Microsoft Launches Cheaper Office 365 Personal

Right on target for its promised spring debut, Microsoft on Tuesday launched Office 365 Personal, a new subscription offering specifically geared towards individuals.

First unveiled last month, Office 365 Personal lets you run Microsoft's cloud-based document creation and editing suite on one PC or Mac and one tablet for $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year. Office 365 Personal is available online, at Microsoft stores, and through online and retail partners.

The existing Office 365 Home Premium subscription, which lets you connect five computers, is also available for $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year. Microsoft will still offer that option, but is dropping "Premium" from its name to make things a little less confusing. It will now just be Office 365 Home. Both plans come with 60 minutes of Skype calling per month and 20GB of additional OneDrive storage.

"By offering Office 365 Personal, in addition to Office 365 Home, we are better positioned to deliver the right Office to a broader range of households — whether it's an individual or a family of five," Microsoft's Jevon Fark wrote in a blog post Tuesday. "Whichever Office 365 is right for you, you'll enjoy the freedom to get work done at home, school, or on the go — on any device."

In other Office news, Microsoft also today began rolling out a few updates to its recently rebranded Office Online suite covering Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and OneNote. The Excel Online update lets you insert, edit, and delete comments and use Tell Me, a feature that lets you ask how to do something.

Word Online will now let you make comments and changes at the same time as others, as well as add footnotes and endnotes inline. PowerPoint Online is getting a revamped text editor, quicker slide transitions, and playback support for embedded YouTube videos. Finally, OneNote Online is getting support for printing, a feature many people have requested.

In addition, Office Online is now available in the Chrome Web Store. If you're a Chrome user, you can now add Word Online, PowerPoint Online, and OneNote Online to your Chrome App launcher to create online Office documents right from your desktop. Excel Online will be available in the web store soon.

In late March, Microsoft finally launched Office for iPad. For more, see PCMag's reviews of Excel for iPad, PowerPoint for iPad, and Word for iPad (slideshow above).

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade.

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes.

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app.

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth.

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light.

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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