Microsoft Office Lifecycle: End Of Life And Support Status
Last updated on February 19, 2024
Microsoft Office is offered in both online (M365) and offline versions. This is a suite of client and server software and services that also you you to create, edit, manage, and control different sorts of data.
Using Microsoft Office, you can enhance your work and personal productivity by sorting and organizing different text and image-based information. Moreover, it can also handle spreadsheets and databases.
Support status guide
End of life (EOL) is the end of a product’s useful life. When a product reaches the end of its life cycle, the manufacturer no longer supports it. The following table explains the different phases of a product’s lifecycle. Testing status is when the product is initially released and EOL is when product support is no longer offered. The time between these two points is the support timeframe.
Testing
The software is not yet publicly available. It is in testing phase i.e., alpha, beta, release preview etc.
Active
The software is actively supported by the vendor.
Phasing Out
The software will soon reach its end of life. You need to look for upgrade or migration options. The software will automatically go into phasing out status 2 months before end of life.
End Of Life
The software is no longer supported by the vendor. You need to make sure your system and environment are safe.
Version
Released
Active Support
Extended Support
(5 October 2021)
(13 October 2026)
(13 October 2026)
(24 September 2018)
(10 October 2023)
(14 October 2025)
(22 September 2015)
(13 October 2020)
(14 October 2025)
(9 January 2013)
(10 April 2018)
(11 April 2023)
(15 July 2010)
(13 October 2015)
(13 October 2020)
(27 January 2007)
(9 October 2012)
(10 October 2017)
(17 November 2003)
(14 April 2009)
(8 April 2014)
Microsoft Office Online, or Microsoft 365, is always supported till Microsoft offers this service. However, the offline versions, just like any other software, come to an end of service, known as the End of Life.
Microsoft releases a new Office version every 2 to 3 years, each one offering a number of different editions, suited for each individual’s needs. There’s an office edition for regular home users, professionals, students, and enterprises. Regardless, all editions of the same Office version reach End of Life at the same time.
Microsoft offers an active support duration for its Office products, which tends to last around 5 years, and then there’s another 5 years of extended support. However, as observed in the latest Office version, Office 2021, there is no extended support – only 5 years of mainstream (active) support.
That said, Microsoft Outlook is a part of the Office experience. Even though certain Office versions may be supported, Microsoft has blocked and phased out certain Outlook builds that can no longer be run. Here are the details of the Outlook versions that Microsoft has blocked:
- On November 21, all versions of Outlook 2007 will be blocked and the app will be phased out.
- On January 11, 2022, all versions of Outlook 2010 will be phased out and blocked.
- On February 28, 2022, Outlook 2013 versions earlier than 15.0.4971.1000 will be phased out and blocked.
- On March 28, 2022, Outlook 2016 versions earlier than 16.0.4600.1000 will be phased out and blocked.
- On March 28, 2022, Outlook 365 versions earlier than 16.0.8321.1000 will be phased out and blocked.
If you try to run the unsupported Outlook versions, you will get the error “Microsoft Outlook requires an update before it can start“. Here is an easy fix for this error.
EOLs
