What happens when you sign out of office

Select your product below to learn what happens when you sign out of Office.

Microsoft 365 Office 2019, 2016, 2013



As a Microsoft 365 subscriber, your Office apps are activated when you sign in. We recommend that you stay signed in so you can continue to create and edit files, view your recent files list, and save new and updated files to OneDrive.

Signing out isn't recommended unless another person wants to use this installation of Office. Here are some things that you might be trying to do that don't require you to sign out.

I want to work offline

Signing out doesn't cause Office to work offline. If you prefer to use Office without an internet connection, you still need to stay signed in. Just connect to the internet every 30 days so that Office can check your subscription status.

I don't want to save files to OneDrive

You can save files to your local computer while you're still signed in. To make this easier, you can go to File > Options > Save and select Save to Computer by default.

I want to use multiple accounts

You don't need to sign out to use a different account. Instead, just click your name and picture at the top right of the window, and select Sign in with a different account.

If you still want to sign out of your Office app, here's what happens:

• Your account's Office license is removed, and you can no longer create or edit files.

• Your recent files list is no longer shown.

• Your custom settings, such as your Office background and theme, are removed.

• You'll be prompted to sign in the next time you start Office.

Note: To completely sign out of an account, please close all the Office apps after you sign out.

To learn more, see How sign in works in Microsoft 365

When you sign out of an Office app, Office will no longer display your custom settings (such as your Office background and theme) or recent files, and you won't be able to save files to OneDrive. However, Office is still licensed to the account that was originally used to activate it.

To completely sign out of an account, you'll have to close all the Office apps you're running when you responded Yes to removing your account.