MS Office showing as "Unlicensed" after Windows 11 Update

Hi did you manage to solve the problem? I bought my laptop in 2019 with genuine Windows 10 installed with Office 2016 which has a product key. In 2020 October Windows update offered a free update to Windows 11 from of course Microsoft. I also updated it and got Windows 11 installed. All went well until January 2023 during one of the Windows regular updates completed, my Office 2016 went missing and all my Excel, Word, and PowerPoint documents can't be opened anymore. The respective icons turned into the Viewer icon. I tried to reinstall my Office 2016 with the product key and it says no longer supported, After searching through Microsoft's office.com and Google came to know that mainstream support of Office 2016 ended on 13 October 2020. Basically, Microsoft wants us to purchase Microsoft 365 with an annual fee as you can't even find Office 2016, etc. in the Microsoft store. Probably have to purchase from retailers to install Office 2016 or 2020 etc. But sooner or later I think they will terminate all Office apps and only install Microsoft 365. Very sad how they are making money by forcing us and bullying us by removing genuinely installed Office apps and then giving you the run around to finally either install new Office or purchase Microsoft 365!!!!