Licensing brief
Licensing Microsoft Office software in
Commercial Licensing
April 2020
This brief applies to all Microsoft Licensing programs.
Contents
Summary ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1
Details ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 2
Licensing Office for use with Windows To Go ...................................................................................................................... 2
Office Suites available through Commercial Licensing ..................................................................................................... 3
Acquiring Microsoft Office Licenses in Commercial Licensing ....................................................................................... 4
Microsoft Office Downgrade Rights ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Software Assurance benefits for Microsoft Office ............................................................................................................... 4
Frequently asked questions ............................................................................................................................................................... 5
Appendix: Microsoft Office as a software product .............................................................................................................. 8
Summary
This licensing brief addresses the commonly asked questions about licensing Microsoft Office suites in
Microsoft Volume Licensing programs.
This brief only addresses questions about use rights for Microsoft Office for the Windows operating system acquired as a software product under a desktop application license (typically, a perpetual license). For more information about use rights for Microsoft Office acquired as a subscription service as part of Microsoft
Office 365, see the Licensing Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus Subscription Service brief. To learn more about licensing Microsoft Office for Mac, see the Licensing Windows and Microsoft Office to use on the
Macintosh brief.
April 2020
Licensing Microsoft Office software in Commercial Licensing
Details
Per Device Microsoft Office Licensing
Microsoft Office 2019 software is licensed on a per device basis. Users must assign each Microsoft Office license to a single physical hardware system ( licensed device ). The license permits use of the software on the licensed device.
Commercial Licensing customers have the right to install and use any number of copies of the software on the licensed device on physical and/or virtual machines.
Customers may access Microsoft Office remotely, but one license is required for each physical device running or accessing the application. This includes situations where you run the software on your local device or access the software installed on another device like a server. See more detail in the Remote Access for
Microsoft Office section.
Remote Access for Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office Application device licenses include Remote Use Rights, which allows remote access to the software from any licensed device. With Remote Use Rights, a company may install Microsoft Office on a single device for remote access two different ways.
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