Announcing the retirement for Office Online Server
What’s changing? Microsoft is announcing the end of support and retirement for Office Online Server effective December 31, 2026. After this date, Office Online Server will no longer receive security updates, bug fixes, or technical support from Microsoft. This change is part of our ongoing commitment to modernizing productivity experiences and focusing on cloud-first solutions. To help stay secure and compliant, begin planning now to move to supported options, such as Microsoft 365. What does end of support mean? No more security updates. Systems running Office Online Server may be vulnerable to the evolving threat landscape. No bug fixes or technical support. Potential compliance risks. Unsupported software may put regulated organizations at risk of non-compliance. Why is this happening? Office Online Server was designed to provide browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for on-premises environments. As organizations have adopted Microsoft 365, Microsoft is focusing its browser-based Office app investments on Office for the Web to deliver secure, collaborative, and feature-rich experiences through Microsoft 365. What is the alternative for Office Online Server? If your organization relies on Office Online Server for browser-based document editing and collaboration, our recommended path is to transition to Microsoft 365, which includes cloud-powered versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Microsoft 365 offers: Real-time collaboration and sharing. Automatic updates and ongoing support. Enhanced security and compliance features. Integration with Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business. Access to Microsoft 365 Copilot for AI-powered productivity. Learn more about Microsoft 365. And for organizations with 150+ licenses, consider engaging Microsoft FastTrack to support your planning and migration to Microsoft 365. For organizations using SharePoint Server Subscription Edition or Exchange Server Subscription Edition, Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise and Office LTSC 2024 remain supported desktop clients for viewing and editing documents hosted on those servers. If your organization uses Office Online Server to host Excel workbooks in Power BI Report Server, that functionality will no longer be supported. Alternatives include viewing workbooks in the Excel desktop application or migrating to the Power BI service. Prepare to make your move Support for Office Online Server ends December 31, 2026. Continuing to use it after this date may expose your organization to security, compliance, and productivity risks. We therefore strongly encourage all customers to begin planning their transition to supported solutions today. Microsoft is committed to helping you prepare. Use the resources below to help you get started: Explore Microsoft 365 offerings for modern, cloud-powered collaboration. Engage your Microsoft account team and Microsoft FastTrack (150+ seats) for migration planning. See the instructions for how to disconnect Office Online Server from a SharePoint Server farm. Thank you for being a Microsoft customer!
Unable to pass Employment Verifcation step in Partner Center
Hello everyone, I am stuck at the Employment Verification step while trying to enroll in the Microsoft Partner Center. I have already submitted the required documents, including the domain invoice and the assignment letter, but Microsoft responded with: "Based on the information you have provided to date, we have determined that your organization does not currently meet the requirements to pass verification." This leaves me very confused, as the reply does not explain what exactly is missing or what additional documents are required. I have carefully checked the documentation, but there is no clear guidance. As a company focusing on IT security, this is extremely frustrating. We recently shifted from Linux to Windows development, and without a Microsoft Partner account we are unable to proceed with building kernel-level antivirus solutions for our users. This has a devastating impact on our business. Could anyone please share their experience or advise on what specific documents or requirements Microsoft usually expects in order to pass Employment Verification? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Unable to Register - "Legal Entity Already Exists" Error - Cannot Access Support
Hello, I'm trying to register for the Microsoft Partner Network to obtain an MPN ID for Azure app publisher verification, but I'm stuck in a catch-22 situation. The Problem: When registering through Partner Center, I receive this error: "A legal entity matching the request payload already exists when creating the legal entity" The Catch-22: I cannot create a support ticket because: - Partner Center help form requires selecting a workspace - I cannot create/access a workspace without completing registration - I cannot complete registration due to the duplicate entity error What I've Tried: - Searching for existing accounts within my organization - no one knows of any - Attempting to create a support ticket - blocked by the workspace requirement - Looking for alternative support channels - all redirect back to Partner Center What I Need: Either help locating an existing account for my company, obtaining the existing MPN ID, or resolving the duplicate registration issue. Has anyone successfully resolved this? Is there a direct contact at Microsoft Partner Support who can help? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.Applied Skills Missing in Training Report
As a Microsoft Solutions Partner (approx 400 employees) we are working on creating a dashboard for managers to see how we are faring from a skilling perspective. This also helps us in the tracking and working towards retaining our specializations and designations. So far we have used the Trainings Report derived from the downloads hub to feed our database with applicable certifications that are held by our employees. That database we then used to also report on our skilling requirements for the solution area's and the specializations. Recently Microsoft introduced new specializations (Copilot) and those specializations require Applied Skills to be held by employees. These applied skills do not show in the trainings report offered by Microsoft. (E.g. APL-4002: Prepare security and compliance to support Microsoft 365 Copilot,APL-7008: Create agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio or DW-101: Copilot for Microsoft 365 Deployment Workshop ) As such we're wondering whether Microsoft is working on including these applied skills in the trainings reporting?
