SUBSCRIPTION WRONGLY IDENTIFIED AS NOT PAID

Question

SUBSCRIPTION WRONGLY IDENTIFIED AS NOT PAID

David Willis 0

(because of computer issues at the time of renewal) my subscription was paid using my wife's email address and i have (in theory) installed that on (our) machine but microsoft365 personal is now closed to me as it says the subscription hasn't been renewed. How do I get to access my files?

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Hi David Willis,

It sounds like the payment may have been completed under a different Microsoft account, but this does not necessarily mean that your files have been lost.

First, please sign in to the Services & subscriptions page with both your Microsoft account and your wife’s account, one at a time, and check which account shows the active Microsoft 365 subscription. Also check whether the listed plan is Microsoft 365 Personal or Microsoft 365 Family.

If it is a Family subscription under your wife’s account, your wife can share the subscription with your Microsoft account from the Microsoft 365 sharing page. If it is a Personal subscription, it cannot be shared with another account, so Office must be signed in with the account that owns the subscription.

Your documents should still remain in their original location. If they were saved in OneDrive, sign in to OneDrive on the web with the account that was originally used to save them. If they were saved locally, check the Documents folder on the computer.

Could you confirm which account shows the active subscription, whether the plan is Personal or Family, and whether the files were saved on the computer or in OneDrive? Please do not post either email address publicly. Thank you so much for your understanding.

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Answer 2

If the renewal was purchased under the wife's Microsoft account, the subscription is attached to that account and cannot be moved to a different Microsoft account. To regain editing access and subscription benefits on the PC:

Go to Services & subscriptions and sign in with the Microsoft account that was used to pay for Microsoft 365.
Confirm that the subscription shows as active.
In an Office app such as Word, go to File > Account and make sure the same Microsoft account is signed in there.
Restart the Office app and check whether editing is restored.

If the subscription was bought on the wrong account and access is needed on a different account, the supported path is:

Sign in to Services & subscriptions with the account that was used for the purchase.
Cancel that subscription.
After cancellation is completed, purchase a new subscription using the intended Microsoft account.

If the apps still show the subscription as expired after confirming the correct account is active, check whether the installed apps are using an old or different license. In that case, uninstall Microsoft 365 Personal and reinstall it from the active subscription shown in Services & subscriptions.

If access is needed immediately, the files can still be opened, and Office on the web can be used in a browser while the subscription issue is being corrected. If the account cannot be signed in to, use the sign-in helper tool. If the subscription status is wrong even online, contact Microsoft Support.