Everything you need to about Office 2021

Office 2021 may be the next form of Microsoft Office for consumers and small businesses -- coming out October 5, 2021.

In Microsoft Office 2021, you'll find new inking tools, functions, data types, translation and editing tools, motion graphics, ease-of-use features, and so much more!

And Office 2021 is available for Windows and macOS.

Here's what we should know to date.

Office 2021 Release Date
October 5, 2021

Microsoft will release Office 2021 to consumers and Office LTSC for commercial customers on October 5, 2021.

Within 24 hours Microsoft will release Windows 11, the most recent Microsoft Operating-system for consumers and businesses.

Both Office 2021 and Windows 11 will offer you a subscription-free option to Microsoft 365 and Windows 365, respectively.

Is office 2021 replacing Office 2019?

Yes, Office 2021 is the replacement of Office 2019.

Office 2021 is what Microsoft calls a 'perpetual license' version. It is a single payment for ongoing use of the software without any annual payments (subscription).

Office 2021 will be sold in retail to the people and smaller businesses.

A similar product, Office LTSC, will be sold to volume license customers or commercial customers.

They're both designed for those individuals and businesses who don't wish to subscribe to the cloud-powered Microsoft 365 variants.

Why should you buy office 2021?

Microsoft confirmed that Office 2021 could be released with a handful of additional features. And it has stayed true to its word.

The brand new features in Office 2021 include performance improvements, accessibility improvements across many apps, and other advanced features. These include:

Dark mode support
Dynamic Arrays & XLOOKUP() in Excel
Line Focus put into Word's Immersive Reader.
Record a slide show with narration in PowerPoint.

The dark mode had been obtainable in Microsoft 365, but this may be the first time we have seen it on the standalone version - office 2021.

The Dark Mode in 0ffice 2021 is definitely an even darker version of the original mode that was presented. The text along with other elements on the page will even shift to darker hues.

Microsoft has included a 'Switch Modes' button, which will be put into the vista menu over the document.

There are more new features within the commercial-focused LTSC version. There are accessibility and performance improvements across many apps as well as the advanced features.

What's new inside your favorite Office app?

Note: Microsoft notes that feature improvements, unless otherwise noted, will also be contained in Office LTSC for commercial customers and Office 2021 for Mac.

What's new in Office 2021 - Office 2021 additional features

Let's look at the new features for each specific app in Office 2021!

Visual Refresh

Office 2021 includes a new visual refresh that allows you to make use of a modernized Start experience and newly refreshed tabs in the ribbon.

You will now experience a clean, clear style with Monoline iconography that communicates action and features with simple visuals.

Visual refresh is new in: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook.

Stock media

Office Premium Creative Content collection has a facelift with increased rich media content. Now, there's a curated library of stock images, icons, and more which help you express yourself.

New in: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Visio

Microsoft Search

Now you can find what you'll need using the new Microsoft Search engine towards the top of your Microsoft Office apps on Windows.

Microsoft search is a powerful tool that helps you easily discover what you want, from text to commands to assist and much more.

New in: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Onenote

Performance improvements

Microsoft wants users to see improved performance, speed, and stability, across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Now you can get faster calculations from common Excel functions like SUMIF, COUNTIF, and AVERAGEIF.

New in: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook

Updated Draw tab

The draw tab has got a facelift.

Access and change the color of all your inking tools in one location. Simplify how you use ink using new Draw tab additions: Point Eraser, Ruler, and Lasso.

New in: Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Improved Autosave

Autosave presently has a button.

You toggle the autosave button in order to save your changes as they happen in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Upload your files to OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online to ensure all your updates are saved automatically.

New in: Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Support for OpenDocument format (ODF)

Office 2021 now supports OpenDocument format (ODF) 1.3

The ODF 1.3 specification supports many new features and enables you to obtain a refreshed consumer experience.

Sketched style outline

In the new update, the Sketched style outline now allows you to provide a casual, hand-drawn turn to shapes in your presentations.

Different outlines like Curved, Freehand, or Scribble options, find the outline under Format Shape > Line > Sketched style.

