBay shows that there are very few of these on there, at the moment, so I think that something is happening at Microsoft.
Anyone worried about Office 2016 being hit this way might want to make sure that they have a restore point set up (via Privazer?) which might be the quickest way back.
Sound advice ā¦ 
Further to my previous, Iām confident that I can rule out the big update as the cause of the problem. But Iām still doing tests.
My guess is that the seller of the Office Pro Plus 2016 package listed the thing wrongly.
He said in his Amazon selling package āYour Licence key is valid for the lifetime of that PC. There are no time restrictions!.ā
Very interesting that this software was installed in Mid May, 2017, and ceased to be activated pretty much 1 full year, to the day, Mid May 2018.
I may have encountered āshutdownā this morning ā¦ 
I had booted up my PC and started loading some apps when my PC āfrozeā ā¦ :shock:
I powered down and up then checked Task Manager ā¦ 
Microsoft Office Click to Run was āhoggingā the machine. Apparently:
Click-to-Run is an alternative to the traditional Windows Installer-based (MSI) method of installing and updating Office.
So I let it continue, thinking an update was in progress, but since then I cannot access either Office apps or Office documents ā¦ 
They keep assuring us how important it is to allow Windows Update (or other MS equivalents) to run, as this will ensure our computers perform to the best possible level.
I can honestly say that I have never noticed any improvements. On the other hand, I have seen (usually minor) problems as a result.
Unfortunately, try as I might, I cannot fully disable āupdatesā.
I have a project in hand so I canāt be bothered with fussing over Office 16. Instead, Iāve downloaded Libre and carried on working.
Iāll probably uninstall Office 16 later ā¦ 
I finally got this one back by activating with a new key.
Pound for pound another year, for a tenner, is cheaper than paying a monthly fee for a 365 version.
I think Iāll stick with Libre - MS Office 2016 has wasted a lot of my time ā¦ 
While waiting for something else, I just clicked on āWordā and Office started loading the application - I had to enter my key, username and password and now it seems that I have Office access again ā¦ :shock:
AFAIK, Iāve done nothing to initiate a recovery, so maybe the fault was elsewhere than on my PC ā¦
Curiouser and Curiouser!
As I have said before, Libre Office can do everything I want to do. If I didnāt already have MS Office 2007, Iād use that all the time.
Libre Office is a good alternative to MS Office for the most part. The only trouble is that professional organisations use MS Office to create their documents. If downloading a form with textboxes, tables or checkboxes in it, Libre Office might open it with errors. For instance, checkboxes, text fields or tables may be out of place.
Only MS Office will open the form/document as the person who created it intended.
I didnāt know that as I have never used such forms with LibreOffice. I do know, though, that LibreOffice documents can be saved as Word documents.
That is not entirely true.
The only problem with Libre Office is that it uses a different form of Basic rather than VBA. So Word or Excel macros/or VBA forms donāt work. That is the only reason I am stuck with M$ Office.
However if you only need to read and print a Word document M$ used to provide a program that could correctly read and print a Word document including text boxes etc. I seem to recall it was called something like Microsoft Word Viewer 2007(?) and was a free download from M$.
There are other ways to read/print complex M$ Word documents including using the free version of M$ Word supplied with mobile devices or using Google Docs (just upload the word doc file and tell Google to convert it to their own format - you need a free Google account for that)
I think this need for M$ Word for forms is dying out because most organisations use PDF forms now which any computer can read and edit appropriately.
Yes, points taken Bruce. Personally, I bought the 2016 Home & Student version of MS Office from Amazon for around Ā£80. A cut down version with only Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote (no Outlook - Publisher - Access) but it takes care of everything I need that type of program for with no compatibility problems. I see itās gone up to Ā£102 now. Glad I bought it when I did.
I wonder how many of the downloaded, cheapie, versions of Office Pro Plus 2016 are still working.
Word on the street is that these have mostly died off.
Possibly because MS has found them to be pirate versions, or possibly because the version in use was for only one year or only one sign on.
Someone nearby found that, on powering up his Office package, he was told that it had to be re-registered, after heād been using it for several months, and his pass key was then not accepted.
Think a Microsoft update might have triggered this.
If this happens you have to buy a new package or get a new key.(watch out - lots of scammers selling duff keys!!!)
Make sure your emails are well backed up.
Mineās still working ā¦ 
So is mine (Amazon).
However, when looking at the current listings, on EBay, for example, i see that some are on offer for just a few pounds.
When you look at the sellerās instructions they often say something like āMust be installed/used/ Registered within 24 hours of receiptā
I cannot see MS making such a demand.
To anyone one else who is thinking of buying one of these, I suggest that you read the Reviews first.
There are loads of people spelling out all the usual problems like āthe key didnāt arrive, or the key didnāt work, or the seller is not returning messages.ā
I put this post up as a warning.
Hope it helps.
I have never used, and intend never to use, Fleabay.