The myriad M365s - How can you quickly and easily tell them apart?

[britechguy]

Microsoft really, really likes to make it hard to find out exactly what it is a person is working with in many cases as far as I'm concerned. In "the old days" you had something like this show up if you went to the "About" dialog from any of the Office programs:


Right there, front and center, you have exact version and edition information: Office 2016, Pro Plus edition.

Contrast that with:

Now, looking that this, I know it can't be either Personal or Family, as it has Publisher and Outlook. If the actual "contains" list is reflective of exactly what the subscription has, then this can only be M365 Apps for business, but if that's the case, why not say, "Microsoft 365 Apps for business," in the dialog? If it's not reflective of exactly what that subscription has, then it could potentially be Business Standard or Business Premium, but not Business Basic (which does not have Publisher or Access).

This comes about because it appears that Outlook 365 "in certain flavors" has the Link Handling control in Advanced settings:


. . . while others do not. I have checked that this is not a 32-bit versus 64-bit difference. Every sample I've received so far, both of those who have this setting and those who do not, indicates the following version information: Microsoft Outlook for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2304 Build 16.0.16327.20200)

Heck, even my Outlook 2016 has exactly that same version and build number.

But I've now collected enough samples of the Advanced Options dialog from a number of folks that I know this appears for some M365 users, yet not for others, and have not as yet been able to ferret out why that is.

This is a particular pain for users of Outlook 365 who are blind and do not wish to use Edge. Those who don't have the Link Handling controls are always having links open in Edge, regardless of what they have their default browser set to in Windows 10 or Windows 11 (and I think my sample includes M365 under both, but I'd have to double check that again). You would think that M365 would automatically honor the Default Browser choice made by the user under Windows, but if this control is not available it does not - it uses Edge.

If anyone happens to know:
1. How to tell exactly which edition of M365 is in use
and
2. Which one(s) have the Link Handling controls in Advanced Options, and which do not
I'd love to hear about it so this mystery can be put to rest.

So far, no one with a standalone installed version of Office reports having this in Advanced Options, but I haven't had a report yet from anyone using Office 2021, so the jury's still out with regard to whether any of the standalone Office products has it.

 

[nlinecomputers]

It probably depends on which channel you’re in.

 

[Metanis]

To answer your question #1 it appears Microsoft requires you to actually navigate to the user's Microsoft Account subscription page in order to "see" what level subscription they are using and thus what Microsoft 365 features are exposed to them.

Re: question #2 :

This blog post might provide a bit of insight...

Microsoft 365 Link Handling: User experience trick for opening documents

Hi guys! :) Today a colleague asked me about the user experience for opening documents in Microsoft 365. The question Given an Microsoft 365 file like a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, published on a Shar…

www.federicoporceddu.com

The link I posted mentions the option for Link control only appeared in 2020. Earlier versions of Office probably won't have it and per the list of restrictions some other versions with "real-time URL phishing protection enabled" may have the option hidden as well.

Nothing I read would indicate there's an easy fix for forcing the behavior you would like to present to your clients.

 

[britechguy]

@Metanis

Thanks for that blog post. It is about another link handling scenario, and that one we can get to.

But there has to be some explanation as to why an option appears in Outlook 365 sometimes, and sometimes not. This shouldn't be the case, but "field experience" proves it is. If I could find a way to make the Link Handling section appear in Outlook 365's Advanced Options with both the checkboxes (the one described in that blog post is always appearing, and you see it's variant first in the Link Handling section in the screenshot above) and the dropdown that goes with the second I'd be thrilled.

But I'd at least like to be able to give coherent feedback about where and when it does, versus doesn't, show to Microsoft. And I have yet to nail down the rhyme and reason for that in M365.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

And yet to a lot of us, when you see "O365" and "M365"....we think about which online subscription (licensing) do you have.
If I were to wonder which version of apps is on a persons computer, I'd ask which "versions of office apps" is there.

I "think" I call Microsoft saying they were going to stop doing versions of office apps that used the "year" to designate the version, after 2019. So moving forward...it just became "365 apps".....and with click to "run", they're usually updated fairly often.

Office 365 (aka O365) is sorta the outdoing older license names....which started fading away before the whole "NCE" thing with licensing. I'd venture so far as to call it legacy licenses.

Microsoft 365 (aka M365) is the more current licenses.

 

[HCHTech]

Is the link-handling behavior controlled by a registry key, perhaps?

Maybe this?

1. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.html
2. Right click the value for the .html key and select Modify...
3. Possible values are "ChromeHTML", "htmlfile" (default browser) or "FireFoxHTML"
4. Repeat for .htm, shtml, .xht, .xhtml, .xhtm keys

Repeat these steps for htm and .shtml keys if they exist. You may also want to check the xhtml and xhtm keys.

============

Or maybe this?

