Microsoft Faces Backlash Over Unremovable Office Upgrade Banner

Microsoft adds upgrade ads to Office apps, prompting criticism from paying Microsoft 365 customers who cannot dismiss the new promotion.

The company has started displaying an “Upgrade your plan” banner in the title bar of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The banner includes a diamond icon and remains visible even when the user already has an active Microsoft 365 subscription.

Microsoft currently provides no setting to hide, dismiss, or permanently remove the banner.

Office users criticize the persistent banner

Customers have complained that Microsoft now uses software included with their paid subscriptions to advertise more expensive plans.

Numerous complaints have appeared on Microsoft’s official Word and Excel feedback portals. Users have focused much of their criticism on the banner’s permanent placement and the lack of a dismiss button.

The situation has also renewed concerns about Microsoft increasingly treating Windows and Microsoft 365 apps as platforms for promoting its other services.

How the Office upgrade advertisement works

Clicking the “Upgrade your plan” banner opens a separate window showing the customer’s current subscription.

Microsoft then displays alternative personal and business plans alongside features such as higher Copilot limits, cloud storage, ransomware protection, and secure email.

A Microsoft 365 Family subscriber may receive an offer to upgrade to Microsoft 365 Premium. Microsoft officially prices Premium at $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year. It includes the Family plan’s features, higher AI usage limits, and access to Copilot capabilities reserved for Premium subscribers.

Neowin reported that one Family subscriber received a promotional first-month price of $9.99 before the subscription returned to its regular rate.

Microsoft has not confirmed whether it plans to remove the new banner or add an option to disable it.

The company has recently adjusted other controversial product changes following customer backlash. Microsoft paused plans to remove the expanded People Card from Outlook Classic and changed the intrusive floating Copilot button in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Microsoft also faces fresh privacy questions over GDID, a persistent identifier connected to individual Windows installations. The controversy prompted former Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer to address the issue, although he later acknowledged that his initial response confused GDID with the technically different GUID system.