New in: Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Select your own color

Now you can select the perfect color with the new input field within the Colors dialog for Hex color values.

Now you do not possess to invest time converting Hex color values into RGB values.

For any property where one can define color, now you can enter a Hex color value in the Hex box, for example, #0F4C81 or 444.

New in: Access, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Onenote, Visio, Project

Additional features in Office 2021 per app

New in Excel

XLOOKUP: Row by row, find anything you need in a table or range with XLOOKUP.
Dynamic arrays: You can now write one formula in Excel and return an array of values. Use Excel to expedite calculations and insights with 6 new functions: FILTER, SORT, SORTBY, UNIQUE, SEQUENCE, and RANDARRAY.
LET function: Microsoft has included the LET function in Office 2021. It assigns names to calculation results to store intermediate calculations, values, or defining names in the formula.
XMATCH function: The XMATCH function in Excel searches for a particular item in an array/range of cells and returns the item's relative position. XMATCH can also help you come back a value in a wide array.

New in Outlook

Translator and ink in Outlook: Translate email messages into a lot more than 70 languages and view the transcript?a all within Outlook.
Drawing/inking: Annotate email images or attract another canvas using your finger, pen, or mouse.
Instant search: use Instant Search in Outlook to quickly find emails. Select the search bar (located over the Outlook ribbon) to help find email messages any place in Outlook. Exactly like you do in, say, Gmail.

New in PowerPoint PowerPoint

New and improved Record Slide Show: You can now record Slide Show. Office 2021 now supports presenter video recording, laser pointer recording, and ink recording.
Replay your ink strokes: Draw and replay your ink strokes because they were drawn. This lets you illustrate things step by step or even show a thought process. You can also pause the replay and choose the point to start the replay.
Arrange elements on your slides for screen readers: Select elements in screen-reading order and rearrange them as necessary. This allows you to communicate your message effectively.

New in Access

Refresh, remove or relink linked tables: Access presently has an up-to-date Linked Table Manager in a central location for viewing and managing all data sources and linked tables within the database.
The new Date/Time Extended data type: Access comes with an updated Date/Time data type to boost syntax compatibility with SQL and increase accuracy and level of detail in records that include dates and times. Microsoft implemented the SQL DateTime2 data type into Access.
Tab manager: Monitor your database objects in Access. You can see the active tab, easily drag tabs to rearrange them, and close database objects with just one click.

New in Visio

New Azure stencils and shapes: Visio presently has a lot more stencils that will help you create up-to-date Azure diagrams. You are able to build Azure diagrams for network topologies, virtual machine configurations, operations, and much more.
New AWS stencils and shapes: Visio now has infrastructure shapes from Amazon Web Services (AWS). You should use stencils with the latest AWS shapes for you create diagrams.
Content for social distancing planning at work: With Covid-19, many workplaces need re-planning. They need to stick to the social distancing guidelines. This new Visio template, and also the Workplace Social Distancing stencil, provide several shapes, fill patterns, and line patterns, both scaled and unscaled, to help space replanning.

Microsoft has abandoned Windows 10 Mobile, however this doesn't necessarily mean the dream of having Windows on the mobile device is gone.

By no means, and also the skilled developers out there come up with such projects once in a while.

The most recent to do this is the one and only XDA developer kdrag0n, who got Windows 11 up and running on the Pixel 6.

As weird as that could sound, the entire form of Windows 11 continues to be installed on a Google Pixel, something which lots of people could possibly want to do right here and today.

But before you are trying to do exactly the same thing on your Pixel 6, there are many what exactly you need to know.

First and foremost, the entire project is possible because of Windows 11 running like a virtual machine through the kernel-based KVM bundled with the first Android 13 developer preview. The developer says Windows 11 works quite alright, but on the other hand, the graphics acceleration is not available.

Android apps on Windows 11

While this project doesn't suggest you're getting a fully featured Windows phone, what's more important is that Microsoft can also be focusing on making Windows play nice with Android.

An update that'll be released later this month includes a public preview of Android apps on Windows 11, with users therefore allowed to run apps designed for Google's mobile operating-system right on their desktops.

