It’s also worth noting that Office 2019 is ONLY supported on Windows 10. This means that Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users will not be able to upgrade their Office software to 2019. This means that if you need to deploy a new version of Office 2016 on a Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 machine you must purchase your Office 2016 license prior to October 31st. As of 13 October, Microsoft will no longer support Office 2016 for Mac. The program is expected to continue working, but it will not be able to connect to Office 365 services. Support For Office 2016 For Mac Will End In October 2020 By Tyler Lee, on 16:34 PDT If you’re still using Microsoft’s Office 2016 on your Mac computer, you might want to take note that support for the productivity suite will be officially coming to an end in October 2020. Support For Office 2016 For Mac Will End In October 2020 By Tyler Lee, on 16:34 PDT If you’re still using Microsoft’s Office 2016 on your Mac computer, you might want to take note that support for the productivity suite will be officially coming to an end in October 2020.
As communicated in MC191345, September 2019, mainstream support for Office 2016 for Mac will come to an end. Upgrades are recommended prior to the support end date. Find details on technical requirements here.
If your organization does not use Office 2016 for Mac you can disregard this message.
How does this affect me?
Although you will still be able to use Office 2016 for Mac, you will no longer receive security updates and bug fixes after October 13, 2020. Upgrade to a newer version of Office so you can stay up to date with all the latest features, patches, and security updates.
- Recommended: Upgrading to Office 365, the subscription version of Office that comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other apps, depending on the plan you choose. With Office 365, you can get apps on your computer as well as premium functionality in the web and mobile apps and receive regular feature updates.
- Upgrading to Office 2019 for Mac. Office 2019 for Mac is a one-time purchase (not a subscription) for installation on one Mac only. Office 2019 for Mac does not receive feature updates.
How to Prepare
We encourage customers to assess the Office 365 option with the help of their Microsoft account team and/or qualified Microsoft partner. Moving to Office 365 enables customers to take advantage of the latest product innovations and ensure uninterrupted support from Microsoft.
Microsoft FastTrack services are available with an Office 365 ProPlus subscription (review FastTrack eligibility) and provide assistance to help customers move to Office 365.
-->As of October 13, 2020, only these versions of Office are supported for connecting to Office 365 (and Microsoft 365) services:
- Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (previously named Office 365 ProPlus)
- Microsoft 365 Apps for business (previously named Office 365 Business)
- Office 2019, such as Office Professional Plus 2019
- Office 2016, such as Office Standard 2016
Examples of Office 365 services include Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business.
For Microsoft 365 Apps, you must be using a supported version. For a list of which versions are currently supported, see Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps.
Important
We won’t take any active measures to block other versions of the Office client, such as Office 2013, from connecting to Office 365 services, but these older clients may encounter performance or reliability issues over time.
Impact of using older Office clients to connect to Office 365 services
After October 13, 2020, ongoing investments to our cloud services will not take into account older Office clients. Over time, these Office clients may encounter performance or reliability issues. Organizations that use these older clients will almost certainly face an increased security risk and may find themselves out of compliance depending upon specific regional or industry requirements.
Therefore, administrators should update older Office clients to versions of Office supported for connecting to Office 365 services.
Upgrade resources available to administrators
We recommend that you upgrade older Office clients to a subscription version of the Office client, such as Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. The most up-to-date subscription versions of the Office client are always supported connecting to Office 365 services.
We provide various services to help you upgrade to subscription versions of the Office client. The following list provides some examples of resources that are available:
- Microsoft FastTrack, for migration and deployment assistance from Microsoft experts.
- App Assure, for assistance from Microsoft with application compatibility issues.
- Deployment guide for Microsoft 365 Apps, for technical documentation.
- Product lifecycle dashboard and upgrade readiness dashboard, for users of Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager (current branch).
- Readiness Toolkit for Office add-ins and VBA, to help identify potential issues with add-ins and VBA macros used in your organization.
Upcoming changes related to connectivity to Office 365 services
Retirement of TLS 1.0 and 1.1
After October 15, 2020, you must be using at least TLS 1.2 to connect to Office 365 services. For more information, see TLS 1.0 and 1.1 deprecation for Office 365 and Preparing for TLS 1.2 in Office 365 and Office 365 GCC.
Basic authentication with Exchange Online
There are some changes planned related to the use of Basic Authentication with Exchange Online. For more information, see Basic Authentication and Exchange Online – April 2020 Update.
Retirement of Skype for Business Online
Skype for Business Online will be retired on July 31, 2021. For more information, see Skype for Business Online retirement.
Additional information about connectivity to Office 365 services
Office 2016 For Mac End Of Support Price
- Versions of Office 2019 and Office 2016 will be supported for connecting to Office 365 (and Microsoft 365) services until October 2023.
- Connecting to Office 365 services using Office 2016 for Mac isn’t supported. That’s because Office 2016 for Mac reached its end of support on October 13, 2020.
- This information about connecting to Office 365 services also applies to Project and Visio.
- This information about connecting to Office 365 services does not apply to InfoPath 2013 or SharePoint Designer 2013.
- For end of support dates for different versions of Office on various versions of Windows, see the Office configuration support matrix.
- To discuss or learn more about end of support for Office versions, visit Microsoft Office End of Support on the Microsoft Tech Community.