This is because when a hyperlink is opened in any word document MS office process it and if it needs to be opened in a browser it opens with a new session ignoring the session id. Some SSO providers do not recognize authentications across sessions and hence prompt for authentication again. This can be avoided by instructing the MS office to open the URLs directly in the browser by modifying the registry key.

Create a new DWORD named ForceShellExecute and set its value to 1 in the below registry entries (Most probably the registry key will not be present, create a new one)

For 32-bit versions of Office installed on 64-bit operating systems: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Internet

For 32-bit versions of Office installed on 32-bit operating systems, or 64-bit versions of Office installed on 64-bit operating systems:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Internet

Note: Even though I have 64bit Office 365 enterprise I had to set the 32bit registry key.

=============

Edit: Hmm, maybe not. Found this link where someone was trying to control this behavior with InTune.

 

[britechguy]

Guys,

While this continues to be a fascinating discussion, the two central issues for me are:

1. Being able to know which Edition (and there are editions) of M365 is in use WITHOUT having to log in to an individual user's MS Account, if there is in fact a way to do it.

2. Knowing which Edition(s) actually support the previously screen shot presented Link Handling options (as opposed to just the single checkbox for the first one of those two).

I have yet to deal with any Office/M365 where I can control what controls/options appear in the program's options (Outlook, in this case, but it could be Word, Excel, etc.) based on anything I can do as an end user or a tech. Those dialogs, and the Advanced options dialog in particular, have always been "baked-in" to the program and, for all practical intents and purposes, hard coded.

If there is a way to do this via Registry Hack, that would be great to know, but I really am focused, in this particular case, about at least trying to find a way that your average user (period) and your typical screen-reader user can use to get this setting in the M365 world, and I'm beginning to suspect the answer is going to lie in having a specific Edition of M365.

Now I will have to ask all my sample providers to log in to their respective MS Accounts and tell me exactly which M365 they are subscribed to.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Office 2019 was supposed to be the last "year" release of perpetual office, but push back forced them into doing Office 2022.

The thing that gets strange is, until those versions of office leave mainstream support, they're indistinguishable from the current O365 release. The problem with the latter is that at any given point in time there are 3 effective versions in play.

So yeah you have to start with the online account to get the actual subscription involved. This includes all current supported versions of Office that are perpetually licensed since those too also require an online account.

And here's the rub, the ugly part that no one wants to do, but we're all going to have to enforce for our own sanity...

If the user has lost the online account that has their entitlement in it... they've lost the license to the software. The official fix is... buy a new copy. No one here can bill for the time it takes to help users keep track of their subscriptions. People need to do that themselves, and we really cannot help them.

 

[britechguy]

If the user has lost the online account that has their entitlement in it... they've lost the license to the software.

I'll agree with that only if the software stops functioning and a reinstall is necessary. Otherwise, if it was installed legally and is continuing to work, it's still legally licensed via the method at the time of origination.

This is another case where I out and out refuse to become the gatekeeper for licensing entities. They are the gatekeepers, not me, and I'm not about to go on a fishing expedition on every machine I touch to verify that each and every license for each and every piece of software is up to snuff. If I didn't install it, and don't need to reinstall it, then that's out of my scope.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I'll agree with that only if the software stops functioning and a reinstall is necessary. Otherwise, if it was installed legally and is continuing to work, it's still legally licensed via the method at the time of origination.

This is another case where I out and out refuse to become the gatekeeper for licensing entities. They are the gatekeepers, not me, and I'm not about to go on a fishing expedition on every machine I touch to verify that each and every license for each and every piece of software is up to snuff. If I didn't install it, and don't need to reinstall it, then that's out of my scope.

You don't have to, but if you run into a situation where a reinstall is necessary, in a break fix model that's the sale of a new license. The time it takes to track down a lost license isn't often billable, and if it is? Knock yourself out!

 

[britechguy]

The time it takes to track down a lost license isn't often billable, and if it is? Knock yourself out!

In my end of the world, pretty much all time is billable. If I'm doing something for a client, and that includes tracking down a license, it's at my hourly rate. That being said, I won't spend "as much time as it takes," only as much as would make sense to see if I can keep the client from having to buy again. For standalone versions of Office it's worth up to an hour to try to avoid another purchase again, if that's what the client insists on.

I have no idea if it's legal or not (and I suspect not) but I keep being sorely tempted to get M365 Family for myself and my partner, and selling the remaining seats (at a trivial cost) to my clients. Perhaps even having multiple licenses for M365 Family and subdividing the seats. But I'm sure that there is something, somewhere in the license that states you can't do that. I could probably give 'em away, though, as I know of no limitations on who persons 2 thru 6 may be for M365 Family other than they're home users.