"Next month we're bringing new experiences to Windows that include a public preview of methods you can use Android apps on Windows 11 with the Microsoft Store and our partnerships with Amazon and Intel, taskbar improvements with call mute and unmute, easier window sharing and bringing weather to the taskbar, plus the development of two new redesigned apps, Notepad and Media Player," Microsoft announced in January.

Microsoft just released a brand new set of Windows 10 cumulative updates, and given it's February 8, this batch is part of the Patch Tuesday cycle.

Obviously, just the Windows 10 versions that are still supported are becoming the cumulative updates, and you can check out the list below to determine the available patches

Worth knowing, however, is that you should be on Windows 10 version 20H2 or more, as or else you won't receive any updates unless you're part of the LTSC.

These are the Windows 10 versions and also the February 2022 cumulative updates they're getting:

Windows 10 version 1507 - KB5010358 (OS Build 10240.19204)
Windows 10 version 1607 - KB5010359 (OS Build 14393.4946)
Windows 10 version 1703 - EOS
Windows 10 version 1709 - EOS
Windows 10 version 1803 - EOS
Windows 10 version 1809 - KB5010351 (OS Build 17763.2565)
Windows 10 version 1903 - EOS
Windows 10 version 1909 - KB5010345 (OS Build 18363.2094)
Windows 10 version 2004 - EOS
Windows 10 version 20H2, 21H1 and 21H1 - KB5010342 (OS Builds 19042.1526, 19043.1526, and 19044.1526)

Given these updates go live on Patch Tuesday, the focus has obviously been on security improvements. So don't expect any new features this time around but instead security fixes which help protect your pc and also the data stored on it.

Microsoft highlights only one big change in these updates:

"Addresses an issue that causes a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) modify operation to fail if the operation offers the SamAccountName and UserAccountControl attributes. The mistake message is, 'Error: 0x20EF. Your directory service encountered a mystery failure.'"

Obviously, users are recommended to update their devices as soon as possible. If automatic updates are enabled, the new cumulative patches should be awaiting you to reboot your device and complete the installation. If not, there are also the cumulative updates on Microsoft's Update Catalog.

Microsoft is focusing on plenty of new cool stuff for Windows 11, even though the company isn't necessarily making everything public, we are able to fortunately come with an early take a look at what's coming because of the skilled community available.

This time, Twitter user FireCube has discovered some new goodies which are projected to come to the famous Task Manager rather sooner than later.

The most recent Windows 11 preview build includes new information that would be displayed in the Task Manager, including life of the battery and startup information. It's unfamiliar if this sounds like the ultimate design or otherwise, it seems, but however, it's pretty clear Microsoft really wants to further expand the functionality of the Task Manager.

Unavailable at this time

Worth knowing is that this new Task Manager isn't available at this time for insiders, but given Microsoft has started focusing on this refresh, there's a chance an announcement on this front will be made rather earlier than later.

Meanwhile, however, Microsoft is gearing up to release the very first major update for Windows 11, and clearly, this requires considerable time to ensure things are going to work smoothly.

This update is scheduled to go live when this month, and something from the highlights is really a public preview of the support for Android apps. In other words, everybody available will ultimately be able to run Android apps on their own Windows devices, as up to this time, this selection was exclusive to users in the Windows Insider program.

However, the software giant hasn't offered a particular launch date with this long awaited update, but there's a chance its debut isn't far. It remains seen, however, if Microsoft wants to make use of a gradual release in phases or simply push the improvements to any or all Windows 11 devices simultaneously much like with a monthly quality update.

Windows 11 has a new Media Player, and after it was previously launched exclusively for users within the Dev channel from the Windows Insider program, it's now love more users.

Microsoft just announced that the app is launching for users running builds as part of the Beta channel, probably ahead of the production debut later this month.

Microsoft will ship the very first major Windows 11 update in February, and the Media Player is expected to be some of it.

The new Media Player in Windows 11

As you could easily anticipate, the new Media Player perfectly aligns using the look of Windows 11 overall, therefore providing users with a modern experience from one end to another.

