If Microsoft got what it wanted, Office 2021 would probably be nothing new – the Redmond giant would almost certainly prefer everyone to simply subscribe to Microsoft 365, pay a small monthly or annual fee, and get new features and fixes as they come out. For many, if not most Office users, the subscription-based service is the most convenient way to get Office, even when they want to use it as locally installed software, rather than doing their job in the browser and in the cloud.
For the rest of us – and for those who don’t want to put up with the Byzantine procedures required to install Microsoft 365 applications on remote desktop servers – there is Office 2019 now, and there will be Office 2021 later this year. There will also be a new Office LTSC (Long Term Service Channel), which negotiates a 10 percent price increase for a guarantee of longer support periods … more than the consumer version of Office 2021, of course .
In reality, the “Long-Term Service Channel” version of Office 2021 will still have a shorter support lifecycle than previous versions of Office. Office 2019 had a seven-year support window – Office 2021 LTSC will offer only five. There is no official word yet on the support life cycle of the presumably shorter consumer version of Office 2021.
So far, Office 2021 looks like it will focus mainly on visual updates; its apps include a new Dark Mode for those who prefer light text on a dark background, and unspecified accessibility improvements are also on the way. Excel is scheduled to get some more robust enhancements ported from Office 365, including dynamic arrays and xlookup. The few screen shots of Office 2021 that we saw do not look dramatically different from previous versions.
Office 2021 and Office 2021 LTSC will include OneNote and will be available in 32 and 64 bit versions. Office 2021 is expected to be available for Windows and Mac in the second half of 2021, with a Windows preview of the LTSC version scheduled for April.