Checked by Hanny Ramzy on 27 September 2026. Drafted with AI help, then checked against Microsoft's own lifecycle pages, documentation and partner announcements.
Microsoft support for Office 2021 ends on 13 October 2026. That covers the one-time purchase editions most small businesses buy with their PCs (Office Home and Student 2021, Office Home and Business 2021 and Office Professional 2021, on Windows and Mac) and the volume licence edition, Office LTSC 2021. After that date, Microsoft sends no more security fixes, bug fixes or technical support for them.
Your copy of Office will not switch itself off. Word and Excel will still open. But every new security hole found after 13 October stays open on your PCs, and Microsoft stops supporting Office 2021 for connecting to Microsoft 365 email and file storage at the same time.
Office Niaga supplies Microsoft 365 to Malaysian businesses, through a Microsoft CSP partner, as well as Google Workspace. We do not sell one-time Office licences, so we are not neutral about subscriptions. For that reason, every date and statement below comes from Microsoft’s own pages, and we say where the one-time option is the better fit.
Which Office versions are affected
Several Office versions have reached, or are about to reach, the end of Microsoft’s support. These are the dates Microsoft lists, as of 27 September 2026:
| Version | How it is sold | End of Microsoft support |
|---|---|---|
| Office 2016 | One-time purchase or volume licence | Ended 14 October 2025 |
| Office 2019 | One-time purchase or volume licence | Ended 14 October 2025 |
| Office 2021 (Home and Student, Home and Business, Professional, including the Mac versions) | One-time purchase | 13 October 2026 |
| Office LTSC 2021 (Standard, Professional Plus, Standard for Mac) | Volume licence | 13 October 2026 |
| Office 2024 and Office LTSC 2024 | One-time purchase or volume licence | 9 October 2029 |
| Microsoft 365 Apps (in Microsoft 365 plans) | Subscription | Supported as long as you keep it up to date |
Project 2021 and Visio LTSC 2021 end on the same day as Office 2021. If your office still runs Office 2016 or 2019, you have been without security fixes for almost a year, so the advice below applies to you even more.
Will Office 2021 stop working on 13 October?
No. End of support does not delete or lock the software. Microsoft describes what ends instead:
- Technical support. Microsoft no longer helps with problems.
- Bug fixes. Newly found faults are not fixed.
- Security fixes. Newly found security holes are not patched.
When Office 2016 and Office 2019 reached the same point in October 2025, Microsoft’s own FAQ answered this question directly: “Yes, Office 2016 and Office 2019 continue to function.” It went on to recommend upgrading “to help keep your data secure”. Office 2021 is in the same position from 13 October 2026.
The practical risk is security. Office opens attachments from outside your company every day: invoices, quotations and CVs. In its partner announcement of 15 September 2026, Microsoft warned that using unsupported versions “might expose organizations to security vulnerabilities, compliance risks, and reduced reliability due to the absence of future updates or security patches”.
What happens to Outlook and your company email
This part matters most if your company email is on Microsoft 365. Microsoft keeps a list of which Office versions are supported for connecting to Microsoft 365 services, “for example, connecting to Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, or OneDrive”. This is what it lists:
| Office version | Supported for connecting to Microsoft 365 until |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Apps | As long as you use a supported version |
| Office LTSC 2024 | 9 October 2029 |
| Office LTSC 2021 | 13 October 2026 |
| Office 2019 and Office 2016 | Ended 10 October 2023 |
Microsoft’s lifecycle FAQ adds that only on-premises Office versions that are still in support are supported for connecting. For older versions, it says they “might still be able to connect to Microsoft 365 services, but that connectivity isn’t supported”. Over time, they may miss new features and “might encounter other unexpected performance or reliability issues”, because Microsoft does not test its service changes against them.
In plain terms: Outlook 2021 will probably keep sending and receiving your Microsoft 365 email on 14 October. But if a Microsoft 365 change stops it working later, Microsoft will not fix it for you. If your email is hosted somewhere else, with a web host or a mail service like Office Niaga Mail, the connection question does not apply in the same way. The security point does, because Outlook is the program that opens every attachment you receive.
Publisher is going too
If you use Publisher, there is a second deadline. Microsoft is retiring Publisher altogether, and it has set out these dates:
- 1 October 2026. Microsoft 365 subscribers can no longer open or edit files in Publisher.
- 13 October 2026. Support for the one-time purchase version ends, together with Office 2021.
So moving to Microsoft 365 will not give you a newer Publisher. Microsoft recommends saving each Publisher file as a PDF (File > Save as, then choose PDF) and doing brochures, labels and cards in Word or PowerPoint instead. Office LTSC 2024 does not include Publisher either.
How to check which Office you have
It takes less than a minute on each computer. Open Word (or Excel) and go to File > Account. Microsoft says the product name appears under Product Information. On a Mac, open the Word menu and select About Word, which shows the version and the licence type.
This is how to read what you see:
- Office Home and Student 2021, Office Home and Business 2021, Office Professional 2021 or Office LTSC Professional Plus 2021: a 2021 version. Support ends on 13 October 2026.
- Office 2019 or Office 2016 in the name: support has already ended.
- Office Home 2024, Office Home and Business 2024 or Office LTSC 2024: supported until 9 October 2029.
