Office 2016 end of life and end of support
Support for Office 2016 ended on 14 October 2025. Word, Excel, Access and Outlook 2016 still open and run, but they no longer receive security fixes.
Status on 3 October 2026
- Office and Access 2016
- Support ended
- Security fixes
- Ended 14 October 2025
- Released
- 22 September 2015
- Mainstream support ended
- 13 October 20202,181 days ago
- Security fixes ended
- 14 October 2025354 days ago
Dates come from the Microsoft product lifecycle; check there before relying on them for a decision.
What ends, and what carries on
Support for Office 2016 ended on 14 October 2025, and that includes every program in the suite: Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Access.
The programs still start and your files still open. What has stopped is the fixing of security problems. That matters more for Office than for most software, because Office spends its day opening files that arrive from outside the business, and a document or spreadsheet is a common way for an attack to begin.
What it means for the applications built in Office
The word processor is the easy part. A newer Word opens the same documents. The business risk is in the things people have built inside Office over the years, which a process now depends on:
- Access databases. Forms, reports and VBA code, often with a copy on each PC and the data on a shared drive.
- Excel workbooks with macros. Quote calculators, pricing models and month-end reports driven by VBA.
- Mail merges. Word templates tied by file path to a spreadsheet or database.
- Outlook add-ins. Add-ins that file emails into another system or add buttons to the ribbon.
Moving these to a current version of Office usually works. When it does not, the cause is most often the change from 32-bit to 64-bit. Office 2016 was normally installed as 32-bit, and current versions install as 64-bit by default. Two things break:
- VBA declarations. Code that calls Windows functions directly has to be amended before it will compile in 64-bit Office.
- Old ActiveX controls and add-ins. Some exist only in 32-bit form and have to be replaced with something else.
Your options
Move to Microsoft 365. The subscription version of Office is updated continuously and has no fixed end date.
Move to Office 2024. A one-off purchase, supported until 9 October 2029. If you use Access, check that the edition you buy includes it.
Install the new version as 32-bit for now. Current Office can still be installed as 32-bit, which keeps old declarations and controls working while they are fixed. Treat it as a way to buy time.
Replace what has outgrown Office. If an Access database or a workbook has become a system that several people rely on, a new version of Office will not make it easier to share or safer to change. See replacing an Access database and replacing spreadsheets.
What we would check first
We would make a list before anything is installed: which Access databases, macro workbooks, merge templates and add-ins the business depends on, who uses each one, and which version of Office each PC has, 32-bit or 64-bit.
Then we would take copies of those files to a PC with the new version and run them through a real day’s work, including the tasks done only at month end or year end. Our Excel VBA page describes the work we do on macro-driven workbooks.
Not sure where Office 2016 is still running?
Most organisations find more copies than they expected. Two ways to find out, depending on how much you want to know.
Check which version you have
These dates apply to the versions bought once and installed, including volume-licensed copies. Access supplied through a Microsoft 365 subscription is updated continuously and has no fixed end date while the subscription runs.
How to check every productIn Access, open File, then Account, then About Access. Office 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2024 all report version 16.0, so go by the product name shown on that screen.
When it is not yours to upgrade
Access databases often depend on things outside the database file: an add-in, an ActiveX control such as a calendar or tree view, a link to another program through its 32-bit driver, or a macro that drives Excel or Outlook.
These are what break when Office is upgraded or moves from 32-bit to 64-bit. Open the database on a test machine with the new version of Office before the old one is removed from anyone who relies on it.
Making the case for the work
An upgrade nobody outside IT can see is easy to defer. These are the reasons that tend to move it up the list.
- Cyber Essentials
- The scheme requires software in scope to be supported by its vendor. Anything past its end-of-support date has to be removed, or cut off from the internet, before you can certify or renew.
- Cyber insurance
- Proposal forms commonly ask whether you run unsupported software. Check what yours asked, and what you answered.
- Customer questionnaires
- Larger customers ask the same question of their suppliers. An honest "yes, and here is the plan" is a better answer than a late discovery.
- Personal data
- UK data protection law expects appropriate technical measures to protect personal data. Software that can no longer be patched is hard to square with that.
- The cost of waiting
- An upgrade done to a deadline, after something has failed, costs more than the same upgrade planned. Where Microsoft sells a paid security extension, its price has risen each year it runs.
- Official guidance
- The National Cyber Security Centre is blunt: "The only fully effective way to mitigate this risk is to stop using the obsolete product." See its guidance on obsolete products.
What we do and do not sell: we do not sell Microsoft licences or Extended Security Updates, so we have no stake in which version you choose. Our part is the application: finding what depends on the old version, testing it against the new one and fixing what breaks.
Supported versions to move to
How long each would keep you in support. All Microsoft Access and Office versions
| Version | Released | Security fixes end | Status today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office and Access 2024 | 1 October 2024 | 9 October 2029 | Supported |
Questions we are asked
When does Office 2016 reach end of life?
Support for Office 2016 ended on 14 October 2025. That covers every program in it, including Access 2016, Excel 2016, Word 2016 and Outlook 2016. Mainstream support had ended on 13 October 2020.
Will Office 2016 stop working after October 2025?
No. The programs carry on opening and running. What stopped is security fixes, and compatibility with new versions of Windows is no longer assured.
Is there extended support for Office 2016?
No. Extended support was the phase that ended on 14 October 2025, and Microsoft does not sell Extended Security Updates for Office. The way back into support is a newer version.
Will our Access 2016 database and Excel macros work in a newer version of Office?
Usually, yes. The common problems are VBA code that calls Windows functions, which needs changes for 64-bit Office, and old ActiveX controls and add-ins that exist only in 32-bit form. Test copies of the files on the new version before switching anyone over.
Should we move from Office 2016 to Office 2024 or to Microsoft 365?
Office 2024 is bought once and is supported until 9 October 2029. Microsoft 365 is a subscription that is updated continuously and has no fixed end date. Either puts you back in support, so the choice is mostly about how you prefer to pay and how often you want to repeat the upgrade.
Still running Office 2016?
Tell us which version, what depends on it and how it is hosted. We will set out the upgrade route and what it is likely to involve.