Office LTSC 2021 end of support

Office LTSC 2021, Project LTSC 2021, and Visio LTSC 2021 have reached end of support

Impacted audience

All partners, including Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners and advisors

Support for Office Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) 2021, Project LTSC 2021, and Visio LTSC 2021 ended on October 13, 2026. Microsoft no longer provides updates, security fixes, or technical support for these products.

Organizations can continue to use these products, but doing so might expose them to security vulnerabilities, compliance risks, and reduced reliability due to the absence of ongoing updates and security fixes.

This end of support milestone presents an opportunity for partners to help customers modernize their productivity environments by transitioning to cloud-based alternatives.

Recommended upgrade paths

For most customers, Microsoft 365 provides key benefits, including:

• Always-up-to-date experiences, with continuous security updates, feature enhancements, and innovation
• Enterprise-grade security and management designed to support Zero Trust architectures and flexible work scenarios
• Scalable and flexible licensing, allowing customers to adjust services as business needs evolve

Customers who move to Microsoft 365 suites gain access to cloud-backed desktop versions of familiar apps such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, along with web and mobile access across multiple devices.

• Enterprise customers should look to Microsoft 365 E3 as the primary recommended path, with Office 365 E3 or Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise as appropriate fallback options based on customer needs
• Businesses with fewer than 300 users should look to Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, or Microsoft 365 Apps for business as supported upgrade paths
• Planner and Project Plan 3 and Visio Plan 2 provide the cloud-based replacements for Project LTSC and Visio LTSC and can be layered on top of Microsoft 365 suites as needed

Partners should note that Microsoft Copilot is supported only on cloud-backed apps included in Microsoft 365 suites, and on-premises versions of Office aren't eligible. In addition, the Azure Information Protection (AIP) labeling client for perpetual Office has been retired.

In cases where regulatory, connectivity, or technological constraints prevent the use of cloud solutions, customers might consider the latest supported on-premises alternatives, including Office LTSC 2024, Project LTSC 2024, and Visio LTSC 2024.

Next steps

Partners are encouraged to take the following actions:

• Engage customers still using Office LTSC 2021, Project LTSC 2021, or Visio LTSC 2021 to reinforce that support has ended and communicate the risks associated with continued use of unsupported products
• Prioritize Microsoft 365 E3 when guiding customers toward supported alternatives, with Office 365 E3 or Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise as appropriate fallback options
• Assess customer constraints related to connectivity, regulatory requirements, or offline use to determine the most appropriate supported path
• Leverage available resources to address common concerns related to cost, migration complexity, or limited usage scenarios

Partners should engage affected customers now to help them transition to a supported solution and reduce the risks associated with continued use of unsupported products.