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Office End Of Support Blog
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Announcing the retirement for Office Online Server

TimDavenport's avatar
TimDavenport
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Oct 21, 2025

What’s changing?

Microsoft is announcing the end of support and retirement for Office Online Server effective December 31, 2026. After this date, Office Online Server will no longer receive security updates, bug fixes, or technical support from Microsoft. This change is part of our ongoing commitment to modernizing productivity experiences and focusing on cloud-first solutions. To help stay secure and compliant, begin planning now to move to supported options, such as Microsoft 365.

What does end of support mean?

  • No more security updates. Systems running Office Online Server may be vulnerable to the evolving threat landscape.
  • No bug fixes or technical support.
  • Potential compliance risks. Unsupported software may put regulated organizations at risk of non-compliance.

This announcement does not apply to products that integrate with Office Online Server, such as Exchange Server Subscription Edition, SharePoint Server Subscription Edition, or Skype for Business Server Subscription Edition, which will continue to be supported. Learn more about the support timeline for Subscription Edition versions of Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Skype for Business Server.

Why is this happening?

Office Online Server was designed to provide browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for on-premises environments. As organizations have adopted Microsoft 365, Microsoft is focusing its browser-based Office app investments on Office for the Web to deliver secure, collaborative, and feature-rich experiences through Microsoft 365.

What is the alternative for Office Online Server?

If your organization relies on Office Online Server for browser-based document editing and collaboration, our recommended path is to transition to Microsoft 365, which includes cloud-powered versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Microsoft 365 offers:

  • Real-time collaboration and sharing.
  • Automatic updates and ongoing support.
  • Enhanced security and compliance features.
  • Integration with Microsoft Teams, Outlook, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business.
  • Access to Microsoft 365 Copilot for AI-powered productivity.

Learn more about Microsoft 365. And for organizations with 150+ licenses, consider engaging Microsoft FastTrack to support your planning and migration to Microsoft 365.

For organizations using SharePoint Server Subscription Edition or Exchange Server Subscription Edition, Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise and Office LTSC 2024 remain supported desktop clients for viewing and editing documents hosted on those servers.

If your organization uses Office Online Server to host Excel workbooks in Power BI Report Server, that functionality will no longer be supported. Alternatives include viewing workbooks in the Excel desktop application or migrating to the Power BI service.

Prepare to make your move

Support for Office Online Server ends December 31, 2026. Continuing to use it after this date may expose your organization to security, compliance, and productivity risks. We therefore strongly encourage all customers to begin planning their transition to supported solutions today.

Microsoft is committed to helping you prepare. Use the resources below to help you get started:

Thank you for being a Microsoft customer!

Updated Oct 20, 2025
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5 Comments

  • BrettBartlett's avatar
    BrettBartlett
    Copper Contributor
    Oct 21, 2025

    As technologists, we tend to ask why decisions like this are made, expecting an answer that is rooted in the technology.  Unfortunately for us, Microsoft became a sales and marketing company more than a decade ago, so technology is no longer the primary driver of their decisions. 

    Could Microsoft allow a SharePoint Subscription Edition farm to bind to their cloud-based Office Online Service?  Absolutely, but customer demand no longer drives where Microsoft's development or support resources are spent.  In the conversations I've had with Microsoft over the past decade, they are not interested in finding out what customers want, they are interested in telling customers what we need.

    The reason for the decision to retire OOS is actually very simple: to maximize Microsoft's revenue.

    Removing on-premises features from their products has become a well-executed pattern of Microsoft wielding their monopolistic influence over customers.  It is a blatant to attempt to force us into paying Microsoft higher and more regular income streams by converting to cloud-based (usually inferior) alternatives.

    In short, this is just another Microsoft money grab.  Prove me wrong, Microsoft - I dare you.

  • MI5-Agent's avatar
    MI5-Agent
    Brass Contributor
    Oct 21, 2025

    Hi Microsoft , are you kidding? You sell expensive SE licenses and cut OOS? This ist like a wheelless car, this is nothing but insane! Customers are going slightly mad about the endless marketing maneuvers to force customers to cloud products. But wait, you sell onpremises licenses, then deliever them. If I buy a bread, I'll get one and not only flour.

     

    This is mad, now you really hit the jackpot. Unbelievable!

     

    Just stop this, immediately. We won't be Microsoft customers any more, but we have to, this is the truth.

  • RaffaColavecchi-MVP's avatar
    RaffaColavecchi-MVP
    Brass Contributor
    Oct 21, 2025

    I don't understand.

    Microsoft 365 Local was launched, where is sovereign cloud with this news?

    SharePoint SE without OOS it's a joke. And reporting service?

    This is an incredible decision... Sadness!