Microsoft will prevent Office 2019 for Mac owners from editing their documents from July 13, a restriction the company is attributing to the productivity suite's expiring digital certificate. The Office 2019 apps affected include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. Once the certificate used to confirm the suite's license expires, these apps will drop into what Microsoft is calling "reduced functionality mode".

Microsoft’s messaging on the subject hasn’t done it any favors, either. Its end-of-support page for Office 2019 for Mac, originally posted in October 2023, once told owners to “Rest assured that all your Office 2019 apps will continue to function.” A revision now dated May 15, 2026 has dropped that line, replacing it with a note that their data “can be accessed in a supported Microsoft 365 or Office product.”

    • Sentient Loom@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      20·
      17 hours ago

      LibreOffice is generally better anyway. I’ll admit there are some formatting things I find smoother in Office, but overall it’s bloatware and it keeps crashing. I really hate Office and avoid it whenever I can.

    • Serialchemist@ttrpg.networkEnglish
      13·
      17 hours ago

      I can’t recommend this enough. I have been using LibreOffice for a few years and saved myself a lot of money.

      Saved even more money a few months ago when I fully switched my OS to open source and left the Microsoft/Apple walled gardens behind.