Official support for Microsoft Office 2021 ends on 13 October 2026

On October 14, 2026, Word will launch as usual—and that is precisely where the risk of Office 2021 lies

Microsoft will end support for Office 2021 and Office LTSC 2021 on October 13, 2026. The next morning, Excel will open just like any other day: no warning, no lockout, no error message. That’s exactly why migration efforts stall in many organizations—there’s no obvious trigger.

Yet the deadline affects more than just the Office suite itself; there is no extension program like the one for Windows 10, and the successor, Office 2024, has edition limitations that regularly cause migration attempts to fail. The following sections break this down step by step.

Why is Office 2021 a security risk even though the programs continue to run?

Because the risk lies not in launching the application, but in the files it opens. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook process documents, spreadsheets, and attachments from external sources—and it is precisely these processing routines that have been a prime target for attacks for years. Starting October 13, 2026, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, bug fixes, or technical support for Office 2021.

Microsoft puts it quite clearly by its own standards: The applications may continue to function, but doing so exposes you to serious and potentially dangerous security risks. In practical terms, this means that any vulnerability found in file processing after this date will remain unpatched in Office 2021. The patch will be released for Microsoft 365 apps and Office 2024, not for the version installed on your workstations.

Which specific products are affected on October 13, 2026?

The entire 2021 generation is affected, not just the Office suite. Microsoft specifically lists Office LTSC 2021 as the suite and the individually available applications within it, including Visio LTSC 2021 and Project LTSC 2021. On the retail side for home and small business users, Office Home & Student 2021 and Office Home & Business 2021 will expire on the same day, as will the Mac editions.

Anyone who has licensed Visio or Project separately will therefore lose support for these programs on the same date as for Word and Excel—a point that is often overlooked during planning because these licenses are frequently managed by a different department. The expiration date does not depend on the date of purchase: Office 2021 follows the fixed lifecycle of five years from the product’s release date. A license purchased in 2025 expires on the same day as one purchased in 2021.

Is there an Extended Security Update program for Office 2021?

No. Microsoft explicitly states for Office 2021 that there is no extension and no extended security updates. This fundamentally differs from the situation with Windows 10, where a paid ESU program created a transition period beyond the end of support.

This option does not exist
for Office—not even for an additional fee, nor for volume licensing customers. October 13, 2026, is therefore a hard cutoff date and not the start of a phase-out period. Anyone who considers this deadline negotiable is planning based on an option that does not exist.

Will the connection to Exchange Online and OneDrive be shut down after the cutoff date?

No, they will not be disconnected, but they will no longer be supported. Microsoft maintains its own list of Office versions that are supported for connecting to Microsoft 365 services; Office LTSC 2021 is listed there with an end date of October 13, 2026, and Office LTSC 2024 with October 9, 2029. Regarding older versions, Microsoft states that they may still connect, but this connection will not be supported.

This distinction is important for planning. There is no specific date when Outlook 2021 will suddenly stop retrieving emails. Instead, there is a state in which Microsoft will no longer provide support in the event of a service disruption, new service features will be missing from the older client, and reliability issues will become more likely over time. We can see what this looks like by looking at its predecessors: For Office 2016 and Office 2019, this status ended on October 10, 2023, and numerous installations still connect to this day—just without any entitlement to support.

What are the successors, and how long will they be supported?

Buyers have two options. The purchased version is called Office 2024 or Office LTSC 2024 and will be supported until October 9, 2029—also under the Fixed Lifecycle model, also for five years, and also without Extended Support. So anyone switching today is essentially purchasing about three years of remaining support, not five. The alternative is Microsoft 365 Apps, which are continuously updated and therefore have no fixed end date.

The overview of Office 2024 ⧉ shows
which editions are available in the 2024 generation. This page is the right place to start if you’re still unsure whether you’ll be equipping Windows or Mac workstations and whether Access plays a role in your organization. If you’ve already decided on a version, the quickest route is through the individual product pages below.

How exactly do the Office 2024 versions differ?

The differences lie in three areas: included applications, target platform, and feature set. Visio 2024 and Project 2024 are not listed in the table because they are standalone products with their own licenses and are not part of the suite. Also excluded are the consumer editions Office Home 2024 and Office Home & Business 2024, as they are intended for individual devices and not for centrally managed workstations.

