Office 2021 and Office LTSC for Windows and Mac FAQ

Microsoft Office 2021 is the essential tool you need to capture, analyze, and organize your ideas. It includes classic versions of the Office apps with a one-time purchase.

• Office Home & Student 2021  - For students and families who want classic Office apps installed on one PC or Mac for use at home or school. Includes classic versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote installed on one PC or Mac.

• Office Home & Business 2021 – For families and small businesses who want classic Office apps and email installed on one PC or Mac for use at home or work. Includes classic versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook installed on one PC or Mac.

• Office Professional 2021 - For families and small businesses who want classic Office apps and email installed on one PC for use at home or work. Includes classic versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook plus Publisher and Access installed on one PC.

Office LTSC is the latest perpetual version of Microsoft 365 for commercial and government customers, a device-based license available as a one-time, “perpetual” purchase, available on both platforms (Windows and Mac). Like the previous version Office 2019, Office LTSC will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access (Windows only) and Publisher (Windows only).

Customers can check the Account in the backstage of any app and see which version of Office LTSC they are running. You can do this by selecting File > Account. This release is Office LTSC 2021. For Mac, go to <App Name> in the menu bar and choose About.

We are happy to confirm our commitment to another release of the perpetual version of Microsoft 365 in the future, beyond this release.

No. Microsoft 365 is a subscription service that makes sure you always have the most up-to-date modern productivity tools. Microsoft 365 already has all the features that will be coming to Office 2021 and Office LTSC, including such features as real-time collaboration as well as other advanced productivity and security features not found in Office 2021 or Office LTSC.

Microsoft 365 is a subscription that comes with premium apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access (Publisher and Access available on PC only). The apps can be installed on multiple devices, including PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Android tablets, and Android phones. Microsoft 365 also comes with services like 1 TB of OneDrive storage, 60 Skype minutes per month, and Microsoft chat and phone support. With a subscription, you get the latest versions of the apps and automatically receive updates when they happen.

Office 2021 is a one-time purchase that comes with classic apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for PC or Mac, and does not include any of the services that come with a Microsoft 365 subscription. One-time purchases don’t have an upgrade option, which means if you plan to upgrade to the next major release, you'll have to buy it at full price.

Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, the cloud-connected version of Microsoft 365, delivers the most productive and most secure Microsoft 365 experience—with the lowest total cost of ownership for deployment and management. However, for customers who can’t move all their devices to the cloud just yet due to inability to take regular updates, or have fully disconnected and secure environments, Office LTSC is available. Office LTSC is a one-time release version of Microsoft 365 apps, as with previous perpetual releases.

The Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans combine the familiar Microsoft 365 desktop suite of premium apps with cloud-based versions of Microsoft's next-generation communications and collaboration services—including Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Office Mobile, Office for the web, and Microsoft Teams—to help users be productive from virtually anywhere. Microsoft 365 Apps is the most secure version of Microsoft 365. Learn more about service plans in this article.

Yes, Office 2021 and Office LTSC ships both 32-bit and 64-bit releases of Windows versions, and Office 2021 for Mac and Office LTSC for Mac continue shipping 64-bit releases.

For help deciding which version is right for you, see Choose between the 64-bit or 32-bit version of Office.

Office 2021 can be installed on one Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC or one of the three most recent macOS versions.

Yes, both Office 2021 and Office LTSC will have both Windows and Mac versions.

Internet access is required for the following situations with Office 2021:

• Internet access is required to lookup device pre-entitlements in case your device came bundled with a copy of Office.

• Internet access is required to redeem and associate a copy of Office with your Microsoft account or your device ID.

• Internet access is required to activate apps, like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

• Periodic internet is required to keep your apps activated.

You can activate Office 2021 over an internet connection, and you may need to periodically connect to confirm the license associated with the licensed device. You should also connect to the Internet regularly to keep your version of Office up to date and benefit from automatic updates.

Although security updates and quality updates to Office LTSC are made available via the internet, they can be hosted on-premises for disconnected networks. Office LTSC will not receive new features. If you want to get new Microsoft 365 features on an ongoing basis, consider moving to an Office 365 or Microsoft 365 plan.

The Windows desktop version of OneNote ships with Office 2021 and Office LTSC.

Yes, both Office 2021 and Office LTSC continue to support Visual Basic for Applications (VBA).

