Microsoft Office 2021 will be released on October 5. This is evident from a blog post in which Microsoft also announces that Office 2021 Long Term Servicing Channel is available for businesses and governments starting today. The prices of the standalone office package remain the same.
Microsoft’s new office suite should follow Office 2019. The package is aimed at consumers and small businesses who do not want to switch to the cloud version of Microsoft 365. According to Microsoft, the prices will remain the same as Office 2019, the new package will receive five years of support and will be available for purchase from October 5.
As of today, governments and businesses can also switch to the new business Office LTSC version. This version is aimed at organizations that want to purchase a volume license for the office suite but do not need updates because they could disrupt business processes. These organizations can then purchase a so-called locked-in-time version of the office suite, which also deactivates the cloud and AI applications of Office. Microsoft will support this version of Office for five years. The new version is also 10 percent more expensive than the previous version.
Judging by the previews, the default package for Office 2021 will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive, and Teams. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that a Windows and Mac version is coming, but it’s not yet clear whether they will be introduced simultaneously. The standard Office LTSC package includes Access, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, Skype for Business, Teams and Word.
The new versions of Office have a whole host of novelties about which Microsoft will provide more details later. According to The Verge, a dark mode will be added and Word will have a Line Focus mode where only a few lines in a document are visible at a time. Finally, Excel would get an Xlookup and Dynamic Array functionality.