Table of Contents
Summary
- Support for Office 2016 and Office 2019 has ended; no further updates or technical support will be available.
- Organizations using unsupported software may face security vulnerabilities and compliance risks.
- Recommended upgrades include Microsoft 365 Apps for continuous support or Office LTSC 2024 for fully disconnected solutions.
- Upgrade guidance and Microsoft FastTrack services are available to assist organizations in transitioning.
Admin Impact: High
User Impact: High
Release Start: 14 Oct 2025
Release End: 14 Oct 2025
Services: M365
Category: Stay informed
Tags: User Adoption, Admin Action, Retirement
History
10/20/2025 Item Added to Message Center
Microsoft Message
As previously communicated, support for Office 2016 and Office 2019 has ended on October 14, 2025. No further updates, security fixes, or technical support will be available for these versions of Office. While the applications may continue to function, using unsupported software could lead to potential security risks, compliance risks, system incompatibilities, and other issues.
Support for Visio 2016 and 2019, Microsoft Project 2016 and 2019, and several other products also ended, October 14, 2025. Looking ahead, support for Office LTSC 2021 will end in one year—on October 13, 2026. Organizations using these products should upgrade as soon as possible to maintain security, compliance, and performance.
How this affects your organization
After end of support, Office 2016 and Office 2019 suites, standalones, and servers will no longer receive security updates or other fixes, and no technical assistance will be available for devices still running them. Continuing to run unsupported software may expose your organization to security vulnerabilities and compliance risks and may affect the reliability and performance of services.
What you can do to prepare
To mitigate these risks while maintaining access to desktop Office apps, we recommend upgrading devices to a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 suite that includes Microsoft 365 Apps (for enterprise or for business). Microsoft 365 Apps provides always-up-to-date versions of familiar apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for desktop, mobile, and web with continuous support under the Modern Lifecycle Policy, and is eligible for use with the Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on.
For scenarios that require a fully disconnected solution, we recommend upgrading to Office LTSC 2024. Office LTSC 2024 includes a subset of the value in Microsoft 365 Apps and will be supported until October 2029 under the Fixed Lifecycle Policy.
Take steps to prepare for this transition with the following resources:
- Read the upgrade guidance for an overview of how to move from Office 2016 or Office 2019 to Microsoft 365 Apps.
- Consider engaging Microsoft FastTrack, a Microsoft support service, for moving to Microsoft 365.
Plan ahead to avoid potential disruptions and keep your organization’s software environment secure and up to date.