"At the center of Media Player is a full-featured music library that allows you to quickly browse and be a musician, as well as create and manage playlists. In case your music collection is in Groove Music today, your library and playlists will automatically migrate for this new experience. The update to the new Media Player will switch the Groove Music app. The dedicated playback view features album art and rich artist imagery; these will appear in the full screen and mini player experiences too," Microsoft explains.

The Media Player should really replace Groove Music, so it'll import all the data automatically. Microsoft says it wants this app to be a worthy successor to the more famous Windows Media Player, so it encourages users to transmit their feedback towards the company for further polishing.

"Media Player includes full support for browsing, managing, and watching your local video collection too! All of your content within the music and video folders on your PC will appear automatically inside your library, however, you may also tell Media Player where to search for additional content in app settings. We've also optimized for accessibility, with improved keyboard shortcut and access key support for keyboard users with other assistive technologies," it says.

Ie gets the axe as a stand-alone browser, but this doesn't necessarily mean this application goes away completely.

IE continues to be bundled with Microsoft Edge included in a so-called IE Mode, which essentially allows users to load certain browsers in the Chromium-powered browser but using the old IE configuration.

Obviously, this comes in very handy when attempting to work with apps which were specifically constructed with Internet Explorer in mind, and now Microsoft is making it simpler to check these apps.

Built as part of a collaboration with the Selenium project, the brand new Internet Explorer Driver makes it possible to run tests in Ie in Edge browser.

"In collaboration with this friends in the Selenium project, the Microsoft Edge team is happy to announce that you could now test Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge with Ie Driver. With only a few changes for an existing test that runs against Ie, you will get your tests running in Internet Explorer (IE) mode in Edge. By running your tests in IE mode, you will be able to verify that any legacy content that runs in Internet Explorer will act as expected in IE mode in Microsoft Edge," Microsoft explains.

No more IE

Microsoft used this chance to remind everybody that Ie is being retired, therefore emphasizing that while using newly-announced feature companies can validate their apps in IE mode in Microsoft Edge.

"Starting June 15, 2022, Ie 11 won't be supported on certain versions of Windows 10. To learn more, read Ie 11 desktop app requirement FAQ. It is recommended that organizations that also depend on IE11 transition to the Microsoft Edge browser, which supports rendering modern and legacy web content. To organize for June 15, now you can use Ie Driver to validate that IE mode is the right solution for the business-critical legacy websites or apps," it says.

Microsoft's newest cumulative update resolves a glitch in Windows 11 that caused some image editing applications to no longer work correctly with color rendering on HDR screens.

The bug was originally confirmed in late December and just affected Windows 11, with Microsoft explaining at that time that it planned to resolve the glitch in a future update.

"After installing Windows 11, some image editing programs might not render colors correctly on certain HDR displays. This really is frequently observed with white colors, which could display in bright yellow or other colors," the company said in December.

"This issue is the place certain color-rendering Win32 APIs return unexpected information or errors under specific conditions. Not every color profile management programs are affected, and color profile options available in the Windows 11 Settings page, including Microsoft Color User interface, are required to function correctly."

Hello, KB5008353!

The most recent Windows 11 cumulative update, which is still available as optional for users available, involves resolve the glitch, finally making everything work properly on HDR screens.

The update can be obtained as KB5008353, and anyone can download it at this time simply by checking for updates in Windows 11.

Given it's an optional update, it won't be provided automatically, but its contents, including the HDR fix, will be area of the next cumulative updates due to find the February 2022 Patch Tuesday.

"Updates a known issue that may prevent some image editing programs from rendering colors correctly on certain high dynamic range (HDR) displays. This frequently affects white colors that might display in bright yellow or any other colors," Microsoft confirmed within the release notes of the very most recent cumulative update for Windows 11.

The update doesn't appear to be causing any particular problems, if you can't wait until February to get the said fix, you can easily download it today.

When Windows 10X was folded into Windows 11, Microsoft seemed to have avoided competing against Chromebooks in the budget and education laptop markets, but Microsoft only agreed to be still hard at work on the newly announced Windows 11 SE and Surface Laptop SE.

