Office 2021 end of life and end of support
Support for Office 2021 ends on 13 October 2026. It is a five-year product with no extended support period, so security fixes stop on that date.
Status on 3 October 2026
- Office and Access 2021
- Ending within a year
- Security fixes
- Ends 13 October 2026, in 10 days
- Released
- 5 October 2021
- Security fixes end
- 13 October 202610 days from today
Dates come from the Microsoft product lifecycle; check there before relying on them for a decision.
What ends, and what carries on
Office 2021 works differently from older versions of Office. Office 2016 had a mainstream phase followed by years of security-only fixes. Office 2021 has one support period of about five years, from its release on 5 October 2021 to 13 October 2026, and nothing after it.
So there is no slower second phase to fall back on. On 13 October 2026 the fixes stop for every program in the suite, including Access 2021 and Excel 2021. The programs themselves carry on running, and files open as before.
What it means for the applications built in Office
A business on Office 2021 is usually up to date in most other respects, which makes this date easy to miss. The move to a newer version is small. These are the places we would look.
- Compiled Access front ends. A database handed out as a compiled .accde file is tied to 32-bit or 64-bit Office and cannot be edited. Make sure someone still has the original .accdb it was compiled from.
- The Access Runtime. PCs that use the free runtime in place of full Access have to be moved as well.
- Macros that live outside the workbook. A personal macro workbook or an add-in file sits in each user’s profile, not on the shared drive. It is easily left behind when a PC is replaced.
- Links between files. Workbooks that pull from other workbooks, and databases linked to spreadsheets or to SQL Server, depend on paths and drivers that change when PCs are rebuilt.
Your options
Move to Office 2024. Bought once, supported until 9 October 2029. It is also a five-year product, so the same question returns at that date.
Move to Microsoft 365. The subscription version is updated continuously and has no fixed end date.
Move in two steps. Upgrade the people who run the Access databases and macro workbooks first, let them work normally for a while, then move everyone else. Problems then surface on a few PCs first.
Run on for a short, planned period. If the move cannot be finished by 13 October 2026, decide how long the gap will be and who has agreed to it.
If the files in question have turned into systems the business runs on, a newer Office keeps them patched and changes nothing else about them. Our Microsoft Access page and our spreadsheet to web application package cover the alternatives.
What we would check first
We would start with a list: every Access database and macro workbook that a process depends on, where it is stored, who uses it and who can change it. For each one we would record whether the original, editable file exists.
Then we would test copies on a PC with the new version before any working PC is touched. The full set of support dates is on our Access and Office dates page.
Get a reminder
Office 2021 stops receiving security fixes on 13 October 2026. Put the date where you will see it.
Add a reminder to your calendarNot sure where Office 2021 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 2021 reach end of life?
Support for Office 2021 ends on 13 October 2026. It was released on 5 October 2021 and has a single support period of about five years.
Will Office 2021 stop working after October 2026?
No. Word, Excel, Access and Outlook 2021 carry on opening and running. What stops is security fixes, so problems found after 13 October 2026 are not corrected.
Is there extended support for Office 2021?
No. Office 2021 has no extended support phase, and Microsoft sells no paid extension for it. Security fixes stop on 13 October 2026.
Is Office 2021 the same as Microsoft 365?
No. Office 2021 is bought once and has a fixed end date. Microsoft 365 is a subscription whose desktop programs are updated continuously and have no fixed end date.
Will Access 2021 databases and Excel macros work in Office 2024?
In most cases, yes. The file formats are the same. Problems usually come from what surrounds the file: add-ins, links to other files, and differences between 32-bit and 64-bit installations. Test on a copy first.
Running a version that is out of support?
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.