A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced Office 2021, the next major release of the Office suite of applications. The Office 2021 will be released on October 5, 2021, alongside the official release of Windows 11.
Today, Microsoft unveiled the pricing and new features of Office 2021.
Office 2021 will be available in two versions:
Office Home and Student 2021 in $ 149,99. Office Home and Student 2021 gives users access to: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Microsoft Teams for Windows and macOS.
Microsoft promotes this SKU to users who need Office applications for education and/or domestic use.
Office Home and Business 2021 in $ 249,99. This SKU enables shoppers to use Office for commercial purposes. Office Home and Business 2021 includes all the applications mentioned above, as well as Outlook for Windows and macOS.
As for the new features, Office 2021 offers some features that are already available to Microsoft 365 subscribers.
It will have a modern design similar to Windows 11, will have improved collaboration capabilities, Microsoft Teams integration, built-in translator, etc. Office 2021 also updates the OpenDocument (ODF) format to version 1.3 for better compatibility.
You can find the list of all the new features of Office 2021 here.
If you plan to buy one license of Office, you should know a few things.
First, to run Office 2021, Microsoft requires a relatively modern computer running Windows 10 or Windows 11. Older systems like Windows 7 or Windows 8 will not be supported. For macOS, Office 2021 will run in versions: Big Sur , Catalina and Mojave.
Second, standalone Office applications do not receive new features during their life cycle.
Microsoft reserves this privilege for users who are willing to pay for a Microsoft 365 subscription.
Finally, the company states that Windows 11 will not support Office 2013, which means that those who have the old application will have to upgrade or go to the Microsoft 365 subscription.
