Document access after upgrade

Anonymous
2025-06-01T13:40:36+00:00

I’ve bought a new laptop as my current one can’t upgrade to Windows 11. So need to upgrade Office as the 2016 version will no longer be supported either. Should I buy the 21 or 24 version? Don’t need any fancy gimmicks just basic typing plus the use of Excel.

Will my Word (& Excel) 2016 documents saved in Windows 10 be able to be accessed in a newer Office version on Windows 11?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Stefan Blom 354.5K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2025-06-01T17:08:19+00:00

If you want a one-time payment license (not a subscription), Microsoft Office Home 2024 is a good choice, as Dave says. It is the cheapest one-time payment license.

However, note that Office Home does not include the classic Outlook. See https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/p/office-home-2024/cfq7ttc0pqvj.

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If having Outlook matters to you, you will need to get Office Home & Business 2024 instead; for more, have look at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/p/office-home-business-2024/cfq7ttc0pbm7.

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  1. Charles Kenyon 171.4K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-06-01T18:30:37+00:00

    Hi Jane,

    I will lock this thread.

    When posting here, you are not just getting an answer to your question but also creating a resource for other users. You replaced your original question with a note that you needed no more help. This is good to know, but it is important that you not change the original question so that the answers have context for others using the forum.

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  2. Charles Kenyon 171.4K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2025-06-01T17:02:05+00:00

    I’ve bought a new laptop as my current one can’t upgrade to Windows 11. So need to upgrade Office as the 2016 version will no longer be supported either. Should I buy the 21 or 24 version? Don’t need any fancy gimmicks just basic typing plus the use of Excel.

    There are at least tens of thousands of people using "unsupported" older versions of Office, including Office 2016. If your Office 2016 is a retail version of Office, you should be able to download it from your Microsoft Account and it will work with Windows 11.

    I use Word 97 and Word 2003 on my computer.

    This is not to discourage you from purchasing a newer version of Office, but if Office 2016 serves your purposes, you can use it.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-06-01T14:40:39+00:00

    I’ve bought a new laptop as my current one can’t upgrade to Windows 11. So need to upgrade Office as the 2016 version will no longer be supported either. Should I buy the 21 or 24 version? Don’t need any fancy gimmicks just basic typing plus the use of Excel.

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  4. DaveM121 939.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-06-01T14:13:42+00:00

    Hi, I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    If your store your files on your PC and you perform the upgrade to Windows 11 without re-installing Windows, then your files, settings and installed software will not be affected by the update.

    Please provide full details on your intended method to upgrade Windows 10 to 11 and Office on your PC.

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