Older versions of Office apps and servers will no longer get security updates as of October 2025 — when Windows 10 also reaches end of support. Credit: Microsoft Microsoft is reminding customers that support for its Office 2016 and Office 2019 suites and related productivity servers will end on Oct. 14, 2025. Microsoft issued the reminder this week that applications in the two Office suites — including versions of Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, and others — will no longer receive security fixes, bug fixes, and technical updates after the support date passes. That’s also true for Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, as well as Skype for Business Server 2015 and 2019, Microsoft said in a blog post Monday (Oct. 14, 2025 also happens to be the same date for Windows 10 support to end.) Using these products after the end of support leaves business users vulnerable to “potential security threats, productivity losses, and compliance issues,” said Mariana Prudencio, senior product marketing manager at Microsoft. Not surprisingly, the company is pushing customers to cloud-based options. Microsoft recommends customers update to cloud-hosted versions of the software such as Microsoft 365 E3. Another option for Office 2016 and 2019 users is the Office Long-Term Servicing Channel, Microsoft said, which extends support into 2026. Those that want to continue running Exchange Server on-premises are advised to prepare to migrate to the upcoming Exchange Server slated to arrive in 2025 prior to the end of support date. Microsoft recommends customers move to Exchange Server 2019 to ease this transition. Businesses should be particularly wary of the looming end of support for Exchange servers, said Jack Gold, founder and principal analyst at J. Gold Associates. A lack of security updates would expose them to “a lot of risk,” he said, “since a large portion of threats are targeted against email and email servers, and stolen identities pose a big risk here.” Businesses that continue to run Exchange on-prem tend to be smaller, so it might be more difficult or costly for them to migrate, said Gold. “The larger companies have mostly migrated to online already,” he said. End of support for the Office suites, on the other hand, is less problematic, said Gold, particularly for small business users. While security updates are important, smaller firms tend to run third-party antivirus and other security tools that can mitigate many potential threats. Some smaller business will look to migrate to Microsoft’s cloud-based Office apps, but many will opt to remain on the outdated versions past the support date and update the software in line with upgrades of other equipment. “And it is still possible to buy a standalone Office suite if you’re not in need of back-end servers, as many smaller businesses don’t require, so you can update that way,” said Gold. Related content news analysis Apple earnings: About that iPhone 'slump' in China Based on information from Thursday's earnings report, it seems that data pointing to an iPhone slump in China were over-baked. By Jonny Evans May 03, 2024 9 mins iMac iPhone Apple news Microsoft begins to phase out ‘classic’ Teams Microsoft is encouraging Teams customers to move to the new, faster version of the collaboration app; the older version will be switched off next year. By Matthew Finnegan May 03, 2024 3 mins Microsoft Teams Collaboration Software Productivity Software news analysis Apple confirms it will open up the iPad in Europe this fall The latest efforts to comply with Europe’s Digital Markets Act mean developers can offer to side load apps to both iPhones and iPads in the EU. Apple has also taken steps to improve what it offers to smaller and non-commercial developers in the By Jonny Evans May 02, 2024 6 mins iPad Apple Mobile Apps news Udacity offers laid-off US workers free access to its courses for 30 days Sign-ups will be available over the next 30 days By Lucas Mearian May 02, 2024 4 mins Technology Industry IT Jobs IT Skills Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe