ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Microsoft is ending support and updates for Office 2021.
- You can upgrade to Office 2024 or subscribe to Microsoft 365.
- You can also try another, free online or desktop office suite.
Microsoft continues to offer one-time purchase versions of Office for people who don’t want to pay a regular monthly or annual fee for Microsoft 365. But even these non-subscription versions can wear out their welcome, and that’s what happened with Office 2021.
In a new support document, Microsoft revealed that it will end support for Office 2021 from Tuesday, October 13. This means that the company will no longer provide technical support, software updates, bug fixes or security patches, leaving the software unprotected against vulnerabilities that may appear.
Further, Microsoft will stop updating the online help and support pages for the product. If you have a question or problem, you won’t find the solution online, at least not from Microsoft. You can still use the software as long as you want, just without the usual support and updates.
Also: How to get Microsoft 365 (formerly Office) for free – 3 easy ways
Microsoft typically ends support for certain desktop products at some point. Windows is the most obvious example. But here the deadline is a strong ten years. On October 15, 2025, support for Windows 10 will end after its debut in 2015. Microsoft has come to the rescue for people still on this version with its Extended Security Updates (ESU) program, guaranteeing security updates at least until October 12, 2027.
Released in 2021, Windows 11 still has a long support life ahead of it. But each new annual iteration of Windows 11 Home and Pro is discontinued after two years. Currently, Windows 11 23H2 is no longer supported. Version 24H2 Home and Pro edition will reach end of support on October 13 of this year. Support for version 25H2 stops on October 12, 2027. But with the new 26H2 edition, you will be supported until October 10, 2028.
Also: Microsoft Office 2024 now available without subscription for PC and Mac
The one-time purchase edition of Office used to enjoy a much longer support period, lasting for 10 years. Support for Office 2010 will end in 2020 and for Office 2013 in 2023. Since then, however, Microsoft has become more clumsy. Support for Office 2019 will end after six years in 2025. And now support for Office 2021 is ending after just five years.
The likely reason? Microsoft wants to push more people to its subscription-based Microsoft 365 product. To do that, the company needs to make it more difficult to use the one-time license version.
Office 2021 users have 5 options
Now, what do you do if you’re still using Office 2021? As I see it, you have five options.
- You can use the software without support. I would caution against it just in case serious security flaws occur that would otherwise need to be fixed.
- You can upgrade to the 2024 version of Office, which is of course one of Microsoft’s recommendations.
- You can move to Microsoft 365 with its monthly and annual subscription price. To no surprise, that’s Microsoft’s other recommendation.
- You can completely stop paying for Office and switch to the free online version. The downside here is that this lacks many of the advanced commands and features found in the desktop product.
- You can ditch Microsoft and switch to another productivity suite. Google Docs (along with Sheets and Slides) is freely available. LibreOffice, Collabora Office, and OnlyOffice are just a few other free options out there. Unless you rely on Microsoft Office for specific features and capabilities that you simply cannot lose, remember that there are always alternatives.