From October 10 this year, Microsoft has officially ended support for Office for Mac 2011 as scheduled and announced in a support document, about seven year after the suite was first released. To be specific, 2011 versions of Office apps, including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint, will no longer receive feature or security updates, while Lync has extended support period through October 9, 2018. Meanwhile, the technical support for Office 2011, paid or free, has also ended indefinitely.
Here’s how Microsoft says about the end of support for Office for Mac 2011:
- You’ll no longer receive Office for Mac 2011 software updates from Microsoft Update.
- You’ll no longer receive security updates. Security updates are what help protect your Mac from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
- You’ll no longer receive phone or chat technical support.
- No further updates to support content will be provided. In fact, most online help content will be retired.
Previously the company announced that the versions of 15.34 and earlier of Office 2011 for Mac (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook as well as Lync) have not been tested under macOS 10.13 High Sierra, and no formal support for this configuration will be provided. Some users reported on the web that the suite is mostly functional on macOS 10.13 but with slower speeds and random crashes.
Office for Mac 2011 is no longer available to download through the Office 365 portal. Anyhow, you can continue to use the supported Office 2011 on your Mac, or update to the 2016 version to enjoy the new feature and continuous tech support. Microsoft recommends its users to upgrade to Office 2016 for Mac (a one-time purchase), to stay up to date with all the latest features, patches, and security updates. The 2016 version of Office requires Mac OS X version 10.10 or later.
If you have both Mac and PC, you can choose to upgrade to Office 365, the subscription version of Office apps that available on computer and via browser.
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