Microsoft Announces Office 2021 and LTSC Versions for Office and Windows 10

In essence, both Office and Windows 10 will receive the new LTSC release later this year. For Windows 10, it will be the 21H2 version of the operating system. Meanwhile, the new Office will have two versions: Office 2021 for regular users and Office LTSC for business customers. Office 2021 is set to launch at the end of 2021 for both Windows and macOS.

Learn more: What's New in Office 2021

Microsoft has not provided details on all features and changes in Office 2021 yet, but the Office LTSC (Long-Term Servicing Channel) version is expected to include features such as dark mode support, improved accessibility, and functions like Dynamic Arrays and XLOOKUP in Excel. Office 2021 will incorporate similar features.

Additionally, the next Office version will no longer come with Skype for Business; instead, it will be bundled with Teams. Office will still include OneNote, an app that was abandoned for a while and later revived, available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions for both Windows 10 and macOS.

Turning back to Windows 10, Microsoft will make some changes in the support lifecycle. The current Windows 10 LTSC version will receive support for 5 years, although Windows 10 IoT Ent LTSC will still get 10 years of support. These changes do not affect previous LTSB (Long Term Servicing Branch) / LTSC releases, including versions 1507, 1607, and 1809.

Microsoft plans to release a preview of Office LTSC in April, and the finalized LTSC version of Office, Windows 10, Windows 10 IoT, and Windows Server will be deployed later this year. Microsoft also notes that they will increase the price of Office LTSC by 10% as they encourage users to subscribe to Microsoft 365.