Microsoft Office 365: Difference between revisions

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Versions other than the Enterprise or Education volume licensing editions do not allow turning telemetry off fully. Moreover, the setting is configured to the least private setting by default.

Office transmits data about 23 000 to 25 000 different types of events<ref>https://www.privacycompany.eu/blog/impact-assessment-shows-privacy-risks-microsoft-office-proplus-enterprise</ref> (other reports in context of the German BSI audit speak of 30 000 types of events) to Microsoft. Microsoft can adjust the level of detail transmitted remotely. This can go up to every single keystroke being broadcast live to Microsoft servers in the background.

Office transmits data about 23 000 to 25 000 different types of events<ref>https://www.privacycompany.eu/blog/impact-assessment-shows-privacy-risks-microsoft-office-proplus-enterprise ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251218014735/https://www.privacycompany.eu/blog/impact-assessment-shows-privacy-risks-microsoft-office-proplus-enterprise Archived])</ref> (other reports in context of the German BSI audit speak of 30 000 types of events) to Microsoft. Microsoft can adjust the level of detail transmitted remotely. This can go up to every single keystroke being broadcast live to Microsoft servers in the background.

Given that it is not uncommon in some countries even for hospital to run consumer versions of the software, the privacy implications are tremendous. It cannot reasonably be assumed that any data entered into nor any interaction with a Microsoft Office application will stay private.

===Publisher Removal from Microsoft 365 Computers (Oct. 2026)===

In October 2026, Microsoft will be removing Publisher from computers<ref>{{Cite web |last=Poremsky |first=Diane |date=2025-03-31 |title=Can people keep using Microsoft Publisher unsupported after the end of support date in October 2026 |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5389573/can-people-keep-using-microsoft-publisher-unsuppor}}</ref> with Microsoft 365 as part of their "end of support" of the application.

In October 2026, Microsoft will be removing Publisher from computers<ref>{{Cite web |last=Poremsky |first=Diane |date=2025-03-31 |title=Can people keep using Microsoft Publisher unsupported after the end of support date in October 2026 |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5389573/can-people-keep-using-microsoft-publisher-unsuppor |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251124135927/https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5389573/can-people-keep-using-microsoft-publisher-unsuppor |archive-date=24 Nov 2025}}</ref> with Microsoft 365 as part of their "end of support" of the application.

===Automatically saving Word Documents to the Cloud (August 2025)===

In its company blog, Microsoft announced that Word would from now on create documents and save their autosave information to Microsoft servers by default. This setting can be manually reconfigured to use the local computer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Munoz |first=Raoul |date=2025-08-26 |title=Save new files automatically to the cloud in Word for Windows |url=https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/save-new-files-automatically-to-the-cloud-in-word-for-windows/4445216 |access-date=2025-08-28 |website=Microsoft 365 Insider Blog}}</ref>

In its company blog, Microsoft announced that Word would from now on create documents and save their autosave information to Microsoft servers by default. This setting can be manually reconfigured to use the local computer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Munoz |first=Raoul |date=2025-08-26 |title=Save new files automatically to the cloud in Word for Windows |url=https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/save-new-files-automatically-to-the-cloud-in-word-for-windows/4445216 |access-date=2025-08-28 |website=Microsoft 365 Insider Blog |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260131230010/https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/save-new-files-automatically-to-the-cloud-in-word-for-windows/4445216 |archive-date=31 Jan 2026}}</ref>

This leads to all information in the document being uploaded to Microsoft servers even before a user has the chance to select local storage when first saving the document.

@@ Line 47: / Line 47: @@
 Versions other than the Enterprise or Education volume licensing editions do not allow turning telemetry off fully. Moreover, the setting is configured to the least private setting by default.
-Office transmits data about 23 000 to 25 000 different types of events<ref>https://www.privacycompany.eu/blog/impact-assessment-shows-privacy-risks-microsoft-office-proplus-enterprise</ref> (other reports in context of the German BSI audit speak of 30 000 types of events) to Microsoft. Microsoft can adjust the level of detail transmitted remotely. This can go up to every single keystroke being broadcast live to Microsoft servers in the background.
+Office transmits data about 23 000 to 25 000 different types of events<ref>https://www.privacycompany.eu/blog/impact-assessment-shows-privacy-risks-microsoft-office-proplus-enterprise ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251218014735/https://www.privacycompany.eu/blog/impact-assessment-shows-privacy-risks-microsoft-office-proplus-enterprise Archived])</ref> (other reports in context of the German BSI audit speak of 30 000 types of events) to Microsoft. Microsoft can adjust the level of detail transmitted remotely. This can go up to every single keystroke being broadcast live to Microsoft servers in the background.
 Given that it is not uncommon in some countries even for hospital to run consumer versions of the software, the privacy implications are tremendous. It cannot reasonably be assumed that any data entered into nor any interaction with a Microsoft Office application will stay private.
 ===Publisher Removal from Microsoft 365 Computers (Oct. 2026)===
-In October 2026, Microsoft will be removing Publisher from computers<ref>{{Cite web |last=Poremsky |first=Diane |date=2025-03-31 |title=Can people keep using Microsoft Publisher unsupported after the end of support date in October 2026 |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5389573/can-people-keep-using-microsoft-publisher-unsuppor}}</ref> with Microsoft 365 as part of their "end of support" of the application.
+In October 2026, Microsoft will be removing Publisher from computers<ref>{{Cite web |last=Poremsky |first=Diane |date=2025-03-31 |title=Can people keep using Microsoft Publisher unsupported after the end of support date in October 2026 |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5389573/can-people-keep-using-microsoft-publisher-unsuppor |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251124135927/https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5389573/can-people-keep-using-microsoft-publisher-unsuppor |archive-date=24 Nov 2025}}</ref> with Microsoft 365 as part of their "end of support" of the application.
 ===Automatically saving Word Documents to the Cloud (August 2025)===
-In its company blog, Microsoft announced that Word would from now on create documents and save their autosave information to Microsoft servers by default. This setting can be manually reconfigured to use the local computer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Munoz |first=Raoul |date=2025-08-26 |title=Save new files automatically to the cloud in Word for Windows |url=https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/save-new-files-automatically-to-the-cloud-in-word-for-windows/4445216 |access-date=2025-08-28 |website=Microsoft 365 Insider Blog}}</ref>
+In its company blog, Microsoft announced that Word would from now on create documents and save their autosave information to Microsoft servers by default. This setting can be manually reconfigured to use the local computer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Munoz |first=Raoul |date=2025-08-26 |title=Save new files automatically to the cloud in Word for Windows |url=https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/save-new-files-automatically-to-the-cloud-in-word-for-windows/4445216 |access-date=2025-08-28 |website=Microsoft 365 Insider Blog |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260131230010/https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft365insiderblog/save-new-files-automatically-to-the-cloud-in-word-for-windows/4445216 |archive-date=31 Jan 2026}}</ref>
 This leads to all information in the document being uploaded to Microsoft servers even before a user has the chance to select local storage when first saving the document.