Microsoft will kill Office Online Server next year, creating a headache for anyone using on-premises Office web applications and the beleaguered holdouts sticking with Skype for Business Server.
The retirement is scheduled for December 31, 2026. After this, there won't be any more security fixes, updates, or technical support from Microsoft. "This change is part of our ongoing commitment to modernizing productivity experiences and focusing on cloud-first solutions," the company said.
Office Online Server provides browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for customers who want to keep things on-prem without having to roll out the full desktop applications. Microsoft's solution is to move to Microsoft 365, its decidedly off-premises version of its applications. The company said it is "focusing its browser-based Office app investments on Office for the Web to deliver secure, collaborative, and feature-rich experiences through Microsoft 365."
Other than migrating to another platform when the vendor pulls the plug, affected customers have few options.
The announcement will also hit several customers running SharePoint Server SE or Exchange Server SE. While those products remain supported, Office Online Server integration will go away. The company suggested Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise and Office LTSC 2024 as alternatives for viewing and editing documents hosted on those servers.
Skype for Business customers will also lose some key features related to PowerPoint. Presenter notes and high-fidelity PowerPoint rendering will go away. In-meeting annotations, which allow meeting participants to write directly to slides without altering the original file, will no longer be available, and embedded video playback will run at lower fidelity. Features like whiteboards, polls, and app sharing shouldn't be affected.
Microsoft's solution is a move to Teams, which the company says "offers modern meeting experiences."
Office Online Server launched in 2016 and is the successor to Office Web Apps Server 2013. At the time, Microsoft said it "recognizes that many organizations still value running server products on-premises for a variety of reasons.
"With OOS [Office Online Server], you get the same functionality we offer with Office Online in your own datacenter."
There is currently no successor for Office Online Server. Few users may know it exists, but the fact that it is retiring is going to hurt those who prefer to keep data and processing on-premises without touching Office LTSC 2024. ®