But for those who really, really want a standalone office suite these days, I'm going with either LibreOffice or SoftMaker Free Office (or the paid version). But even SoftMaker is going to a subscription model for its paid version, though there appears that there will be a standalone version in parallel with that. SoftMaker Office NX and SoftMaker Office 2024.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@britechguy

The Home / Family M365 subs have a license that explicitly forbids commercial use of any kind, and this use includes resale. It also forbids sharing beyond the immediate family unit.

Most of this is completely unenforceable of course but that's what's in the EULA.

And yes, if you want a free standing productivity suite, Free Office or LibreOffice are vastly better choices. Microsoft isn't interested in that market anymore.

 

[britechguy]

And yes, if you want a free standing productivity suite, Free Office or LibreOffice are vastly better choices. Microsoft isn't interested in that market anymore.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the blind and low-vision community in the coming years. Almost none of those clients really wants M365, yet because Microsoft has owned the office suite space, for all practical intents and purposes, for decades in business all screen reader developers focus on making sure they work well with Microsoft Office and M365.

It's a catch-22, as none of the alternative free standing productivity suites is nearly as accessible, on the whole, as Office/M365 is. And given that there does not exist a cadre of thousands doing screen reader development, there is a real need to focus on what's most popular in the workplace.

[As to M365 family and restrictions for "within the family unit" I'd love to see the definition of "family unit" used. While I can understand the resale part, if I buy something that's allowed to be used by 2 to 6 people, I think I should be entirely free to choose who "the other 5" are if I'm not reselling. By the way, do you happen to know if the 6TB of storage that comes with Family is strictly limited to 1TB per person, or is it 6TB total that can be apportioned among "the six" as needed, so one person could conceivably use 3TB but the other 5 would then have 3TB between them. I've been unable to find this (and I have not dug into the EULA).]

 

[fincoder]

I know it can't be either Personal or Family, as it has Publisher and Outlook.

Incorrect. 365 Personal and Family have all apps included. It has Publisher and Outlook, it even has Access. This is one reason why 365 is popular for residential users (and for self-employed or home businesses even though it's not allowed for them).

Lots of older home users love Publisher, and they've had it since the days of Office 2007 Professional Academic Edition (I can't remember if there was an equivalent 2010 version) or earlier. Also, in my town there is a "Seniors Computer Club" and they actually teach Publisher, meaning lots of my customers want it. The Club has a free Office Pro Plus license for internal use so they have Publisher on every PC.

 

[britechguy]

Incorrect. 365 Personal and Family have all apps included.

Then tell Microsoft.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mic...mily/cfq7ttc0k5dm?activetab=pivot:overviewtab

Compare All Microsoft 365 Plans (Formerly Office 365) - Microsoft Store

Find the right Microsoft 365 Family or Personal plan for all your devices. Includes AI-powered Office apps, 1 TB of cloud storage, and premium mobile features.

www.microsoft.com

They do not include Publisher or Access - at least not in the USA, which is the context about which I am posting since it's where I live and do business. [I did screw up saying Outlook, I meant to say Access]. I can't say what MS might include elsewhere.

Even Microsoft 365 Business Basic doesn't have Publisher or Access included here in the USA: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business/compare-all-microsoft-365-business-products

 

[fincoder]

Then tell Microsoft.

They already know. I should have specified that Publisher and Access work on PC only.
On your linked web page did you scroll down a bit and see the table:

Compare Microsoft 365 with Office​

 

[fincoder]

Even Microsoft 365 Business Basic doesn't have Publisher or Access included

Because that plan doesn't include any desktop applications at all! It only allows access to web-based apps.

 

[britechguy]

I'm convinced, both that these are included and Microsoft can't put together a webpage to communicate clearly to save its life.

If these things are included they should be shown in the "app icon collection" acros the top, and they aren't, yet obscure apps that few use (relatively speaking) are prominently featured.

 

[fincoder]

I'm convinced, both that these are included and Microsoft can't put together a webpage to communicate clearly to save its life.

Yes, and you're not the only one to assume the list at the top of the page is all you get. I've had this exact discussion with others. I know because I install it for customers often. I suspect the marketing people didn't want to list apps in the summary that weren't available on Mac.

Until recently very few people knew that Personal could be used on up to 5 devices, many people bought Family so they could have it on their two home PCs but never 'shared' it to another account.

 

[britechguy]

Yes, and you're not the only one to assume the list at the top of the page is all you get.

Well, it goes further than that. They don't even list this in "the short list" in the bullet points.

Heaven knows if what's on the business page is any more accurate as far as the icons being representative of all you get. They note that Publisher and Access are PC only there.

At least I now know that I wouldn't lose Publisher and Access, both of which I use occasionally, were I ever to go to M365. I suspect I won't end up doing so, though. I don't use Outlook, and the remaining Office programs in Office 2016 will likely serve me for years to come.