MS Office 2021 launches with Windows 11, check new features

MS Office 2021 on Windows 11 will include upgrades to MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote and MS Teams. The new version will be up for download on October 5.

MS Office 2021 will be available to use when Windows 11 is launched on October 5 on all Windows PCs.

It took a while but it is finally here. The successor to the long running MS Office 2019 now has a launch date and a price. Microsoft has also revealed all the new features that users will see in MS Office 2021, including new features that make an appearance in the new MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and all other apps.

Before we head look at the features, here's a look at what the Office Home and Student 2021 editions will cost. For regular users and students, it will cost $149.99 and include MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Microsoft Teams. This will be applicable on both PC and Mac.

For business users, MS Office Home and Business 2021 will be available at a price of $249.99. This will include all the apps and service from the Home versions as well as Outlook for PC and Mac/ Users will also gain the rights to use all Office apps for business purposes. Indian prices are yet to be announced.

MS Office 2021 features

Similar to the upcoming Windows 11 update, the MS Office 2021 apps will get a new design overhaul, matching the colours of the Windows 11 palette. Moreover, the apps will have the refreshed ribbon interface and rounder corners to gel with the Windows 11 interface.

Even though Microsoft 365 stays different, Office 2021 will gain some of the collaboration features from it. Hence, users will get to collaborate on a document, gain OneDrive support, and also get MS Team integration.

MS Office 2021 will be compatible with Windows 11 and Windows 10 machines as well as the latest versions of macOS. The software will release on Octiber 5, the same day as Windows 11 launches. Here are some of the detailed features in individual apps.

MS Word:

- OpenDocument format (ODF) 1.3 support

- Updated Draw tab

- Performance improvements

MS Excel:

- XLOOKUP function – helps find things in a table or range by row in an Excel worksheet.

- Dynamic array support - new functions in Excel that use dynamic arrays.

- LET function – an Excel feature that lets you assign names to calculation results.

- XMATCH function – this searches for a specified item in an array or range of cells and returns the item's relative position.

- OpenDocument format (ODF) 1.3 support

- Updated Draw tab

- Performance improvements

MS PowerPoint:

- Record Slide Show – this new PowerPoint feature includes presenter video recording, ink recording and laser pointer recording.

- Replay your ink strokes – if you're using ink in PowerPoint, you can now replay illustrations as they were drawn.

- Arrange elements on your slides for screen readers – this lets you re-arrange elements to optimize them for screen readers.

- OpenDocument format (ODF) 1.3 support

- Updated Draw tab

- Performance improvements

MS Outlook:

- Translator and ink – You can now annotate emails, draw in a canvas for messages, or translate emails into more than 70 languages.

- Instant search – search results are now instant, with more ways to refine and filter results.

- Performance improvements