Reduced Functionality Mode / Aktivering

What if you image a PC With Office 365 ProPlus or prevent it from going online for an extended period of time. Note: I have not yet tested. Any feedback is welcome.

 

Quick interpetation of answer from Microsoft: The red activation ribbon will be visible and Office will prompt you to get online to activate if Office has been activated once before or never activated. If Your License is revoked then Office will enter into reduced functionality mode.
The answer from Microsoft below is different depending on the agent. They seem to have trouble predicting  when Office shows Reduced Functinality versus Activation Error.

Scenario 1: IT sets up student PC With OfficeProPlus from 365 and 10PC are saved as “Spare machines” they are IDLE for 180 days. At first boot, internet is not present.  (Activation Error)
Scenario 2: Teacher/Student does not use his/her PC for 67 days. PC is then booted up without internet. (Activation Error)

In these scenarios two Things can happen:
Answer 1 Reduced Functionality Mode
Answer 2: Activation Ribbon, but full functionality  

This is what Technet says:

Important:
Because of its online activation features, Office 365 ProPlus won’t work on computers that are completely cut off from the Internet. For those computers, we recommend installing Office Professional Plus 2013 and using a traditional activation method such as Key Management Service (KMS) or Active Directory Domain Services. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg982959(v=office.15).aspx

This is what Office 365 Support Says:

The Office Pro Plus package that you download from the portal is in relation to Exchange Online which needs internet connection in order to be able to use it. that This product id active for 30 days and it the machine on which you install it needs internet connection so that it can remain active. If you will not connect the machine to the internet, the product will get inactive, and you will still be able to use it but some options may disappear. (EDIT: Reduced Functionality Mode)

 
As part of the installation process, Office 365 ProPlus communicates with the Office Licensing Service and the Activation and Validation Service to obtain and activate a product key. Each day, or each time the user logs on to their computer, the computer connects to the Activation and Validation Service to verify the license status and extend the product key. As long as the computer can connect to the Internet at least once every 30 days, Office remains fully functional. If the computer goes offline for more than 30 days, Office enters HYPERLINK “http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg982959%28v=office.15%29.aspx”reduced functionality mode until the next time a connection can be made. To get Office fully functional again, usually a user can simply connect to the Internet and let the Activation and Validation Service reactivate the installation.

On the other hand, the Office Pro Plus package will get inactive after 30 days, and after a couple of more days it will go into the Reduced Functionality mode.

In reduced-functionality mode, programs function similarly to viewers. When a program runs in reduced-functionality mode, many commands are unavailable (dimmed). Therefore, you cannot access those functionalities. Some limitations of reduced-functionality mode include the following:

•You cannot create new documents.
•You can view existing documents, but you cannot edit them.
•You can print documents, but you cannot save them.

 No existing Office files are damaged. Additionally, you can easily stop Office from running in reduced-functionality mode. To do this, follow the instructions on the screens that appear.

Best Regards,

Andreea Dragne | Office 365 Support Engineer