Office 2021 Review
Tilo Chopin
Office 2021 Review: What's New and How to Get It
Office 2021 is the latest version of Microsoft's popular office suite that offers a buy-once, use-forever option for those who don't want to subscribe to Microsoft 365. In this article, we'll review the new features and improvements of Office 2021, as well as how to get it for your Windows or Mac device.
What's New in Office 2021
Office 2021 is not a major overhaul of the office suite, but rather an incremental upgrade that adds some speed and convenience features, as well as security updates. Here are some of the highlights:
- Microsoft Teams integration: Office 2021 now comes with Microsoft Teams, the chat and collaboration app that lets you communicate and work with your colleagues online. You can access Teams from any Office app by clicking on the Teams icon in the ribbon.
- Translator in Outlook: Office 2021 adds a new feature that lets you translate foreign languages in Outlook emails on the fly. You can select any text in an email and click on the Translate button in the ribbon to see the translation in a pop-up window. You can also change the language settings and hear the pronunciation of the text.
- Dynamic Arrays and XLOOKUP in Excel: Office 2021 introduces two new functions in Excel that make working with data easier and more powerful. Dynamic Arrays let you enter a formula once and have it automatically spill into multiple cells, without having to press Ctrl+Enter. XLOOKUP lets you look up a value in a table based on a match or approximate match, and return any column from the table, without having to use VLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH.
- Dark mode support: Office 2021 adds dark mode support for all its apps, which can help reduce eye strain and save battery life on your device. You can switch between light and dark modes from the File menu or the system settings.
How to Get Office 2021
Office 2021 comes in two flavors: Office Home and Student 2021 and Office Home and Business 2021. The former is the cheaper of the two at $149.99/Â119.99 and comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. The latter costs $249.99/Â219.99 and adds Outlook to the mix. Both versions are for one device only and include access to web and mobile versions of Office apps.
To get Office 2021, you can visit Microsoft's website and choose the version that suits your needs. You can either download it directly or order a physical copy with a product key. You'll need to sign in with a Microsoft account to activate and use Office 2021.
If you're not sure whether Office 2021 is right for you, you can also try Microsoft 365, which is a subscription-based service that gives you access to the latest versions of Office apps, as well as OneDrive cloud storage, Skype minutes, and other extras. Microsoft 365 costs $69.99/Â59.99 per year for one user or $99.99/Â79.99 per year for up to six users.
Conclusion
Office 2021 is a solid update to Microsoft's office suite that offers some useful features and improvements for productivity and collaboration. It's a good choice for those who prefer a one-time purchase over a subscription model, and who don't need all the bells and whistles of Microsoft 365. However, if you want to stay on top of the latest innovations and enjoy more benefits from Microsoft's cloud services, you might want to consider Microsoft 365 instead.