Microsoft Office 2013 End of Life

No, it hasn’t died. But come April 11th 2023, good old Microsoft Office 2013 will no longer receive security updates, service packs or feature updates. After ten years in production, it’s fair to say it’s had a good innings.

What does this mean in real-life terms?

In short, your software will continue to work, however without it getting any security updates, you’re potentially leaving yourself exposed to Cyber Security threats. If a security loophole is found in the software, after April 11th, Microsoft will no longer provide a fix for the problem – it’s a case of “on your own”.

What are your options?

It’s very simple for us. Upgrade. Most of you will want to continue to use Microsoft Office, so simply upgrading to the latest version would be the route to go down.

If you didn’t want to invest in a new version of Microsoft Office, then you could look for a free alternative, such as Libre Office. Whilst it’s not as good as Microsoft Office, it certainly does a job, we think it would be acceptable for some personal home use for example.

Why should you upgrade?

As we’ve already outlined above, the main reason is to keep yourself protected from Cyber Security threats, by using software which receives regular updates and is supported by the manufacturer.

Other reasons to explore upgrading are:

• Using the latest software, you have access to new features, which may boost your productivity.
• Generally, newer software is more stable and reliable
• You shouldn’t encounter problems receiving and opening documents in the latest file formats if you’re also using the latest version of the software
• If you wanted to obtain Cyber Essentials, you need to be on a supported version

With a few months to go, there is no mad panic, but you should start to think about replacing Office 2013 and test out possible options.

Gavin Moorhouse is the owner of Lucid Computer Solutions, a Worcestershire-based IT Support and Cloud Services business. He produced this article using Google Docs.