Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise and Office Timeline

The Microsoft 365 apps for enterprise desktop application suite follows a different release and retirement pattern than Office suites. The accompanying chart shows future version releases and support retirements for some of Microsoft’s desktop application suites, including Microsoft 365 apps for enterprise in the Semi-Annual Enterprise channel, Office Standard, and Office Professional.

Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise

Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise is a Per-User subscription suite subject to Microsoft’s Online Services support policy. New production versions of Microsoft 365 Apps become generally available via several standard servicing channels. 

Semi-Annual Enterprise is the servicing channel that provides the most stable versions for production use. Versions are released twice a year, in January and July. After release to this channel, each version gets one build per month, containing security patches, and twice-yearly bug patch builds, for as long as the version is supported. Microsoft supports at least two Semi-Annual versions at any time, with about 14 months of support each. Users on the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel can currently choose from three releases: