Moving from MS Office to Google

[rdjohn]

I have been using MS Office since 2000 and 365 since about 2017. I am now fully retired and so Gmail, Docs and Sheets should easily meet my needs.

There are a few things in .pst format from 2005 that I would like to keep.

Has anyone seen a reliable guide on how to make this transition smoothly?

Once I no longer pay the subscription, are there any stored files that are likely to just fade away and not able to access?

Thanks for any advice

[Harpoon]

Do you need to move?

There's a free version of Office available online

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/free...

OneDrive free has 5GB storage IIRC. There's a new 365 Basic tier which is £20/year which gives you 100GB of storage.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/oned...

[buggalugs]

Set up gmail account in Outlook

Import PST

Done

[eeLee]

I pay less than £50 a year for M365 Family, six accounts with 1Tb each. That's half the MS price, if you want M365 Individual then I am sure you can get it for less or go for the option above. It would avoid a lot of effort.

[Condi]

MS Office standalone versions are still available;

Office 2019 Home And Student - £18
https://www.gamekeydiscounter.co.uk/microsoft/micr...

Office 2021 Professional Plus - £30
https://www.gamekeydiscounter.co.uk/microsoft/micr...

All legal and above board. No subscription.

[alscar]

I used Ecokeys for MS Office Pro Plus 2019 -one genuine licence lifetime use £ 15.49.
Lots of different options on their site.

[rdjohn]

Thanks for the great advice.

My current email in Outlook is a Gmail account from 2000

[rdjohn]

alscar said:

I used Ecokeys for MS Office Pro Plus 2019 -one genuine licence lifetime use £ 15.49.
Lots of different options on their site.

I followed this advice and am now deeply regretting it.
Nothing seems to work with Outlook now, it just goes off-line, I also needed to add a new Gmail account as my old address had been compromised. While I achieved this quite easily with my Android phone and my iPad, Microsoft seems only to want to blur my already muddy water when I tried to add the new email address. Deleting my first effort and trying to start again to manually enter addresses for POP and SMPT just seems to not work.
Do I need to just delete my old MS account and start again? Or, perhaps returning to Plan A and just using Gmail, Docs and Sheets was the best idea afterall?

[Derek Smith]

rdjohn said:

alscar said:

I used Ecokeys for MS Office Pro Plus 2019 -one genuine licence lifetime use £ 15.49.
Lots of different options on their site.

I followed this advice and am now deeply regretting it.
Nothing seems to work with Outlook now, it just goes off-line, I also needed to add a new Gmail account as my old address had been compromised. While I achieved this quite easily with my Android phone and my iPad, Microsoft seems only to want to blur my already muddy water when I tried to add the new email address. Deleting my first effort and trying to start again to manually enter addresses for POP and SMPT just seems to not work.
Do I need to just delete my old MS account and start again? Or, perhaps returning to Plan A and just using Gmail, Docs and Sheets was the best idea afterall?

I know it's a bit late for you now, but my daughter-in-law runs a company with a number of writers (subject to AI I suppose) for SEO copy and content management. Her whole team, as well as her, does everything on Google Docs. I do a lot of my work on Libre Office. Unless you produce massive spreadsheets, and such, the alternatives work fine. That's why MS Office has had to cut prices and accessibility.

[psi310398]

rdjohn said:

I followed this advice and am now deeply regretting it.
Nothing seems to work with Outlook now, it just goes off-line, I also needed to add a new Gmail account as my old address had been compromised. While I achieved this quite easily with my Android phone and my iPad, Microsoft seems only to want to blur my already muddy water when I tried to add the new email address. Deleting my first effort and trying to start again to manually enter addresses for POP and SMPT just seems to not work.
Do I need to just delete my old MS account and start again? Or, perhaps returning to Plan A and just using Gmail, Docs and Sheets was the best idea afterall?

It really isn’t. You are in for a world of pain. We are forced to use the Google suite at work. It’s not just me. The consensus among my colleagues is that it is unutterable crap on its own (lack of) merits, and, worse, is crap in a world that largely uses MS, so calendars often go wonky, for example. And you’d bloat your computer because you would need to download all kinds of extras like Teams because nobody uses Meet. I’d persist with MS.

[Corso Marche]

psi310398 said:

It really isn’t. You are in for a world of pain. We are forced to use the Google suite at work. It’s not just me. The consensus among my colleagues is that it is unutterable crap on its own (lack of) merits, and, worse, is crap in a world that largely uses MS, so calendars often go wonky, for example. And you’d bloat your computer because you would need to download all kinds of extras like Teams because nobody uses Meet. I’d persist with MS.

