To cancel your Microsoft Word subscription, you actually cancel Microsoft 365, since Word is sold as part of that bundle rather than on its own. If you bought directly from Microsoft, sign in at account.microsoft.com/services, find your plan under Services & Subscriptions, select Manage, and work through the cancellation screens. If you bought through the Apple App Store or Google Play, you have to cancel through those stores instead. The whole thing takes about five minutes, but there’s a decision to make first: cancel outright, or simply turn off recurring billing and let the subscription run out on its own.
Cancel Through Your Microsoft Account
These steps apply to Microsoft 365 Personal and Microsoft 365 Family bought directly from Microsoft.
- Go to account.microsoft.com/services and sign in with the Microsoft account you used when you purchased. This is the email and password from the original purchase, which may not be the account you use day to day.
- Find your subscription under Services & Subscriptions and select Manage.
- Select Cancel. Some subscription types show Upgrade or Cancel instead.
- Microsoft will push comparison charts, discount offers, and warnings about what you’ll lose. Scroll through each page and keep choosing the option that moves you toward cancellation.
- On the final page, select I don’t want my subscription.
Microsoft sends a confirmation email once the cancellation goes through. Keep it in case a charge shows up later that shouldn’t have.1Microsoft Support. Cancel Your Microsoft Subscription
Turn Off Recurring Billing Instead
Most people who want to “cancel” really want this option. Turning off recurring billing stops the next charge but lets you keep full access to Word and the rest of Microsoft 365 through the end of the period you already paid for. The subscription then expires on its own.2Microsoft Support. Turn Recurring Billing On or Off for a Microsoft Subscription
Full cancellation is different. It can cut off access sooner, and whether you get any money back depends on timing and where you live. If you still have weeks or months left on an annual plan, turning off recurring billing is almost always the smarter call. You get what you already paid for and no surprise charge next cycle.
You can tell which state your subscription is in from the Services & Subscriptions page. If you see Turn on recurring billing instead of a Manage link, the plan is already set to expire on the date shown and no further charges will hit.1Microsoft Support. Cancel Your Microsoft Subscription
If You Bought Through Apple or Google
Microsoft can’t cancel a subscription you bought through the Apple App Store or Google Play. The billing relationship is with Apple or Google, so you have to cancel in the same store you bought from.3Microsoft Support. Cancel a Microsoft 365 Subscription
On an iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap your name, then Subscriptions. Find Microsoft 365 and cancel from there. Any refund request also goes through Apple, not Microsoft.
For Google Play, open the Play app, tap your profile icon, then Payments & subscriptions, then Subscriptions. Find Microsoft 365 and select Cancel. Google’s refund rules are its own.
The same logic applies to other resellers. A subscription card you bought at Amazon or Best Buy and redeemed on your Microsoft account is managed through Microsoft’s site, because the code was applied directly to your account. But if you set up recurring billing on a third-party platform, you have to cancel it there.
What Happens to Word and Your Files
Once the subscription expires, the desktop version of Word drops into read-only mode. You can still open and view every document you’ve written, but you can’t edit, create, or save changes.4Microsoft Learn. Professional Word Account From a Retired Job Expired Now Can’t Use Any Word Documents Only in Read Mode
There’s a free fallback. Word for the web at word.cloud.microsoft lets you edit documents with a free Microsoft account. It doesn’t have every advanced feature of the desktop app — complex macros and some formatting tools are missing — but for everyday writing it works fine.5Microsoft. Free Microsoft 365 Online | Word, Excel, PowerPoint
OneDrive and Your Cloud Storage
This is where people get hit. Microsoft 365 includes 1 TB of OneDrive storage. When the subscription ends, your allowance drops to 5 GB.6Microsoft. Cloud Storage Plans and Pricing If what’s in your OneDrive exceeds 5 GB, the account goes into a restricted state: existing files turn read-only, and you can’t upload, edit, or sync. Stay over the limit for more than six months and Microsoft may delete the OneDrive and everything in it.7Microsoft Support. Microsoft Storage Quotas
Download anything important before the subscription expires. The 5 GB cap is easy to blow past if you’ve been storing photos, large documents, or email attachments in OneDrive for any length of time.
On the broader data timeline, Microsoft keeps your cloud data for a limited window after cancellation. Your account sits in a disabled status for roughly 90 days, during which you can still sign in and pull files out. After that, data may be deleted, and Microsoft says it will be removed no later than 180 days after cancellation.8Microsoft Learn. Will I Lose My Cloud Data if I Cancel My Microsoft 365 Subscription?
Will You Get a Refund?
Microsoft’s refund policy is deliberately open-ended. The official line is that refunds are “most commonly available” when you cancel shortly after purchase or renewal, but not every cancellation produces one. Eligibility is decided automatically during the cancellation flow itself, so you won’t know until you actually go through the steps.9Microsoft Support. Microsoft Subscription Refund Policy
A few things are firmer. Microsoft offers prorated refunds in Canada, France, Israel, Korea, Turkey, and Denmark for all subscription lengths. Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal get prorated refunds on renewed subscriptions longer than one month.10Microsoft Support. Countries With Prorated Refunds for Microsoft Subscriptions Elsewhere, the standard Microsoft Store Terms of Sale apply and prorated refunds are generally not available.
If you’re on a monthly plan and just want to avoid the next charge, turn off recurring billing before the renewal date. You keep access through the current month and owe nothing more. No refund question to worry about.
If You’re on a Business Plan
Business subscriptions aren’t managed on the personal account page. They run through the Microsoft 365 admin center and require administrator-level permissions to cancel.11Microsoft Learn. Cancel Your Microsoft Business Subscription in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center For accounts under a Microsoft Customer Agreement, prorated credits or refunds are available only if you cancel within seven days of the start or renewal. If your organization bought through a Microsoft partner or reseller, you have to contact that partner directly to cancel.
When the Manage or Cancel Option Isn’t There
If you don’t see a Manage link next to your subscription, the most common cause is being signed into the wrong Microsoft account. Plenty of people have more than one without realizing it. Sign out and sign back in with the email that received the original purchase confirmation.12Microsoft Learn. How to Cancel a Subscription That Is Not Showing on My Account
The option can also be absent because the subscription was bought through a third-party reseller (cancel there instead) or because the subscription is already set to expire and no cancellation is needed.