I have stumbled upon the most Microsoft support document of all time.
Support for the Microsoft Store installation type of Microsoft 365 Apps is ending. New feature updates will stop in October 2025 and security updates will end in December 2026.
If you have the Microsoft Store installation type of Microsoft 365 Apps, you must upgrade to the Click-to-Run installation type for continuing new features and security updates. The following steps show how you can upgrade the installation type of Microsoft 365 products on a PC from the Microsoft Store to Click-to-Run.
↫ End of support for the Microsoft Store installation type of Microsoft 365 Apps
There is so much to unpack here.
First, if you’re not neck-deep in Microsoft lore, you might not even know what Microsoft 365 Apps even are. Remember Office 365, the subscription version of Microsoft Office? It’s called Microsoft 365 now, for some inexplicable reason, but you probably haven’t noticed because it is a stupidly confusing, nondescript name that nobody out in the real world uses. Adding to the confusion, in 2022, Microsoft announced it would phase out the Office name in favour of calling both the subscription version and the regular, buy-once-run-forever version “Microsoft 365”, but then changed their mind a year later, and as such, the regular, buy-once-run-forever version is now still called Office.
Oh and there’s also the “Microsoft 365 Copilot app (formerly Office)” (at Office.com?) which I think is what used to be called the mobile iOS/Android Office application, which existed alongside the individual mobile Office applications on these platforms (because that was a thing, too – maybe still is?)? I don’t know man, I merely have two university degrees, which clearly isn’t enough to understand any of this 4D office suite chess.
Anyway, the Microsoft 365 Apps (so the subscription version of what was temporarily formerly known as Microsoft Office) can be installed either through the Microsoft Store, which is the application store bundled with Windows that you never use, or through something called Click-to-Run. Apparently, Microsoft is discontinuing the Microsoft Store version of the Microsoft 365 Apps, and is urging everyone to move to the Click-to-Run version of the Microsoft 365 Apps.
Alright, we’re getting really, really deep into the very darkest crevices of the Microsoft Cinematic Universe lore now.
The Microsoft Store version of the Microsoft 365 Apps is almost entirely identical to the Click-to-Run version of the Microsoft 365 Apps, except for one tiny part: the exact packaging method of the applications. Whereas the Microsoft Store version is packaged and delivered in Microsoft’s Appx packaging format (designed for the Universal Windows Platform or UWP), the Click-to-Run version is packaged and delivered through, well, Click-to-Run. So, what is that, exactly?
Click-to-Run is an entirely custom application streaming technology specifically designed for and exclusively used by Microsoft Office. You download a very small installer, which then proceeds to download the various Microsoft 365 applications like Word, Excel, and so on, which you can then start using well before the entire download is finished. The technology is similar to Microsoft App-V. It’s actually remarkably difficult to find detailed documentation about Click-to-Run, which is odd considering Microsoft is usually quite decent at providing documentation for its technologies.
So what Microsoft is announcing in this support document is that if you have Microsoft 365 Apps installed through the Microsoft Store, you’re going to have to switch to the Click-to-Run version. You can check which installation type you’re using by going to File > Account (it might be called Office Account, because everything is made up and nothing is real) – under Product information locate the About button, where it’ll list the installation type.
If your installation type is Microsoft Store, you need to switch to the Click-to-Run version to keep receiving updates. To do so, download the Click-to-Run installer and run it, which will automatically remove the Microsoft Store version of the Microsoft 365 Apps and replace them with the Click-to-Run versions. The reason they’re making you do this is that the Click-to-Run version offers enterprises and corporate customers more control over deployment, update schedules, configuration options, and so on. The Microsoft Store version is more suited for normal consumers, but Microsoft doesn’t care about those, and never has, and never will.
Why is Microsoft?
This is much to do about nothing. To the end user, they’re phasing out one kind of installer for another. I’m frustrated that this new poorly documented format replaced MSI. I use Office 365 through my school, and while Copilot is installed by default in individual Office apps, the new branding isn’t obvious. I suspect part of the reason for the rebranding is to make room for eventually making Windows a subscription service. I have only the Outlook app on my Android phone, again for school, and its just another app, no mention of Copilot, nor does it force the other apps on me. When in Windows, I do actually use the Windows Store, to keep the built-in apps like Notepad and Paint up to date. And some apps like the third party file manager Files prefer to use the Microsoft Store for distribution.
All of it does make me thankful for the times when I’m done with schoolwork, so I can shut the Windows machine down and start up my Debian PC and get back into good old KDE and LibreOffice,
Seems straightforward enough.
“Why is Microsoft?” Because money.
The About button does not always list the installer type, it use to do this on older installs but not anymore and not in every region for some further weirdness. Sometimes it lists the install type next to the About button, sometimes you have to click on About, sometimes it is near the top of the Product Information panel.
I had a dream last night. The year of Linux desktop came and all I had to was run `sudo apt install msoffice`.
That is a dream. Reality is ‘flatpak install msoffice’ obviously.
Click-to-run is basically a web installer that downloads further files, Chrome web installer uses a similar system (a minimal setup.exe that downloads all the necessary files from the web).
The remarkable thing here is that Microsoft is un-supporting their own Microsoft Store, while theoretically trying to convince others to support it.
And the whole branding mess.
Microsoft, always being an incompetent train wreck of a joke.
You think it is better on Linux ? tar.gz ? rpm ? deb ? appimage ? flatpak ? snap ? Not even speaking of the various package managers and repositories…
Each distro has one package manager, and first-party software from the distributor will use that package manager.
Windows has only one “distribution”, and msoffice is first-party software.
In both cases third party software can do its own thing, but thats the fault of the third party rather than the distro.
So you put the burden on supporting several package managers on third party providers ? As software developer, if I have to support a “platform” (Windows, Mac, Linux, …) I’d package my software once for each and not multiple times because “several distros” are fighting for a place under the spotlight.
Repositories’ exploits : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJj4snHHHL0
Linux is not a platform.
@Parodper Linux is Linux. It is a platform in the sense it is POSIX compliant and have the same kernel/ABI so that a program can be compiled on all distro. Just like a Windows program can be compiled on Windows 2000 or Windows 11.
PSX Emu on Arch Linux : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgKjjA8ht9E
I think the main motivation of click-to-run is that you can install multiple versions side-by-side, due to the sandboxing. It also bakes-in automatic updates.