Order of Acquisition for M365 if you will use M365 Family and may use M365 Business Basic as well. Does it matter?

[britechguy]

As part of the computer replacements (plural, might as well get a new one for my partner while I'm at it) I will definitely be entering the world of M365. Here at home M365 Family will do just fine for both of us. I may, or may not, end up subscribing, at least for a time, to Microsoft 365 Business Basic just to have access to Teams as the business world does.

The thing I don't know is whether those two subscriptions, on one machine, would be considered "two separate worlds" or not. I know that Business Basic gets me a tenant associated with it, but don't know if Family does or not, nor whether a subscription to Family "owned" by me and my usual business email address would screw up in some way ownership of anything under Business Basic using that same Microsoft Account.

In any case, the simple question is: If I intend to subscribe to both of these M365 services, and may "come and go" with the Business side, should I subscribe in a certain way or order?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Yes they are two separate universes and no they don’t play well with each other. I’d just buy two business basic subscriptions and be done with it. Turning it off or on as you need it is a ridiculous time consuming manual management process just to save a buck or two. Turn it on and use or not the products as you need them and forget about it.

 

[britechguy]

The problem is that Business Basic only includes the web apps for the Office Suite programs, and there's no Publisher, which I do use occasionally. Also, my partner not being particularly tech saavy, I want to minimize the difference between what he's used to and what we'd have.

If push comes to shove, it will probably be M365 Family, and that alone.

I wasn't really looking to turn Business Basic on/off frequently, but I also don't see any need for Teams myself, at least not with any frequency. I was only thinking about this in terms of having Teams and the whole Teams managed storag for playing with for a short time. But based on what two kind members here have already shown me, I don't feel that's essential, as it was very easy to "pick up and go" while watching that aspect of Teams.

 

[Sky-Knight]

They work together just fine actually, my mother does this. She maintains a Business Basic sub on my tenant, for her business related stuff, and she has her own M365 Family subscription.

The only place things get strange is Onedrive. You'll get quite fluent in keeping blue vs white separate! Blue is the business Onedrive and you'll want to be using that for important things. Keeping those two things separate is a bit of a chore, but you'll find the on premise applications simply work, though they do need to be logged into twice.

But again keep track of where you put stuff! The two subs have different services and if a subscription lapses... POOF gone is the data. It's easier to just pick one, but you can mix and match too.

 

[britechguy]

The two subs have different services and if a subscription lapses... POOF gone is the data

Which is why I'll still back it up locally, too. [Belt and braces, as they say in the UK]. And is also why I'll be the person doing the paying, as I don't tend to forget or let things drop through the cracks like my partner sometimes does.

Just curious now if MS gives any kind of a grace period? I could picture many a situation where someone did a subscription that auto-renews with a credit card that was lost, stolen, or replaced for other reasons between the initial date of subscription and the date of renewal. I can't imagine that POOF occurs without any clear warning - several, I'd hope.

 

[Sky-Knight]

30 days, all data is destroyed 30 days after it's marked for removal. This includes subscription termination.

So you've got a month after your stuff stops working, and your login warns on the countdown which includes more alert emails than you'll ever want to see. It starts bugging you 90 days in advance too.

It will not go silently into the night unless you just don't monitor your situation.

 

[britechguy]

It will not go silently into the night unless you just don't monitor your situation

Good to know. Among my existing clients (almost entirely residential, and almost entirely non-techie and many senior citizens) there are few or none that are using M365.

This raises a related question, if you have had M365 and all of your data is synced to your local storage as well as being in the cloud, is it only "the cloud part" that goes POOF or, heaven forbid, does the local synced content get wiped by OneDrive?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Good to know. Among my existing clients (almost entirely residential, and almost entirely non-techie and many senior citizens) there are few or none that are using M365.

This raises a related question, if you have had M365 and all of your data is synced to your local storage as well as being in the cloud, is it only "the cloud part" that goes POOF or, heaven forbid, does the local synced content get wiped by OneDrive?

No because when you deactivate the account it stops syncing. You can’t login. But most of my content lives only on Onedrive. I have a directory and a minor pause while OneDrive fetches my files.

 

[carmen617]

I wouldn't recommend using the same email address for the two different subscriptions. Microsoft really makes it a pain in the butt when you have a personal account and a business account under the same email address. Just use your domain email for the business account, and use a gmail or outlook.com or other free email address for the personal account.

 

[britechguy]

I wouldn't recommend using the same email address for the two different subscriptions.

Thanks. This is as I presumed, since I saw that nightmare with my most recent client under slightly different circumstances.

I have had several Gmail addresses for well over a decade now, and one is strictly for my personal world while the other is business. I'll stick to using the personal one and corresponding MS-Account based on same for the M365 Family subscription.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Good to know. Among my existing clients (almost entirely residential, and almost entirely non-techie and many senior citizens) there are few or none that are using M365.

This raises a related question, if you have had M365 and all of your data is synced to your local storage as well as being in the cloud, is it only "the cloud part" that goes POOF or, heaven forbid, does the local synced content get wiped by OneDrive?

This... is true it is just "The cloud part" that stops working...

However... there is a HUGE PROBLEM with this as it relates to Onedrive.

One of the primary features Onedrive has is the ability to delete the local data while maintaining accessibility. The Explorer UI will show you this, a cloud icon on the file to indicate it's in the cloud only, a green check mark on a white circle to indicate it's in both places but can be deleted later if space is needed, and then the green circle with the white checkmark to indicate the file is in both places and will remain permanently so.

You can right click a folder and inform Onedrive to keep it all here, but that is NOT the default state.

So if you aren't careful, you'll appear to have files "locally" that will not be, and if the service goes away... so will so stored files.

P.S. You cannot use the same email for both subscriptions, as the Home sub needs a PERSONAL account, and the business sub will be attached to an M365 account which is business. You used to be able to overlap these... you can no longer.

 

[britechguy]

You used to be able to overlap these... you can no longer.

That, as I have learned, is a blessing (and a belated one - it should have been that way from the outset).

 

[Sky-Knight]

That, as I have learned, is a blessing (and a belated one - it should have been that way from the outset).

Obviously Microsoft agrees, the support calls on my end alone are bonkers I cannot imagine what their call center was like!