Connecting Office 2016 and Office 2019 clients to Microsoft 365

End of Support in October 2023:

End of support in October 2023: Connecting Office 2016 and Office 2019 clients to Microsoft 365

Connecting Office 2016 and Office 2019 clients to Microsoft 365 will reach the end of support on October 10, 2023. After this end date Microsoft won’t block these Office versions from connecting to Microsoft 365 services if they are kept up to date. But after October 10, 2023, improvements to Microsoft 365 services will no longer be tested with these Office versions, so, users could experience performance or reliability issues. This could lead to a decrease in productivity and efficiency for users who rely on these services for their work.

NOTE: As stated in a April 2017 blog post, Only perpetual Office versions in mainstream support are supported for connecting to Microsoft 365 services. Office 2016 is no longer in mainstream support, but Microsoft made an exception for it until October 2023.

Official Microsoft Communication

Older Office versions might still be able to connect to Microsoft 365 services, but that connectivity isn’t supported.
In practical terms, what this means is that these older Office versions might not be able to use all the latest functionality and features of Microsoft 365 services. In addition, over time, these older versions might encounter other unexpected performance or reliability issues while using Microsoft 365 services. That’s because as we make improvements to Microsoft 365 services, we’re not taking into account or testing with these older Office versions.

We won’t take any active measures to block older Office versions from connecting to Microsoft 365 services if they’re in extended support and are kept up to date. This includes Office 2019 and Office 2016 after October 10, 2023. Both of these versions are in extended support until October 14, 2025.

Therefore, to provide the best experience with using Microsoft 365 services, we strongly recommend that you move off older Office versions to versions supported for connecting to Microsoft 365 services.

Recommended upgrade resources available to administrators

Microsoft recommends that you upgrade older Office clients to a subscription version of the Office client, such as Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. The most up-to-date subscription versions of the Office client are always supported connecting to Microsoft 365 services.

We provide various services to help you upgrade to subscription versions of the Office client. The following list provides some examples of resources that are available:

Microsoft FastTrack, for migration and deployment assistance from Microsoft experts.
App Assure, for assistance from Microsoft with application compatibility issues.
Deployment guide for Microsoft 365 Apps, for technical documentation.
Product lifecycle dashboard and upgrade readiness dashboard, for users of Microsoft Configuration Manager (current branch).
Readiness Toolkit for Office add-ins and VBA, to help identify potential issues with add-ins and VBA macros used in your organization.

Additional information about connectivity to Microsoft 365 services

Connecting to Microsoft 365 services using Office 2016 for Mac isn’t supported. That’s because Office 2016 for Mac reached its end of support on October 13, 2020.
The following versions of Project are supported for connecting to Microsoft 365 services:

Project Online Desktop Client (as long as you’re using a supported version)
Project Professional 2021 and Project Standard 2021 (until October 2026)
Project Professional 2019 and Project Standard 2019 (until October 2023)
Project Professional 2016 and Project Standard 2016 (until October 2023)

The following versions of Visio are supported for connecting to Microsoft 365 services:

Visio desktop app that comes with a Visio Plan 2 subscription (as long as you’re using a supported version)
Visio LTSC Professional 2021 and Visio LTSC Standard 2021 (until October 2026)
Visio Professional 2019 and Visio Standard 2019 (until October 2023)
Visio Professional 2016 and Visio Standard 2016 (until October 2023)

This information about connecting to Microsoft 365 services doesn’t apply to InfoPath 2013 or SharePoint Designer 2013.
For end of support dates for different versions of Office on various versions of Windows, see the Windows and Office configuration support matrix (PDF).

Other changes related to connectivity to Microsoft 365 services

Retirement of TLS 1.0 and 1.1

After October 15, 2020, you must be using at least TLS 1.2 to connect to Microsoft 365 services. For more information, see Disabling TLS 1.0 and 1.1 for Microsoft 365 and Preparing for TLS 1.2 in Office 365 and Office 365 GCC.

Basic authentication deprecation in Exchange Online

In early January 2023, Basic authentication for multiple protocols for Exchange Online will be permanently turned off. For more information, see the following blog posts:

Retirement of Skype for Business Online

Skype for Business Online was retired on July 31, 2021. For more information, see Skype for Business Online retirement.

Minimum version requirements for Outlook for Windows

As of November 1, 2021, there are minimum versions of Outlook for Windows required to connect to Microsoft 365 services, such as Exchange Online. For more information, see the following blog post: New minimum Outlook for Windows version requirements for Microsoft 365.

Tuesday, June 6, 2023 By: Jessica Kruger In: Modern Worker Blog Print