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[SITUATION] · [QUIET] · [TECHNOLOGY]

4 clusters · 12 sources · 17 days · First seen · Last updated

Microsoft Office 2021 support ends and Publisher retired

Overview

Microsoft officially ended support for Office 2021 and Office LTSC 2021 on October 13, 2026. While applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint remain functional, the company no longer provides security updates, bug fixes, or technical customer support. Microsoft previously warned that continued use of these versions poses increased security risks due to unpatched vulnerabilities, noting that no paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) would be offered.

In addition to the end of support for the 2021 suite, Microsoft has retired its desktop publishing application, Microsoft Publisher, following a 35-year period. Publisher was removed from Microsoft 365 apps on October 1, 2026, and support for perpetual license versions concluded on October 13, 2026. Although existing .pub files are not deleted, they can no longer be natively opened, edited, or created within the Microsoft 365 environment, requiring users to migrate to alternative platforms or use legacy installations to export files to formats such as PDF.

To manage the transition, Microsoft suggests using Word, PowerPoint, or the Microsoft Create platform for basic layouts. Other alternatives, such as LibreOffice Draw, have been noted for their ability to open and edit Publisher files to salvage text and layouts.

Coinciding with the end-of-support date, users in Germany and the United Kingdom experienced connectivity issues with Microsoft 365 services. The outage impacted Global Secure Access (GSA) infrastructure, affecting access to Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint Online, Teams, and Windows 365 Cloud PCs. Microsoft attributed the disruption to GSA infrastructure performing “below acceptable performance thresholds” and reported that administrators encountered difficulties accessing the Service Health Status page during the incident.

Entities

Microsoft · Office 2021 · Copilot · LibreOffice · OneDrive

Timeline

  1. [TECHNOLOGY] 5 sources
    Microsoft retires Publisher and ends support for Office 2021

    Microsoft has retired Microsoft Publisher and ended support for Office 2021 and LTSC 2021 as of October 13, 2026, prompting users to migrate to Microsoft 365 to maintain security and file access.

  2. [TECHNOLOGY] 4 sources
    Microsoft ends support for Office 2021 amid service outages

    Microsoft has ended support for Office 2021, posing security risks for users. Simultaneously, a service outage impacted Microsoft 365 connectivity for some European customers.

  3. [TECHNOLOGY] 2 sources
    Microsoft to end Office 2021 support in October 2026

    Microsoft will end support for Office 2021 on October 13, 2026, ceasing all security updates and technical assistance. Users are encouraged to migrate to newer versions or Microsoft 365.

  4. [TECHNOLOGY] 2 sources
    Microsoft to end Office 2021 support in October 2026

    Microsoft will end support for Office 2021 on October 13, 2026, ceasing all security updates, bug fixes, and technical assistance for the software.

Sources

ad-hoc-news.de · applech2.com · borncity.com · chip.de · forux.it · gamemag.it · news.mynavi.jp · theregister.co.uk · windows-faq.de · windows.gadgethacks.com · windowspower.de · world-today-news.com

This summary has been updated 3 times: see revision history