Support for Office LTSC 2021 ended on 13 October 2026. That covers the full suite and the standalone apps, from Word and Excel to Visio and Project. There will be no more security updates, bug fixes or support.
It wasn’t alone. October also saw the end of support for Windows 11 24H2 Home and Pro, Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB 2016, and extended updates for Exchange 2016 and 2019.
Why it matters for schools
In schools, LTSC builds tend to live on the machines nobody revisits: ICT suites, library PCs and exam rooms. Office documents are a favourite route in for attackers, and unpatched Office on a machine pupils use every day is a soft target. It’s also hard to defend to an auditor, your DPO or your insurer after an incident.
What to do now
- Find it: inventory your estate in Intune, MECM or your asset tool.
- Move to Microsoft 365 Apps through your A3 or A5 licensing. It’s always supported and updates itself, and device-based licensing suits shared classroom machines.
- Use Office LTSC 2024 only for machines that are genuinely offline or air-gapped.
- Test first: check macros, add-ins and any software that depends on Office.
- Record it: update your asset register and risk log, and tell SLT what’s affected and by when.
The money angle
Check whether those machines are already covered for Microsoft 365 Apps through your education licensing. Many schools are paying for licences while still running an old perpetual install. If that’s you, fixing this is a deployment job, not a purchase. It’s exactly the kind of overspend we find on an IT review day.
How we can help
This story first appeared in School IT Intelligence Week 8, our free weekly briefing for school IT teams and leaders. Read the full issue or subscribe free to get it every week.
Not sure where your school stands? Give us one day in your school and we’ll review your systems, licensing and security, and show you where money is being wasted and where risk is hiding. Book your IT review day →