Office 2021 Standard downgrade rights

James R. Coppernoll 6 Reputation points
2021-11-09T16:40:40.647+00:00

I feel there have been some mixed messages on other forums, and the downgrade rights material I'm finding from Microsoft has not been updated to include Office 2021 LTSC.

We work with a company that uses software that is only compatible with Office 2016 32-bit. We have been purchasing Office 2019 Standard from the open license program and downgrading it to 2016.

With Office 2021 LTSC releasing and the Open License program stopping sales in January, I need to be sure we can continue to buy licenses with downgrade rights to 2016. Will I be able to buy the Office 2021 LTSC Standard license through the newer CSP perpetual license program and have the ability to downgrade it to 2016?

Office Management
Office Management
Office: A suite of Microsoft productivity software that supports common business tasks, including word processing, email, presentations, and data management and analysis.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
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  1. Viki Ji_MSFT 4,421 Reputation points
    2021-11-10T05:22:14.567+00:00

    Hi @James R. Coppernoll ,
    Welcome to Q&A forum!

    Per my research, I also did not find any updates about the downgrade permissions of Office Standard 2021. But I can confirm the following information:
    Downgrade rights in Commercial Licensing programs give you the right to downgrade to any prior version of the same product. Therefore, you may downgrade Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019 to the Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2016 or Office Professional Plus 2013.

    And I would suggest that you contact Microsoft support directly to inquire about this issue.

    Any updates or questions, please let me know.

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    1 person found this answer helpful.
  2. James R. Coppernoll 6 Reputation points
    2021-11-22T22:26:19.723+00:00

    I went ahead and purchased a license. Once you've purchase the license through the CSP Perpetual program, you have the ability to downgrade to 2019 or 2016. I can only confirm this for the Standard edition.

    1 person found this answer helpful.