Two entries in the table are intentionally left open. "Depending on the plan" is listed for Access because Microsoft 365 plans vary in their features, and Access is not included in every configuration; which plan includes Access should be determined by reviewing the specific subscription and not by a general product statement. "Via profiles only" is listed for the Mac version because macOS does not support group policies as defined in Windows: Control is handled there via configuration profiles and settings files deployed by device management. The result is comparable, but the method is not.

Which version is right for which scenario?

The decision hinges on two questions: Is Access running on-premises, and does the team use Macs? Everything else is identical in both Windows editions.

For the simplest scenario—that is, Windows workstations without Access—Office 2024 Standard ⧉ is the right choice. This edition includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote and can be centrally configured via Group Policy—it is not suitable if Access front-ends are running in-house, as Access is completely missing and cannot be retrofitted as a missing module.

When is Professional Plus worth it, and when is it unnecessary?

Professional Plus is worth it exactly when Access is in use—and not otherwise. Microsoft describes the difference between the two volume licensing editions in a single sentence: Professional Plus includes everything from Standard, plus Microsoft Access, and this is only for the PC. There are no other applications, no additional management features, and no extended support period that would justify the higher tier.

So,
anyone running inventory management front-ends, reporting databases, or legacy Access applications should opt for Office 2024 Professional Plus ⧉, because switching to Standard would simply render these applications unusable. On the other hand, anyone who opts for the higher tier simply because “Professional” in the name sounds like the safer choice is paying for a program that will never be opened during actual use. A mixed configuration also makes sense here: Professional Plus for the few workstations with database access, and Standard for all others.

What about Macs in the team?

There is only one edition available for macOS, and it does not include Access. In the 2024 generation, Microsoft offers the Standard edition for Mac, but not Professional Plus—Access is generally not available on Mac, regardless of the edition purchased. Support is provided for the three most recent macOS versions at any given time. This is a moving target: as soon as Apple releases a new macOS version, the oldest one drops out of support—even in the middle of the Office 2024 support period. If you’re using older Macs, you should evaluate this point against your own device inventory before making a purchase.

For mixed environments, Office 2024 Standard macOS ⧉ is the ideal complement to Windows licenses, since a Windows license does not cover a Mac and vice versa. This edition is not suitable for organizations that have previously managed their Office settings exclusively via Group Policy and do not use Mac device management: configuration in such environments is handled via profiles, which requires additional setup.

Will Office 2024 run on our existing Windows computers?

Not on all of them. Microsoft explicitly lists the following as supported systems for Office LTSC 2024: Windows 11, Windows 11 LTSC 2024, Windows 10 LTSC 2021, Windows 10 LTSC 2019, Windows Server 2025, and Windows Server 2022 as the supported systems for Office LTSC 2024. The standard edition of Windows 10, which runs on most corporate computers, is not on this list—only the LTSC versions appear there.

For planning purposes, this means that anyone currently running Office 2021 on the standard version of Windows 10 will face two migrations, not just one. Windows 10, for its part, will reach the end of support on October 14, 2025. These two projects can be combined by setting up devices anew with Windows 11 and Office 2024 right from the start, rather than installing Office on a system that will eventually need to be replaced itself. This approach saves having to go through the entire process for every workstation.

What will happen to Publisher and Skype for Business?

Neither application has a successor in the 2024 generation. Office LTSC Professional Plus 2021 included Publisher and Skype for Business in addition to Access; Office LTSC 2024 no longer includes either. Publisher is also being completely discontinued: For Microsoft 365 subscribers, the application will no longer be available as of October 1, 2026; after that date, Publisher files can neither be opened nor edited in Microsoft 365.

There is an important exception
for purchased versions that is often overlooked in practice: Anyone who owns Publisher as part of a purchased license can install and use the application beyond October 13, 2026—without support, but it will remain functional. This buys time but does not replace a solution. Microsoft recommends converting Publisher files in advance: to PDF if the content is only to be viewed, or to Word if further editing is required. For larger collections, Microsoft provides a PowerShell script for batch conversion. For documents with many graphics, the layout may change after conversion, so it’s worth testing the most important templates before processing the entire folder.

Why doesn’t Office 2024 Standard include “LTSC” in its name?

Because manufacturers and retailers use different names for the same products. Microsoft officially refers to the volume licensing editions as Office LTSC Standard 2024 and Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024; in retail, they are almost universally marketed as Office 2024 Standard and Office 2024 Professional Plus. They refer to the same product; LTSC stands for Long-Term Servicing Channel and denotes the feature set that remains unchanged throughout the product’s lifecycle.