- Microsoft 365 in the name, with Subscription Product above it: a subscription. It stays supported as long as it keeps updating.
If your company bought Office together with its PCs between late 2021 and late 2024, check those machines first. Office 2021 came out in October 2021, and Office 2024 replaced it in October 2024.
Your options
There are four realistic choices for a small business, and each fits a different situation. This is how they compare:
| Option | How you pay | New features | Microsoft support | Good fit when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 business plan with desktop apps | Subscription, per user | Yes, continuously | As long as you keep it updated | You use Word, Excel and Outlook every day, and want email and file storage in one plan |
| Google Workspace | Subscription, per user | Yes, continuously | Managed by Google | Your team works mostly in the browser and shares files a lot |
| Office 2024 or Office LTSC 2024 | One-time purchase | No, only what shipped in 2024 | Until 9 October 2029 | A PC that must stay offline, or you only need the apps and accept another deadline in 2029 |
| Keep Office 2021 | Nothing more | No | Ends 13 October 2026 | Only a PC that never opens outside files or connects to email |
Microsoft 365. On 15 September 2026, Microsoft told its partners that “businesses with fewer than 300 users should turn to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, or Microsoft 365 Apps for business” when replacing Office LTSC 2021. All three include the desktop apps. Business Standard and Business Premium also include a company mailbox, OneDrive and Teams, while Apps for business has the apps and OneDrive but no mailbox. Business Basic does not include desktop apps, only the web and mobile versions, so it is not a like-for-like replacement for Office 2021 on a PC. Our guide Office 365 vs Microsoft 365 compares the plans in more detail.
Office 2024. This is the one-time purchase successor. Microsoft supports it until 9 October 2029, and it only ever has the features it launched with. For the volume licence edition, Office LTSC 2024, Microsoft says it is “designed for specific scenarios”, such as regulated devices, machines on a factory floor and systems that cannot connect to the internet. It also says Copilot works only with the cloud-backed Microsoft 365 apps, not with on-premises Office. We do not sell Office 2024, but it is a fair choice for a PC that must stay offline.
Google Workspace. If your team already works in the browser, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides can open and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, and company email moves to Gmail. We supply both, so we will tell you plainly which fits your team.
Still on Windows 10?
Check Windows at the same time as Office, because the two deadlines add up. Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025. For businesses that need more time, Microsoft sells Extended Security Updates, a paid yearly programme that sends only critical and important security fixes. It started in November 2025, runs for a maximum of three years, and needs Windows 10 version 22H2.
A PC with both Windows 10 and Office 2021 will soon have no security fixes for either, unless it is enrolled in Extended Security Updates. When you replace Office, it is a good moment to plan the Windows upgrade too.
A simple plan before 13 October
You do not need a big IT project for a small office. These steps cover most businesses:
- List every computer and write down the Office name from File > Account, plus the Windows version.
- Convert Publisher files to PDF now, if anyone uses Publisher.
- Choose your replacement: Microsoft 365 with desktop apps, Google Workspace, or Office 2024 for machines that must stay offline.
- Check your email. If it is on Microsoft 365, make sure every user has a supported Outlook before 13 October. If you are moving email, plan the move first so nobody loses messages.
- Remove the old Office, then install the new apps. Microsoft recommends uninstalling previous versions of Office before installing Microsoft 365 Apps. Our guide to installing the Microsoft 365 apps shows each step, and the first sign-in guide covers signing in with a work account.
- Move your files to OneDrive or Google Drive, so they are backed up and available on every device. See uploading and organising files in OneDrive.
Your documents stay yours whatever you choose. Microsoft 365 and Office 2024 use the same Word, Excel and PowerPoint file formats as Office 2021, so your existing files open as before.
How we checked this guide
Every date and statement in this guide comes from Microsoft’s own pages. We used the Microsoft Lifecycle pages for Office 2021, Office LTSC 2021, Office 2024, Office LTSC 2024, Office 2019, Office 2016 and Windows 10; Microsoft Learn’s guides “Office versions and connectivity to Microsoft 365 services” and “Plan an upgrade from older versions of Office to Microsoft 365 Apps”; the Office lifecycle FAQ; the overviews of Office LTSC 2021 and 2024; the Windows 10 Extended Security Updates page; Microsoft’s Partner Center announcement of 15 September 2026 on Office LTSC 2021; Microsoft’s Office 2016 and 2019 end of support page; and Microsoft Support’s articles on retiring Publisher and on finding your Office version. The screenshot is from our own Microsoft 365 test account. We did not include prices, because they vary by supplier and change often.
We drafted this guide with AI help. Hanny Ramzy then checked every date, product name and quotation against Microsoft’s pages on 27 September 2026. We will update this page if Microsoft changes any of these dates.
Still on Office 2021?
If your team is still on Office 2021, WhatsApp us on +60 16-916 3324 and we will help you move to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, including your email. Tell us how many people you have and which Office they use today, and we will say plainly which option fits.
If you are leaning towards Google Workspace, our migration guide explains how we move email, calendars and files across.
Hanny RamzyHanny Ramzy runs Office Niaga at Web Impian Sdn. Bhd. (SSM 920163-H) in Kota Bharu, Malaysia, helping businesses and agencies move to Google Workspace and business email with Ringgit billing and local support.