As previously announced, Microsoft is ending support for all Office 2016 and 2019 suites, standalone apps, and servers today (October 14). Over the past several years, Microsoft has moved away from perpetual licensing.
Microsoft"s current recommendation for customers is to migrate to Microsoft 365 E3, Office 365 E3, or Microsoft 365 Business Standard from these out-of-support products. For commercial customers who need a non-cloud version of the productivity suite, Microsoft recommends Office LTSC 2024. This LTSC version is targeted at PCs that cannot accept feature updates or connect to the internet.
Skype for Business 2016 and 2019 customers are recommended to upgrade to Microsoft Teams. However, commercial customers who prefer an on-premises solution should upgrade to Skype for Business Server Subscription Edition.
You can find the complete list of products that are going out of support below:
- Office suites: Office 2016, Office 2019
- Office applications: Access 2016, Access 2019, Excel 2016, Excel 2019, OneNote 2016, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, PowerPoint 2016, PowerPoint 2019, Project 2016, Project 2019, Publisher 2016, Publisher 2019, Skype for Business 2016, Skype for Business 2019, Visio 2016, Visio 2019, Word 2016, Word 2019
- Productivity servers: Exchange Server 2016, Exchange Server 2019, Skype for Business Server 2015, Skype for Business Server 2019
From tomorrow (October 15), Microsoft will no longer provide security fixes for vulnerabilities, bug fixes, and technical support for the above list of products.
Jeremy Carlson, Product Marketing at Microsoft, wrote the following regarding the Office 2016/2019 end of support:
Continuing to use products after their end of support can negatively impact organizational security, compliance, and productivity. Migrations can take time, so we recommend starting your upgrade to supported versions of these products as soon as possible.
Customers who have over 150 licenses of the above out-of-support Microsoft products can use Microsoft FastTrack for support with moving to Microsoft 365. FastTrack for Microsoft 365 can help them do the initial setup, including configuring identity, security, compliance, and cloud management.