I'd lay that firmly at the desk of your IT dept and poor transition, management, staff training & support etc etc etc

It doesn't have to be that way, and shouldn't have been, but it's done now and been done badly so it's incredibly difficult to undo the frustration, resentment, and other negative feelings and experiences. Not to mention the bad workflows and habits which will have evolved from a poor transition and implementation.

[rdjohn]

When I had the 365 subscription, I could get help from Microsoft. Will I be able to contact them with the one-off payment form?

[psi310398]

Corso Marche said:

I'd lay that firmly at the desk of your IT dept and poor transition, management, staff training & support etc etc etc

It doesn't have to be that way, and shouldn't have been, but it's done now and been done badly so it's incredibly difficult to undo the frustration, resentment, and other negative feelings and experiences. Not to mention the bad workflows and habits which will have evolved from a poor transition and implementation.

The other explanation, which reflects my experience generally with free non-browser software, with the honourable exception of Daphile and the Logitech Media Server stuff, is that it is seldom worth more than you paid for it…

[alscar]

rdjohn said:

I followed this advice and am now deeply regretting it.
Nothing seems to work with Outlook now, it just goes off-line, I also needed to add a new Gmail account as my old address had been compromised. While I achieved this quite easily with my Android phone and my iPad, Microsoft seems only to want to blur my already muddy water when I tried to add the new email address. Deleting my first effort and trying to start again to manually enter addresses for POP and SMPT just seems to not work.
Do I need to just delete my old MS account and start again? Or, perhaps returning to Plan A and just using Gmail, Docs and Sheets was the best idea afterall?

Sorry to hear that - I obviously had no issues when I installed it which is why I suggested it.
I’ve also not seen any mention of similar issues from others including on here which is where I got the original recommendation from.
Have you tried to speak with them - iirc they offered a helpline ?
Prior to install I mainly used Gmail and occasionally Outlook for email and post install no difference whatsoever.

[Ham_and_Jam]

rdjohn said:

I followed this advice and am now deeply regretting it.
Nothing seems to work with Outlook now, it just goes off-line, I also needed to add a new Gmail account as my old address had been compromised. While I achieved this quite easily with my Android phone and my iPad, Microsoft seems only to want to blur my already muddy water when I tried to add the new email address. Deleting my first effort and trying to start again to manually enter addresses for POP and SMPT just seems to not work.
Do I need to just delete my old MS account and start again? Or, perhaps returning to Plan A and just using Gmail, Docs and Sheets was the best idea afterall?

As others have said, I purchased MS Office pro 2021 from Ecokeys and no issues.

I have 10 email addresses set up, of which they are a mix of POP and IMAP (Gmail, internet provider and custom domains). All work perfectly.

The easist to set up is Gmail, as you dont need to add any settings, they automatically populate and just require your usename and password.

If this isn’t happening then something is fundamentally wrong. I would look at uninstalling Office and reinstalling.

[Ham_and_Jam]

OP, where are your .pst files located?

[rdjohn]

Ham_and_Jam said:

As others have said, I purchased MS Office pro 2021 from Ecokeys and no issues.

I have 10 email addresses set up, of which they are a mix of POP and IMAP (Gmail, internet provider and custom domains). All work perfectly.

The easist to set up is Gmail, as you dont need to add any settings, they automatically populate and just require your usename and password.

If this isn’t happening then something is fundamentally wrong. I would look at uninstalling Office and reinstalling.

I don't know but i think my issue might be with the fact that I had 365 before and simply gave the new key to instal. It did some stuff and offered the wizard to install the new Gmail address. It just will not accept the new password. It installed it as IMAP whereas I would have preferred POP SMPT.

As I went on holiday just after installation in theory I have a lot of emails waiting to download, but fear that this will not now happen since I tried to delete the account and reinstall manually.

I will try calling Ecokeys, but thanks for everyone’s advice

[Ham_and_Jam]

rdjohn said:

I don't know but i think my issue might be with the fact that I had 365 before and simply gave the new key to instal. It did some stuff and offered the wizard to install the new Gmail address. It just will not accept the new password. It installed it as IMAP whereas I would have preferred POP SMPT.

As I went on holiday just after installation in theory I have a lot of emails waiting to download, but fear that this will not now happen since I tried to delete the account and reinstall manually.

I will try calling Ecokeys, but thanks for everyone’s advice

You have referenced the acronym setting SMPT in a couple of your posts.

It should be SMTP. Is that causing the issue?

[rdjohn]

Sadly, no. If it were only that simple.

No excuse, I don't suffer from dyslexia.

[alscar]

rdjohn said:

Sadly, no. If it were only that simple.

No excuse, I don't suffer from dyslexia.

Did you manage to get this sorted in the end ?