The latest desktop version of Microsoft Office is Office 2019. Microsoft has released Office 2019 in September 2018 exclusively for Windows 10, which means that it only supports this version on devices running Windows 10 and its latest versions Windows Server.
Four versions of Microsoft Office are currently supported by Microsoft. These are Office 2010, Office 2013, Office 2016 and Office 2019.
Microsoft uses the terms mainstream support and extended support when referring to the product lifecycle. The company uses the same terminology for its Windows operating system.
The main support starts immediately after the release of the product and usually lasts for five years from the official release. This means that a product will receive security and non-security updates and that the design and features of the product may change.
Extended support starts immediately after the mainstream support is completed. The product will no longer receive new features or other changes, and updates focus on fixing security issues and important stability issues.
Read more about the product life cycle from its official page Microsoft in Greek.
The table below contains all the latest Desktop Office along with the end of the main and extended support for each of them.
Mainstream Support | Extended Support | |
Office 2010 | is no longer supported | October 13 by 2020 |
Office 2013 | is no longer supported | 11 April of 2023 |
Office 2016 | October 13 by 2020 | October 14 by 2025 |
Office 2019 | October 10 by 2023 | October 14 by 2025 |
As you can see, Office 2010 support expires next year. nine months after the end of support for Windows 7. In 2020, support for two key Microsoft products ends.
The products will not stop working, but Microsoft will no longer release security updates for them. Microsoft did some exceptions in the past when it released security updates for products it no longer supported.
Support for the other three Office products expires in 2023 or 2025. Support for Windows 8.1 expires in 2023, and apparently the same goes for Office 2013. This leaves Office 2016 and 2019 as the only desktop products. .
What will happen after October 2025? We do not know. It is very likely that Microsoft will not release another version of Office after Office 2019 to focus exclusively on Office 365 subscription service.
We have seen that Microsoft is very much promoting Office 365 even through Office 2019. The company even stated that does not want its customers to buy Office 2019 but to register in Office 365.
Office 2019 will not change over time. Microsoft will not add any new features or changes, and the updates will be security-related only. On the other hand, Office 365 will be constantly evolving.