Microsoft Office Update 2021: What we already know

Millions of users work with Microsoft’s Office package every day. Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint have become indispensable in both private and business applications. For 2021, the company has a number of innovations in store. In part, these updates are really practical and sensible, especially in the professional sector – but in part they are likely to cause annoyance. Here is everything you need to know about the Microsoft Office You need to know about the update.

This is what the new update brings with it

After the update, there will be two versions when you start the download: one for home use and one for business, but both versions will support both 32-bit and 64-bit.

  • Office LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel) for larger companies and government users.
  • Office 2021 for private users and small businesses. Here, support has been shortened from seven to five years. In addition, Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint can now only be used on a PC or Mac.

It is likely that the price of Microsoft Office will rise with the update. Users should expect a price increase of around 10 per cent on individual purchases, according to unconfirmed rumours. As already Microsoft Office 2016 and Microsoft Office 2019 there is no obligation to link the application to the internet after the update. So there is no need to take out a subscription or work via a cloud for the single purchase.

Some innovations in Microsoft Office

  • Microsoft has announced new features in both Office 2021 for home users and Office LTSC for the corporate sector:
  • Better Accessibility.
  • Excel now gets functions like Dynamic Arrays and XLOOKUP
  • Multiple apps can be used better thanks to the supported dark mode.
  • Standard apps like Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint get performance improvements.
  • The new packages come with the Microsoft Teams app. In return, the Skype for Business client is no longer available.

Examples, with which service plus Microsoft binds customers

New Outlook functions:

In future, there will be wording suggestions when creating messages, and a new booking environment for conference rooms will also be available with additional functions. The new drop-down menu in the search area makes searching easier – a click switches between the current folder and the current mailbox. Messages from Outlook can now be shared directly with a person or channel in Microsoft Teams, and a new dictation toolbar, extended voice commands and automatic punctuation make composing messages easier.

Enhancements to the Teams function:

When sharing a PowerPoint file, the speaker view is also possible. With Microsoft Forms, one can start direct polls among the participants of a meeting In the Desktop Client, it is easy to return to the last places visited using the history menu, and depending on the administrator setting, telephone numbers can be masked in future, which leads to more Privacy anonymity.

Word becomes simpler:

Due to the revision of the editor, it is now easy to take over writing and spelling suggestions directly with a click and HEIC pictures from iPhones or iPads can also be inserted without conversion. For new documents, folders can be pinned withthe shortcut Ctrl+S , eliminating tedious searches for the correct location.

Summary of the changes in the Microsoft Office Update

  • Microsoft has so far finally confirmed the following editions Office 2021 Standard and Office 2021 Professional Plus.
  • These will come with OneNote and Teams delivered
  • The packages are available as purchase licences and perpetual licences
  • A price increase for Office packages and individual apps or products is to be expected.
  • The Office versions are available for Windows and Mac.
  • 32- and 64-bit editions are still available

Header image: © chrupka, stock.adobe.com