The company announced both at its Reimagine event this week and also the hardware and software represent impressive new offerings from Microsoft that could certainly sway some within the education market to adopt it over Google or Apple's options.

Exploring the hardware first, the top Laptop SE's $250 price point is the biggest attention grabber but it has more going for it . The most compelling features aren't the specs though, it's the durability and repairability. Laptops not just has user-replaceable storage but according to Microsoft from the "display, battery, keyboard-even the motherboard-can be easily repaired onsite, saving time and cash for IT admins and schools." That's a significant advantage compared to most modern laptops.

As the specs aren't anything to create home about, they aren't bad either. The 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768-pixel display is all about what you would expect in this budget range and is combined with an Intel Celeron N4120 CPU, 4 or 8GB of RAM, and 64 or 128GB of storage that needs to be enough for that tasks that K-8 students are undertaking.

The 2.45-pound weight is reasonably portable and truly thin and light would compromise on durability and repairability. A 720p webcam helps to ensure that remote learners will still be in the loop. The top Laptop SE also delivers the most important ports with USB-A, USB-C, a headphone jack, and an AC charging port. Wireless connectivity includes 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0.

The hardware is just the gateway to Windows 11 SE, the real star from the show. This takes Windows 11 and strips out lots of unnecessary extras to improve accessibility for children, whilst which makes it far more manageable for teachers and school IT admins. The operating-system is streamlined for devices such as the Surface Laptop SE to provide excellent performance and battery life on even lower-end hardware. The full-screen app launches also make the operating system less confusing for younger learners.

For that teachers and IT admins, features like Microsoft Intune for Eduction make managing entire classrooms (or schools) of Windows 11 SE laptops possible with app installations, user profiles, and files all accessible with the cloud. Microsoft Office including OneDrive and Teams are of course present too, serving as a gateway to students using Microsoft products later on.

It's a strong offering from Microsoft, but we'll need to visit whether it can make a dent within the overwhelming lead that Google's Chrome OS and Chromebooks have in the education market currently.

Microsoft Edge's greatest rival isn't Google Chrome. It's EdgeDeflector, an app developed by Daniel Aleksandersen that thwarts Windows from force-opening Edge and launches your default browser instead. EdgeDeflector is an oft-recommended program among Windows users who are frustrated with Edge launching without their consent - and Microsoft is determined to stop its momentum.

Digital Trends highlights that a new Windows 11 build within the Insider Program has become blocking apps that obstruct Windows' interception mechanism that changes users' browsers, not to mention, that includes EdgeDeflector.

Microsoft cracks recorded on apps that threaten Edge

As we mentioned in Why I personally don't like Windows 11 and our Windows 11 review, the new OS causes it to be hard for users to alter their default browser. In addition, some users expressed frustration with links in the Widgets app opening with Edge.

Like a remedy to this issue, many Windows users recommend EdgeDeflector. To be able to understand EdgeDeflector's function, you must know how Microsoft "force opens" Edge.

The Redmond-based tech giant swaps out links within the Windows shell with "microsoft-edge:" instead of using "https:". Edge may be the sole internet browser that recognizes these links, so although Chrome might be set as the default, Edge will launch instead.

EdgeDeflector thwarts this by rewriting the intercepted backlinks to "https:" - and Microsoft isn't having it. "Something changed between Windows 11 builds 22483 and 22494," EdgeDeflector's developer Aleksandersen said on Ctrl Blog. "You can no longer bypass Microsoft Edge using apps like EdgeDeflector."

With the new Windows 11 build, even with EdgeDeflector installed, the OS silently blocks the app and continues to launch Edge. "Microsoft doesn't even bother throwing up the 'An app default was reset' error message," Aleksandersen said.

While Aleksandersen could implement workarounds to bypass Windows 11's new block feature, he said it would cause destructive changes towards the OS. As such, he's no plans to update EdgeDeflector.

EdgeDeflector's creator concluded his scathing article by advising Windows users to change to Linux. "Microsoft still charges 200 USD for a Windows license while simultaneously filling the operating system with ads and crapware," Aleksandersen lamented.