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Microsoft is making a major change to its Microsoft Office branding. After more than 30 years, Microsoft Office is being renamed “Microsoft 365” to mark the software giant’s collection of growing productivity apps. While Office apps like Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint aren’t going away, Microsoft will now mostly refer to these apps as part of Microsoft 365 instead of Microsoft Office.
Microsoft has been pushing this new branding for years, after renaming Office 365 subscriptions to Microsoft 365 two years ago, but the changes go far deeper now. “In the coming months, Office.com, the Office mobile app, and the Office app for Windows will become the Microsoft 365 app, with a new icon, a new look, and even more features,” explains a FAQ from Microsoft.
That means if you use any of the dedicated Office apps, they’ll all be branded with Microsoft 365 soon, and with a new logo. The first logo and design changes will appear at Office.com in November, followed by the Office app on Windows, iOS, and Android all getting rebranded in January.
Microsoft 365 will now be home to Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Loop, Clipchamp, Stream, and Microsoft’s new Designer app. A central Microsoft 365 app for both mobile and desktop will include a feed of relevant colleagues and meetings, a hub for all your files and documents, and custom tagging to group and organise content.
The Microsoft Office brand won’t disappear instantly, though. Microsoft will continue to offer one-time purchases of its Office bundle of apps to consumers and businesses through Office 2021 and Office LTSC plans. Microsoft Office is now a legacy brand for Microsoft, so that means when there are new features announced they’ll be coming to Microsoft 365 and not Microsoft Office.