Office 2021 for Windows and Office LTSC for Windows include only a subset of the features included in Microsoft 365 Apps. This subset includes up-to-date accessibility features, capabilities like Dynamic Arrays and XLOOKUP in Excel, visual improvements, and performance improvements across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. While Microsoft 365 Apps will continue to get the latest improvements in modern collaboration, advanced security, and intelligent capabilities as soon as they are available, Office 2021 for Windows and Office LTSC for Windows will remain locked in time. For more information on features, please visit our “What’s New” page.

Like the Windows version, Office 2021 for Mac and Office LTSC for Mac will include only a subset of the long list of features that have been added to Microsoft 365 Apps for Mac over the last three years. The updated apps will only include performance improvements, new accessibility features, other new and improved capabilities including Dynamic Arrays with new functions and XLOOKUP in Excel, and better performance of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Office 2021 for Mac and Office LTSC for Mac will also include Microsoft Teams, allowing customers to enable and try this experience if they choose to. For more information on features, please visit our “What’s New” page.

For PC users, Office 2021 will require Windows 10 and later. For more information on system requirements, see Microsoft 365 and Office Resources page.

Office LTSC is supported on Windows 11 and Windows 10. For a full list of supported operating systems, see System requirements for Microsoft 365 and Office.

Commercial versions of Office LTSC will have 5 years of support under the Fixed Lifecycle Policy. The Modern Lifecycle Policy governs products that may have more frequent changes with a faster update cadence and allows for small changes with a minimum 30-day advance notice to customers.

Office LTSC will go out of support on October 13, 2026.

Modern software not only provides new features to help people do their best work, but also new, more efficient manageability solutions and more comprehensive approaches to security. Software that is a decade old or more, and hasn’t benefited from this innovation, is difficult to secure and inherently less productive. As the pace of change accelerates, it has become imperative to move our software to a more modern cadence. By adopting the 5 year period, Office 2021 will help reduce this exposure.

For Mac users, Office 2021 for Mac is supported on the three most recent versions of macOS. For more information on system requirements, see Microsoft 365 and Office Resources page.

Microsoft 365 for Mac is supported on the three most recent versions of macOS. As new major versions of macOS are made generally available, Microsoft will drop support for the oldest version and support the newest and previous two versions of macOS. Product functionality and feature availability may vary on older systems. For a full list of system requirements, see System requirements for Microsoft 365 and Office.

Like the Windows version, the commercial version of Office LTSC for Mac has 5 years of support under the Fixed Lifecycle Policy. The Modern Lifecycle Policy governs products that may have more frequent changes with a faster update cadence and allows for small changes with a minimum 30-day advance notice to customers.

Office LTSC for Mac will have the same monthly update cadence as previous releases of perpetual Microsoft 365 for Mac.

Office LTSC for Mac will go out of support on October 13, 2026.

Office 2021 for Windows and Office LTSC for Windows are installed using the Click-to-Run installation technology instead of Windows Installer (MSI). Click-to-Run is used to install Office 2019 volume products and has been available with most Microsoft 365 products since Office 2010.

Office 2021 for Mac and Office LTSC for Mac uses the standard Apple Package format (pkg) - the same technology that we have used for previous perpetual releases including Office 2019 for Mac.

Microsoft Teams is the default installed app for both Office LTSC and Office LTSC for Mac, allowing customers to enable and try the product. Office LTSC ships with the Skype for Business client app, but it is not installed automatically; instead, it is provided as an optional installation in support of our on-premises Skype for Business customers. Skype for Business remains a separate, optional download for Office LTSC for Mac, as in previous Mac versions of Office.

If you have a Windows 11 device, Microsoft Teams is included. It is also included in Office 2021 for use on Windows 10 and macOS.

Office LTSC comes with the Microsoft Teams client in the Microsoft 365 installer. When the user launches the Microsoft Teams client app, they will be prompted to sign in. Users whose Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) account is linked to an existing Microsoft Teams, Office 365, or Microsoft 365 service plan will be able to use that account to log in to their regular licensed service. Users without an existing license will be able to use Teams Free or Exploratory service.

Microsoft Teams updates twice a month and requires internet connection for automatic updates. Users are not supported and may be blocked from using Teams desktop if they have not updated for 3 months, or lag 2 versions.