Office 2021 End of Life: What Stops on 13 October 2026 and What to Do

Reviewed 7 October 2026 by Jen, Technical Support Advisor at Nerdused. Dates are taken from Microsoft's product lifecycle pages; prices were checked the same day.

Office 2021 end of life is 13 October 2026. From that date Microsoft no longer provides security updates, bug fixes or technical support for any Office 2021 edition on Windows or Mac, or for Office LTSC 2021. There is no extended support period and no paid security-update programme. Your copy does not switch off: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook keep opening and saving files, and a perpetual licence never expires. What changes is that newly found security holes are no longer fixed.

Office 2021 end of life: the key facts

Question	Answer
Office 2021 end of support date	13 October 2026
Editions affected	Office Home & Student 2021 and Home & Business 2021 (Windows and Mac), Office Professional 2021, and Office LTSC 2021 Standard and Professional Plus
Also ending the same day	Project 2021, Visio 2021, Access 2021 and Publisher 2021
Released	Office LTSC 2021 on 16 September 2021; Office 2021 on 5 October 2021
Extended support or paid security updates	None. Microsoft's notice says support ends “with no extension or extended security updates”
Will the apps still open?	Yes. They keep running; they are no longer patched
Supported replacement	Office 2024 (security updates until 9 October 2029) or a Microsoft 365 subscription

Office 2019 was the last version to get an extended support phase, and its support ended on 14 October 2025; our Office 2019 end of life guide covers that version.

What stops when Office 2021 support ends

Microsoft lists four things it no longer provides after 13 October 2026:

• Security updates. Vulnerabilities found in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook 2021 after that date are not patched.
• Bug fixes. If a Windows update breaks something in Office 2021, it stays broken.
• Technical support. No phone or chat help from Microsoft for Office 2021 problems.
• Help content. Microsoft stops updating most Office 2021 support articles.

One more change matters to businesses. Microsoft supports Office LTSC 2021 connecting to Microsoft 365 services such as Exchange Online and SharePoint only until 13 October 2026. After that, Microsoft says older versions “might still be able to connect” but may hit “unexpected performance or reliability issues”, because the services are no longer tested against them.

What keeps working after the Office 2021 EOL date

• The apps. Microsoft confirms all Office 2021 apps continue to function after the end-of-support date.
• Your files. Documents, workbooks and presentations are untouched, and Office 2024 and Microsoft 365 open them without conversion.
• Your licence. Office 2021 is a one-time purchase with no expiry date. End of support is not a renewal deadline.
• Publisher 2021. Publisher reaches end of support in October 2026, and Microsoft 365 subscribers lose access to it. Owners of a perpetual Office 2021 licence can keep using Publisher, unsupported. Microsoft's advice is to save important .pub files as PDF.

Is it safe to keep using Office 2021 after end of support?

The risk is small on day one and grows with every monthly security release that Office 2021 misses. Microsoft's own wording is that unsupported Office is exposed to “serious and potentially harmful security risks”. In practice it depends on what you open:

• Lower risk: a home PC used for your own documents, where attachments from strangers are never opened.
• Higher risk: any PC that receives invoices, CVs or orders by email. Office attachments are a common malware route, and fixes for new attacks will go to Office 2024 and Microsoft 365 only.
• Businesses: many security standards and cyber-insurance policies require software that still receives vendor updates, and Office 2021 does not meet that test from 13 October 2026. Check your own policy wording.

If the PC still runs Windows 10, note that Windows 10 support ended on 14 October 2025. Unless the PC is enrolled in Microsoft's Extended Security Updates programme, neither Windows nor Office is being patched.

Upgrade options after Office 2021 end of life, with prices

Microsoft does not sell upgrade pricing for one-time Office; its comparison page says the next version must be bought “at full price”. These are the supported choices on 7 October 2026:

Option	What you get	Updates until	Price
Office Professional Plus 2024	Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access. Windows only	9 October 2029	$29.99 for 1 PC, $49.99 for 3 PCs at Nerdused
Office Standard 2024	The same apps without Access. Windows only	9 October 2029	$29.99 for 1 PC, $49.99 for 3, $99.99 for 5 at Nerdused
Office Home 2024	Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote for 1 PC or Mac. No Outlook	9 October 2029	$179.99 at microsoft.com
Microsoft 365 Personal or Family	Subscription that always runs the current apps	For as long as you pay	$99.99 or $129.99 a year at microsoft.com

For most Office 2021 users on Windows, Office 2024 is the like-for-like move: the same one-time model and three more years of patches. Two checks before you buy. Office 2024 has no Publisher, and Access is only in Professional Plus. And the 2024 keys we sell are Windows-only volume licences, so Mac users need a retail edition from our Office for Mac collection.

We still sell Office Professional Plus 2021 for people who need Publisher or must match existing installs, with the end-of-support date stated on the product page. For any other new install, buy 2024. The Office 2021 vs 2024 vs Microsoft 365 comparison sets the three side by side, and the Office 2024 editions guide explains which 2024 edition fits.

How to move from Office 2021 to Office 2024

1. Confirm your version. Open Word, click File, then Account. Product Information shows the edition. If it says Microsoft 365, you are on a subscription and already receive updates.
2. Back up Outlook. Note your account settings and, for POP accounts, copy the .pst data file.
3. Uninstall Office 2021 in Settings > Apps, then restart. Microsoft does not support two Office versions with the same apps installed side by side.
4. Install and activate Office 2024. Our Professional Plus 2024 install guide and Standard 2024 install guide cover the download, activation and phone activation.
5. Add your email accounts again in Outlook.

Office 2021 end of life FAQs

Is Office 2021 still supported?

Only until 13 October 2026. After that date no edition of Office 2021, on Windows or Mac, gets security updates, bug fixes or technical support. Office LTSC 2021, Project 2021 and Visio 2021 end on the same date.

Will Office 2021 stop working after 13 October 2026?

No. Microsoft says the apps continue to function. They stop receiving security updates, bug fixes and technical support.

Is there extended support for Office 2021?

No. Office 2021 has no extended support phase and no paid Extended Security Updates programme.

Does the Office 2021 EOL date apply to Office 2021 for Mac?

Yes. Microsoft's Mac update page gives the same date: Office 2021 for Mac receives no security updates or technical support after 13 October 2026.

Do I have to pay again to upgrade from Office 2021 to Office 2024?

Yes. One-time Office licences have no upgrade discount, so Office 2024 is a new purchase. A Professional Plus 2024 or Standard 2024 key costs $29.99 for one PC at Nerdused.

Is it still worth buying Office 2021 in 2026?

Only if you need Publisher or must match existing Office 2021 installs, and accept that it gets no security updates after 13 October 2026. Otherwise buy Office 2024, which is patched until 9 October 2029.

Sources, all checked 7 October 2026: Microsoft's End of support for Office 2021 notice, the Office 2021 and Office LTSC 2021 lifecycle pages, the 2026 end-of-support list, the Microsoft 365 connectivity page and the Publisher retirement notice.