CSP Account Verified & Authorized yet Indirect Reseller Status: SUSPENDED
Hello Partner Community Please assist any way you can... JillArmourMicrosoft is this in your wheelhouse? We are an CSP partner that is struggling to have our indirect reseller account suspension lifted even though our partner account is now fully verified and authorised. Our account was originally suspended due to a business registration vs shop location mismatch that was not resolved within a 30 day termination notification time limit. We corrected the address problem AFTER the account was suspended and although our account is now verified and authorised, the Indirect Reseller account suspension has not been automatically lifted and we are unable to contact a human representative to have it manually moved back to the Active state. We have submitted several Partner Support tickets but they do not provide actual support at all and automated responses from these tickets return a disclaimer stating the following with no further correspondence and the ticket automatically closed. Hello, Thank you for contacting Microsoft Partner support about the notice of suspension and termination proceedings. In the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program Agreement, both Microsoft and our partners reserve the right to walk away from the partner relationship by providing 30 days' notice to the other. Neither party is required to offer an explanation for the decision to terminate the partner agreement. As Microsoft is exercising its rights under this section 4.b of the Microsoft AI Cloud Program Agreement, we are unable to share an explanation or further details. Kind Regards, *Random Name* (He/Him) Support Engineer Partner Support Delivery - Program Customer Support My Working Hours: M-F 11:30 AM to 08:30 PM AEDT This lack of support is excruciatingly frustrating and terribly aggravating given that we are now subject to an indefinite period of considerable income loss with no recourse. Note that along with the suspension, emails have been sent to our customers notifying them that we are no longer qualified to act as their licensing provider which has been distressing for both our sales team and the customers. Our distributor is doing the best they can to help but they are unable to provide any real assistance and from what I hear, are unable to get any sensible advice from their Microsoft reps. Upon speaking with several other indirect resellers and distributors alike, it is my understanding that many partners are suffering the same or similar denial of service and I question whether this practice is even legal under Australian law regardless of any contractual fine print and disclaimers after the fact. This denial of support is a huge failure of Microsoft's policy makers and extremely poor business practice in general. If Microsoft wish to declare utter contempt for the small businesses that have supported them for several decades then those businesses might consider alternative platforms for their customers going forward. To conclude, I welcome any support or feedback from the community to help resolve this particular problem and help others with the same issue. Kind Regards, One very Frustrated Reseller.Unable to receive questionnaire for Hardware Program application
We've finished all the steps in the application of Microsoft Hardware Program, the last step is to wait for a questionnaire in our email then answer the questionnaire. However we haven't received the questionnaire and have no idea how to solve this issue. Can someone look into this? Already created a support ticket, the number is #2511060010000740.Unable to create Partner Center account
Let me start by saying that there are multiple threads on this issue, but the responses I've seen have not helped me to resolve this issue. I've exhausted all of my options at this point. I am attempting to create a partner center account. I'm based in the United States, and after submitting a valid D-U-N-S and EIN and the required information, I receive this error: Microsoft runs on trust. We engage in a rigorous set of evaluation and certification processes; as a result your request was blocked. If you require further information please reach out to Microsoft support with reference number: {Reference Number} and transaction ID: {Transaction ID}. It is not possible to contact Partner Center support or create a support ticket in the partner center as is recommended on other threads and on the Microsoft documentation. When you attempt to create a support ticket, the "Workspace" is a required field, but no options are available because the original error takes place prior to being able to create a workspace. I want to reiterate - it is not possible to contact Partner Center support or create a support ticket to resolve this issue.Ongoing Issue with Employment Verification in Microsoft Partner Program
Hello I am experiencing a persistent issue with the Employment Verification process in the Microsoft Partner and Reseller programs. When attempting to resolve the issue by clicking “Fix Now” after a rejected verification, I am continuously redirected back to the Identity Verification step. Even after completing the identity verification, I am sent back to Employment Verification, only to be rejected again. This creates a loop, and every time I click “Fix Now,” I am not given the option to upload any documents, but instead, I am redirected to the previous step, making it impossible to proceed. This issue has been ongoing for 50 days, and I have contacted Microsoft Support many times. Unfortunately, I continue to receive the same generic responses, asking for the same documents to be uploaded. After submitting them, there is no further follow-up, and the issue remains unresolved. It seems as though I am receiving automated responses without any real resolution. What adds to the frustration is the contradiction in the process: The exact same documents I submitted for Developer Verification, which were successfully processed and authorized, are being rejected for the Partner and Reseller programs, despite being identical in every way. Given the significant impact this issue is having on my business, I am reaching out to the community for assistance. Has anyone else encountered a similar problem, or is there any guidance on how to resolve this? Any insights or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and support.
