Microsoft Announces Office 2021 Pricing, New Features and Availability

Microsoft has officially announced pricing details, purchase options and availability of the upcoming Office 2021 suite. The latest Microsoft Office suite i.e. Office 2021 will be released to public on October 5, 2021 as mentioned in following news article:

Microsoft Office 2021 Releasing on October 5, 2021 for Windows and Mac

Today Microsoft made an announcement about pricing details of Office 2021 and supported operating systems.

Let’s discuss in details:

Office 2021 GA (General Availability) or Release Date:

Office 2021 will be available for purchase and upgrade to public on October 5, 2021.

Office 2021 Editions:

Office 2021 will be available in following 2 editions or versions:

• Office Home and Student 2021
• Office Home and Business 2021

Office Home and Student 2021 includes main Office programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Microsoft Teams for PC and Mac.

On the other hand, Office Home and Business 2021 includes everything in Office Home and Student 2021 edition along with Outlook for PC and Mac and the rights to use the apps for business purposes.

Office 2021 Pricing Details:

The price of Office Home and Student 2021 edition is $149.99 USD and price of Office Home and Business 2021 edition is $249.99 USD.

Office 2021 Purchase Options:

You will be able to buy Office 2021 from retailers as well as via Microsoft.com official website starting October 5, 2021.

Office 2021 Supported Systems:

Office 2021 supports Windows 10, Windows 11 and 3 most recent versions of macOS. If you are using Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1, you will not be able to install Office 2021 in your computer system.

Difference Between Office 2021 and Microsoft 365:

Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based model where you need to renew Office suite every year. On the other hand, Office 2021 is a non-subscription or perpetual-license version of Office suite where you don’t need to buy or renew any subscription.

So if you purchase Office 2021 once, you own it forever. But if you purchase Microsoft 365, you can use it for limited time period and then you need to renew the subscription.

The benefit of Microsoft 365 subscription is that it receives all new and latest changes introduced to Office apps immediately. If you purchase perpetual-license version, it’ll not receive new features.

In Microsoft 365 subscription, you also get 1 TB of cloud storage, the ability to use the apps on all your devices and advanced security features.

What’s New in Office 2021?

Following are some worth to mention new features and changes in Office 2021 and Microsoft 365:

• Fresh visual update design UI tailored for Windows 11
• Built-in Microsoft Teams for personal use
• Many collaboration features of Microsoft 365 now present in Office 2021 such as real-time co-authoring documents

Microsoft has provided a detailed list of many other Microsoft 365 features which are now available in Office 2021 such as following:

• Added a new input field in the Colors dialog for Hex color values
• Arrange elements on your slides for screen readers
• Content for social distancing planning in the workplace
• Dynamic arrays
• Find what you need with Microsoft Search
• Keep tabs on your database objects in Access
• LET function
• New Amazon Web Services (AWS) stencils and shapes in Visio
• New and improved Record Slide Show
• New Azure stencils and shapes in Visio
• New Date/Time Extended data type in Access
• Performance improvements
• Refresh, relink, or remove linked tables
• Replay your ink strokes
• See what’s new in stock media
• Sketched style outline
• Support for OpenDocument format (ODF) 1.3
• Translator and ink in Outlook
• Updated Draw tab
• Upload your files to OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online to make sure all your updates are saved automatically
• Use Instant Search to quickly find emails in Outlook
• XLOOKUP function
• XMATCH function

Microsoft 365 Subscription Pricing Details:

Microsoft 365 includes premium versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, OneDrive, Microsoft Editor, and Microsoft Family Safety for PC, Mac, and mobile, plus Access and Publisher for PC.

For individuals, Microsoft 365 Personal is $6.99 USD per month or $69.99 USD per year. For families and households of up to six people, Microsoft 365 Family is $9.99 USD per month or $99.99 USD per year.

Microsoft mentions that to use Microsoft 365 or Office 2021, both a Microsoft account and an internet connection are required.

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