We think that Apple’s answer to Microsoft Office – including it’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote offerings – is great. But the fact is that more people use Office than any other suite of tools. Hence many a Mac user will be looking for the latest information about the next version of Microsoft Office for Mac.

Microsoft, like so many other companies, offers a subscription edition of Office – namely Office 360. This version is regularly updated with new features. But not everyone wants to subscribe on a monthly or yearly basis to software. If you don’t need the latest features and functions an old version of Microsoft Word may be good enough. If you happen to work in an area where regular updates might actually cause problems and break essential workflows, Office 360 might be unsuitable. Similarly professional users who don’t want to move to the cloud will find Office LTSC attractive.

Microsoft seems to recognise this, because even when it released Office 2019 it said that it wouldn’t be the last time it would release a perpetual licensed version of Office. The company clarified this again in a blog post back in September 2020 when it revealed its plans to release new perpetual licence version of Office – Office 2021.

In February 2021 Microsoft confirmed these plans again. Announcing two new versions of Office.

First up is Office 2021. This version is for home users and small businesses. The second version is called Office LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel) and is aimed at professional users and business customers.

Office 2021 release date

Office 2021 (including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint) will be released in the second half of 2021. There will be versions for Windows 10 and macOS.

Office 2021 price

The price for Office 2021 will be the same as Microsoft Office 2019.

The latest version of Office for Mac is Office Home & Student 2019 (£119.99/US$149.99) or Office Home & Business 2019 (£249.99/$249.99). 

Customers will be able to buy Office 2021 outright – sometimes known as a perpetual licence. This means they will not need to take out an annual subscription to use it. This licence will include five years of support for Office 2021.

Office LTSC must be purchased for each device, but the license does not have to be renewed after purchase.

When sales commence, Microsoft is expected to increase the prices for Office Professional Plus, Office Standard and the associated apps by ten percent. Microsoft is also promising that after Office LTSC there will be another stand-alone version without a subscription.

Office 2021 features

Microsoft has not yet commented on the new features of Office 2021.

Microsoft plans to publish a preview of Office LTSC in April 2021, which should give us an insight into what new features will be included.

However, we have some ideas of what to expect, at least from Office LTSC:

• Support for improved dark mode
• Improved accessibility features
• Dynamic arrays 
• XLOOKUP in Excel
• General improvements in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint

Apart from the improved dark mode, nothing fundamentally changes in the Microsoft Office user interface.

The Skype for Business client app will be available for download separately by Office LTSC users from the Microsoft Download Center. The Microsoft Teams app is also supplied separately.

Both new Office versions will come with OneNote and be available as both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Will Office 360 continue?

Microsoft will continue to offer the Microsoft 365 cloud solution as the preferred solution alongside Office 2021 and Office LTSC.

We have lots of advice about buying Office for Mac here: Office for Mac buying guide. Also read: How to get free Microsoft Office on iPad and iPhone. and How to get Microsoft word for free on Mac.