Microsoft is notifying customers that support for Office 2016 and Office 2019 suites and related Productivity Servers will end on October 14, 2025.
Microsoft issued a warning this week saying that applications in its two Office suites (including versions of Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, and more) will no longer receive security fixes, bug fixes, or technology updates after their support dates have passed.
This also applies to Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, and Skype for Business Server 2015 and 2019, Microsoft said in a blog post on Monday (October 14, 2025, which happens to be the same end of support date for Windows 10).
Using these products after support ends will expose business users to “potential security threats, productivity losses, and compliance issues,” said Mariana Prudencio, senior product marketing manager at Microsoft. states.
Not surprisingly, the company recommends cloud-based options to its customers. Microsoft recommends customers update to cloud-hosted software such as Microsoft 365 E3. Another option for Office 2016 and 2019 users is the Office Long-Term Servicing Channel, which extends support through 2026, according to Microsoft.
If you want to continue running Exchange Server on-premises, we recommend that you prepare to migrate to the next version of Exchange Server, expected in 2025, before the end of support date. Microsoft recommends customers migrate to Exchange Server 2019 to ease this transition.
Jack Gold, founder and principal analyst at J. Gold Associates, said businesses need to be especially wary of the impending end of support for Exchange servers.
He said the majority of threats target email and email servers, and identity theft is a big risk here, so without security updates you’re at a lot of risk. Ta. Companies that continue to run Exchange on-premises tend to be smaller, so migration can be more difficult or costly, Gold said.
“Most of the big companies have already moved online,” he said.
On the other hand, the end of support for the Office suite is less of a problem, especially for small and medium-sized business users, Gold said. Although security updates are important, small businesses tend to run third-party antivirus and other security tools that can mitigate many potential threats.
While some small businesses will consider moving to Microsoft’s cloud-based Office apps, many businesses will continue to use older versions past their support dates and update their software as other equipment upgrades. will choose that.
“If you don’t need a backend server, which many small businesses don’t need, you can also buy a standalone Office suite, so you can update it that way,” Gold said. Masu.
