Microsoft Is Cutting Off Office 2021 Support in Less Than a Month

Microsoft is ending support for Office 2021 in less than a month, leaving businesses with a choice between Microsoft 365 and Office 2024.

A few months ago, Microsoft urged customers to move to Microsoft 365 ahead of the Office LTSC 2021 retirement deadline. Now, the company is reminding customers that support officially ends on October 13, 2026.

After that date, Microsoft will stop providing security updates, bug fixes, software updates, and technical support for Office 2021.

Office 2021 applications will continue working after October 13, but Microsoft will no longer guarantee their security or reliability. Organizations that continue using the suite could face increased exposure to newly discovered vulnerabilities that Microsoft will not patch.

Customers determined to keep using Office 2021 can also obtain security updates from third-party providers.

Office 2021 applications are losing support

The October 13 deadline covers the applications included with Office 2021 and Office LTSC 2021.

Microsoft recommends that organizations begin migrating before support ends to avoid running unsupported productivity software across their devices.

Microsoft Publisher disappears even earlier

Microsoft Publisher has an even earlier deadline.

Publisher reaches end of life on October 1, 2026, almost two weeks before the broader Office 2021 support cutoff.

That means organizations still relying on Publisher will need to migrate their workflows before the rest of Office 2021 reaches end of support.

Microsoft recommends moving to Microsoft 365

Organizations with 300 seats or fewer can move to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Business Standard, or Apps for Business.

Larger organizations can choose Microsoft 365 E3, Office 365 E3, or Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise.

Office 2024 remains the alternative for customers avoiding the cloud

Organizations that do not want to move to Microsoft 365 can migrate to Office 2024 instead.

However, customers will need to purchase new Office 2024 licenses rather than upgrading their existing Office 2021 licenses for free.

Office 2024 also has a limited support window. Microsoft currently plans to support it only until October 2029, giving organizations roughly three additional years before they face another migration decision.