14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is no longer providing updates and patches for Office 2013 as part of Office 365 since February 28, with the company now switching all focus to Office 2016.
An announcement published on LinkedIn by Microsoft Sales Specialist Cameron King indicates that Office 2013 client apps and language packs can no longer be downloaded from the Office 365 self-service portal and Admin Center.
With all investments now aimed at Office 2016, Microsoft will no longer provide any feature updates for Office 2013, making the upgrade to the newer version almost mandatory for Office 365 subscribers.
The change is aimed at customers of Office 365 Pro Plus, Small Business Premium, Business, Project Pro, and Visio Pro subscriptions, while Microsoft Exchange Server users also need to upgrade mail servers because Office 2016 does not support version 2007.
“Although critical security updates for 2013 products extend to April 10, 2018, businesses should really consider making the move to Office 2016 to take advantage of the latest productivity features. To make the transition process smoother, Microsoft is offering FastTrack migration, a service providing organizations with the tools to help them make the move from one Office version to another,” the post reads.
The standard Office 2013 suite
What’s important to note is that this announcement does not concern the regular version of Office 2013, but only the productivity suite offered with an Office 365 subscription.
Users who purchased just a license for Office 2013 on the desktop without Office 365 can continue running the productivity suite on their PCs normally, with monthly updates to still be shipped.
On the other hand, an upgrade to newer Office should already be planned even for desktop users without an Office 365 subscription, as Microsoft will end mainstream support for this version next year on April 10, with no new features to be developed beyond this date. Extended support with security patches will continue until 2023.