Microsoft Office 2021 launching next month
Microsoft will release a new version of its popular Office productivity suite for consumers on 5 October 2021.
The company revealed the launch date of Office 2021 in a short blurb under a blog post on the general availability of Office LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel), a new enterprise version of its software for businesses who can’t access the Cloud.
The launch of Office 2021 will coincide with that of Windows 11, Microsoft’s new operating system.
A preview version of the new suite has been open to testers since July.
Like its predecessor, Office 2019, Microsoft will offer the suite at a once-off price instead of the subscription fee charged to Microsoft 365 users.
Microsoft said it would share more details on the new suite soon, so its exact make-up and pricing are unavailable at this point.
Office 2019 offers Word, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, and Access with automatic updates.
There is also 1TB OneDrive cloud storage, free Microsoft Answer Desk support and 60 minutes of Skype calling every month.
According to The Verge’s Tom Warren, Office 2021 will include some of the same features shipping with Office LTSC.
Among these could be:
- Dark mode — Dark backgrounds and light text, including for the page canvas
- Dynamic arrays — Functions in Excel that use dynamic arrays
- Line Focus — A type of reading mode that removes distraction
- XLOOKUP — Function to help locate items in a table or range by row in Excel worksheets
Microsoft will offer the suite in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Given that Windows 11 will be a 64-bit-only operating system, it’s clear Office 2021 won’t be exclusive to the new OS.
In terms of aesthetics, Office 2021 will feature a more modern look that matches the design language of Windows 11.
Among the changes are rounded corners on the ribbon bar and slight tweaks on buttons across the apps.
Microsoft is reportedly also planning to drop the ribbon interface at a later stage and replace it with a toolbar that can be undocked.
The company expects to roll out these changes over a year or two.
Now read: Windows 11 is much faster than Windows 10 — this is what Microsoft did
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