The real catch lies elsewhere. In addition to the volume licensing editions, there is a product line for individual devices featuring Office Home 2024 and Office Home & Business 2024—and Office Home 2024 does not include Outlook. So anyone looking for the cheapest option who ends up choosing this line will be replacing their Office 2021 with a version that lacks an email program. Incidentally, one name that no longer exists in this generation is “Office Professional 2024”: The consumer line ends with Home & Business; the “Professional” designation now exists only in the volume licensing world as “Professional Plus.”

What effort is involved in the migration that isn’t listed in any offer?

The effort isn’t in the installation itself, but in everything tied to Office. Four issues consistently arise in migration projects: VBA macros in established Excel workbooks, third-party add-ins such as inventory management, accounting, or industry-specific solutions, Access front-ends with links to external systems, and Outlook data files—including signatures, rules, and calendar shares.

A reference workstation where the templates, macros, and add-ins actually in use are tested before the rollout is therefore not a luxury, but the most cost-effective step in the entire project. Those who skip this step will encounter problems later on fifty workstations at once. Also, be sure to schedule time for the add-in vendors: Whether an industry-specific program officially supports Office 2024 is determined by its vendor, not by Microsoft, and experience shows that these approvals do not come on the same day.

How an organization systematically identifies, assesses, and documents vulnerabilities is a discipline in its own right and goes beyond the question of which Office version to use.

Patch Management and Vulnerability Tracking in the Enterprise
How to identify and prioritize vulnerabilities and provide evidence that you have addressed them.

Does the switch to Office 2024 meet the requirements of Swiss cybersecurity legislation?

It supports a single requirement but does not ensure compliance. The revised Information Security Act and the Cybersecurity Ordinance have been in effect since April 1, 2025, and require operators of critical infrastructure to report cyberattacks to the Federal Office for Cybersecurity (BACS) within 24 hours. An Office version for which security updates are still being released addresses exactly one aspect of this: the handling of known vulnerabilities. As of September 2026.

Everything else—and that is the larger part—is
not covered. Office 2024 does not include a reporting process, an inventory of deployed systems, detection of an ongoing attack, or emergency planning. However, anyone who continues to run an outdated version of Office faces an additional problem: In the event of a report, the organization must demonstrate what measures it has taken—and software without vendor support is difficult to justify in this context.

And what is the situation at the European level?

The NIS 2 Directive requires affected organizations to implement risk management measures across several categories, including risk analysis, incident response, supply chain security, and the handling and disclosure of vulnerabilities. An Office version that receives security updates contributes to the last of these categories because a reported bug can actually be fixed.

Purchasing Office does not cover
the remaining categories: neither incident reporting nor business continuity, neither employee training nor policies for cryptography and access control. Another point is more relevant: software without vendor support stands out in supplier audits and procurement processes because these processes require information on the support status of deployed products. Which companies are specifically subject to these obligations depends on the sector and company size and goes beyond the scope of this topic.

Impact by Sector and Company Size
Which thresholds apply, which sectors are covered, and when a supplier is indirectly affected.

What does the switch to Office 2024 not cover?

Office 2024 is an office suite and not a security product. It does not include Teams, cloud storage, web versions of the programs, or real-time collaborative editing via the cloud. The feature set will remain unchanged throughout the entire support period until October 9, 2029—new features will be released exclusively in Microsoft 365 apps.

More important for security planning is the second gap. An up-to-date version of Office closes known vulnerabilities in the programs themselves, but it does not scan incoming emails for phishing, does not detect suspicious behavior on the device, and does not recover encrypted files. Documents containing macros remain a potential attack vector, even in the latest version. Protecting workstations and email channels remains a separate issue addressed by dedicated products.

Email and Endpoint Security in the Enterprise
: Which layers of protection a current version of Office does not replace and how they interact.

How do I make the final decision?

Answer three questions, and the path forward will become clear. First: Is Access in use at your organization? If so, there’s no getting around Professional Plus; otherwise, Standard will suffice. Second: What operating system do the workstations run on? Standard Windows 10 means two projects instead of one, in which case it’s worth combining them. Third: Do you need ongoing updates and tight integration with Microsoft 365 services, or will a stable feature set suffice for the next few years? In the first case, Microsoft 365 Apps is the better choice; in the second, the purchased version. And when planning your timeline, count backward from October 13, 2026, not forward from today.