Microsoft 365 and Office: Older Macs are left behind

Microsoft has bad news for owners of older Macs: As of December 2021, compatibility with Microsoft 365 and Office will be limited. Updates should only be distributed for Macs with newer macOS versions.

Microsoft 365 and Office: Older Macs without updates

If Microsoft has its way, owners of older Apple iMacs and MacBooks should rather update their operating systems. If you don’t do that, you will receive from the end of the year no more new updates for the Group’s office collection. For Microsoft 365 and Office, at least macOS 10.15 Catalina from 2019 must be installed. Microsoft previously specified macOS 10.14 Mojave from 2018 as the minimum requirement (source: Microsoft).

If the new requirement is not met, Microsoft will not provide updates for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote ready under macOS. This not only applies to feature updates, but also to important security updates. However, restrictions in functionality are not to be expected. According to Microsoft, Office for Mac 2019 is not affected by the change, so macOS 10.14 Mojave is still sufficient here.

We also recommend an update to macOS 12.0 Monterey, like the highlightVideo shows:

Microsoft: Preparation for macOS 12.0 continues

An update for Microsoft 365 and Office was released in October that targets the new macOS 12.0 Monterey. With the new announcement, another step is taken for a full support undertaken. In the future, too, it can be assumed that Microsoft will gradually refuse Apple customers support for further new versions of macOS.

In the announcement, Microsoft adds that “the product functionality and the feature availability” on older systems can be different. For an “optimal user experience”, the latest version of macOS should always be installed.