Microsoft recently confirmed that Office 2019 for Mac will no longer be available for normal use starting next month because it will no longer renew a digital certificate used to verify Office authorization. Starting from July 13, users who hold the one-time purchase version of Office 2019 for Mac will have to switch to Office 2024 or the subscription-based Microsoft 365 service if they want to continue editing documents.
According to a previously released support note from Microsoft, this change stems from the imminent expiration of a certificate used to verify Office authorization status. Microsoft stated that Office 2019 for Mac has ended support on October 10, 2023 and will no longer receive any updates. Therefore, this software cannot be updated to adapt to new certificate requirements. When Microsoft announced the end of support in 2023, it promised that "all Office 2019 apps will continue to run" even if security updates are no longer available. But in a support document that was quietly updated last month, this statement was removed and replaced with only a guarantee that "all Office 2019 apps will not lose any data."
Office 2019 for Mac is not the only one affected by this certificate expiration. Microsoft's announcement shows that starting from July 13, Office 2019 for Mac and Office 2021 for Mac, which are still in the support period, will enter the so-called "limited function mode." In this state, users can still open existing files but will not be able to edit, save, or create new documents. Affected applications include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. For Office 2021 for Mac, Microsoft will provide certificate updates, and users only need to install the update to restore full functionality; however, users of Office 2019 for Mac that have been discontinued will not receive similar fixes.
Microsoft emphasized in a support document that because Office 2019 for Mac cannot be updated to a version that meets the new certificate requirements, "this issue cannot be resolved by updating or reinstalling Office 2019 for Mac." Third-party technology blog JimmyTech also pointed out that older versions of Microsoft 365 Mac and iOS applications will also be affected by this certificate issue, but the risk can be avoided by upgrading to newer versions.
This adjustment is particularly sensitive for users who have relied on one-time licensed versions of Office for a long time. Although it is common practice for Microsoft to regularly terminate support for old software, and the use of outdated applications does pose security and compatibility risks, the expiration of this certificate directly caused the loss of core editing functions of the software that users had paid for, which still aroused doubts from the outside world. Some people believe that Microsoft could have made exception arrangements for buyout version users in this incident, at least ensuring that they can continue to edit basic documents in an offline and local environment, instead of pushing the software into a "read-only" state through technical means.