Microsoft is planning significant changes to the Microsoft Office branding. Microsoft Office is being rebranded “Microsoft 365” after more than 30 years to reflect the software giant’s increasing range of productivity products. While Office products such as Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint will continue to exist, Microsoft will now refer to them as part of Microsoft 365 rather than Microsoft Office.
After changing Office 365 subscriptions to Microsoft 365 two years ago, Microsoft has been promoting this new branding for years, but the changes are far deeper today. “In the next months, Office.com, the Office mobile app, and the Office software for Windows will be rebranded as the Microsoft 365 app, with a new symbol, a new style, and even more capabilities,” according to a Microsoft FAQ.
That implies that if you use any of the specific Office programs, they’ll be branded with Microsoft 365 and a new logo shortly. The initial logo and design changes will be seen on Office.com in November, followed by a rebranding of the Office apps for Windows, iOS, and Android in January.
Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Loop, Clipchamp, Stream, and Microsoft’s new Designer app will now be available in Microsoft 365. A centralized Microsoft 365 app for mobile and desktop will have a feed of relevant colleagues and meetings, a center for all your files and papers, and custom tagging to categorize and organize material.
However, the Microsoft Office brand will not vanish overnight. Through the Office 2021 and Office LTSC plans, Microsoft will continue to provide one-time purchases of its Office bundle of applications to individuals and organizations. Microsoft Office is now a heritage brand for Microsoft, which implies that when new features are announced, they will be added to Microsoft 365 rather than Microsoft Office.
