Microsoft retirements 2026: what ends and when
Our list of Microsoft retirements 2026 is a selection of 9 products we verified, from SQL Server 2016 in July to Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist at the end of the year. It is not every product. Support for Office 2021 and Office LTSC 2021, which include Publisher 2021, ended on 13 October. Each date below comes from a Microsoft page.
The 2026 dates, from Microsoft
| Product | Date in 2026 | What happens | Microsoft’s page |
|---|---|---|---|
| SQL Server 2016 | July 14, 2026 | End of support | Microsoft Learn |
| SharePoint Server 2016 and 2019 | July 14, 2026 | End of support | Microsoft Learn |
| Azure AI Personalizer | August 25, 2026 | Retirement (per the Personalizer product docs) | Microsoft Learn |
| Project Online | September 30, 2026 | Retirement | Microsoft Tech Community (Planner blog) |
| Microsoft Publisher | October 1, 2026; October 13, 2026 | Microsoft 365 removal begins (on or shortly after); Perpetual-licence support ends (Office LTSC 2021 / Office 2021) | Microsoft Support |
| Office 2021 | October 13, 2026 | Retirement | Microsoft Learn |
| Office LTSC 2021 | October 13, 2026 | End of support | Microsoft Learn |
| Windows 11 version 24H2 (Home and Pro) | October 13, 2026 | End of servicing (Microsoft stops sending updates for this version) | Microsoft Learn |
| Dynamics 365 Guides and Remote Assist | December 31, 2026 | End of support | Microsoft Learn |
Dates are as Microsoft prints them on the linked page. This is a selection we verified, not every product Microsoft is retiring. For everything else, see Microsoft’s full “Ending Support in 2026” list: it also covers other 2021 apps such as Word and Excel, among many more.
If an old Publisher file is what worries you, you can open it here, free, in your browser; it never leaves your device.
What “retirement” and “end of support” mean
According to Microsoft’s list of products ending support in 2026, when a product retires or reaches end of support, Microsoft stops all security and non-security updates and support. The software may keep running for a while, but nobody fixes new problems in it. For two services in the table, Project Online and Dynamics 365 Guides, Microsoft says people lose access or the apps stop working.
More than Microsoft
The software sunset tracker lists these products and others from other vendors, with what happens to your data, sorted by the next date.
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