Office 2021 is the latest and upgraded version of the Microsoft Office suite, including numerous new features. Office users must be fascinated by the upgraded version because of the advanced features that increase productivity and enhance work capability. If you are an older version of an office user, you can update your office version easily with a valid office 2021 license key. In the following article, we will share with you the step-by-step process of how to upgrade from Office 2019 to 2021. Also, you can use this method to upgrade Office 2016 to 2021.
What are the Advantages of Office 2021 Pro Plus
We encourage you to upgrade from Office 2019 to the 2021 version because of a lot of advantages. Office 2021 is even better than the past. Let’s check the benefits in more detail:
Efficient Office Suite: Microsoft Office 2021 is designed and developed to help users work smarter and faster. You get a modern and innovative user interface that makes a better working environment. The new dark mode features help you to reduce eye strain and empower your working period.
Better Collaboration: Now, Office 2021 is more optimized for collaborative work. You can now easily share your office document with your co-worker. The new co-authoring, visual refresh, and sheet views greatly help collaboration work without disturbing anyone.
Updated security: Now, you can enjoy the encryption features of the new office suite. So without you, no one can access your data because your data will be protected by unreadable code. Extra, you get the anti-malware and phishing features that help to protect against any viruses and cyber-attacks.
Remote work compatibility: Office 2021 supports both hybrid and remote work and you will get access to your office suite from anywhere. If you have a strong internet connection, you can access files on any device or operating system and communicate with your co-workers.
Meet your Expectation: If you are an office application user, the new Office 2021 version really fulfills your expectations. Because you can create, edit, and share your file on a single application that helps to manage and monitor any big project effortlessly. The updated design and interface make an appealing environment that boosts your working productivity.
Figure Out What Version You are Using
If you want to update your office suite to the 2021 version, the first priority is to figure out the current version of the office suite on your device. You can easily check from your office application by following the steps;
- From your device, open each office application such as Word, Excel or Powerpoint.
- Navigate and click on the Account option from the left below the sidebar.
- On the next screen, you can see which version of Office you used under the Product Activated option.

So you are confirming that you are using the 2019 version of the office suite; you can upgrade it to the 2021 version by using a genuine license key.
System Requirements for Microsoft Office 2021
Before upgrading from Office 2019 to the 2021 version, check whether your device can use the Office 2021 application. Let’s s see the minimum system requirements your device needs to install the office 2021 version:
| Specification | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 10/11 or Windows Server 2019/2021 |
| Processor | 1GHz or quicker |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Storage | Minimum of 3GB free storage space |
| Graphics | Must support DirectX 10 or higher |
| Display | 1280 x 800 or higher |
| Internet Connection | Broadband internet connection |
Preparation and Consideration for Upgrading Latest Office Version
As you already use the Office 2016 or Office 2019 version, you need to maintain some key points to upgrade it to the new version:
- The upgrade can erase all the files and documents of your current office version. So, make a copy of all your office application's important files and documents and transfer them to safe storage like google drive or your One drive account.
- Remember or note down your Ondrive account login info because you can’t get the backup file if you lose it.
What are the benefits of updating to the new Office 2021 version?
By default, you can get numerous features on the new Office 2021 version that increase your productivity and enhance your user experience. Let’s see what the new update will bring:
Pick the Perfect Color: The latest update has included a new Hex box to solve the color issue. In the earlier version, you needed to repeatedly click to set the right Hex color values, converting to the RGB values. Now you can copy and paste a hex code to get the perfect RGB colors.
New Stock Media: We create many presentations and documents on the Microsoft Office application but do it professionally and visually appealing; we need to include many graphic elements in our files. Microsoft included a lot of images, icons, stickers, videos, illustrations, cartoons, 3d files, etc., in the new update. You can create more perfect digital presentations and documents now.
Ink Replay - Slide Animation for Ink object: You can now draw with ink on the PowerPoint application and instantly get objects on the screen. This feature allows the animation's timing period and you can control the speed slower and get the best viewing experience faster. You can customize the ink stroke easily, which helps you draw any shapes quickly.
Reduce Eye Strain With Dark Mode: Microsoft Word is a popular application for creating, editing and sharing a textual document. On this app, you get dark mode features that help to expand your working capability. In the new update, you also get the dark mode with a dark canvas background. You can enable these features from the Office theme under the Account section.
Updated Draw Tab: The draw tab is often used on Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to decorate your documents on the office applications. The updated draw tabs help you get new options like Word’s Action pen, Lasso, Point Eraser, Recent pen Colors etc. The recent colors tab help you get the previous perfect color that saves time. You can erase any point through the point eraser features with a thickness base.
Sheet Views: The sheet views feature increases the productivity of teamwork. You can now work on a single Excel document with many co-workers without disturbing each other. These innovative features bring collaborative work to the next level. On the Excel application, you can create, close, switch and delete the sheet view features easily inside the application.
Comparison of the features of Office 2019 vs 2021
Already, we have included some core updated features of Office 2021. Now in this section, we show you the difference between Office 2019 vs 2021:
| Features | Office 2019 | Office 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Co-author documents | ✓ | |
| Better collaboration with modern comments | ✓ | |
| Know who's in your document | ✓ | ✓ |
| Visual refresh | ✓ | ✓ |
| Inking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Accessibility ribbon | ✓ | ✓ |
| Updated Draw tab | ✓ | ✓ |
| Find what you need with Microsoft Search | ✓ | |
| Performance improvements | ✓ | ✓ |
| Support for OpenDocument format (ODF) 1.3 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Refresh, relink, or remove linked tables | ✓ | ✓ |
| New functions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Add visual impact | ✓ | ✓ |
| Break the language barrier | ✓ | ✓ |
| LaTeX equation support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Add motion with Morph | ✓ | ✓ |
| Find what you're looking for with Zoom | ✓ | ✓ |
| Run a slide show with your digital pen | ✓ | ✓ |
| Inking is where it's at | ✓ | |
| Visualize your data with new charts | ✓ | |
| Large Number (bigint) data type | ✓ | |
| Easily link tasks | ✓ | |
| Task progress at a glance | ✓ | |
| Kick-start your diagrams | ✓ | |
| Bring ideas to life | ✓ | |
| One-click fixes for accessibility issues | ✓ | ✓ |
| Helpful sounds improve accessibility | ✓ | ✓ |
Obviously, you can get a bunch of new features of the 2021 Office suite. So It’s a perfect decision to migrate your Office 2019 application to the new 2021 version.
How to Upgrade from Office 2016/2019 to 2021
You can do it differently if you are ready to update your office suite. Let’s see the process:
- Uninstall the office suite and Clean install your new office application
- Update and change your office application with a license key
Of course, the update and change license key is easy to process to jump into the new office suite but sometimes something else may work better. So we are going to include the two different processes in detail.
Uninstall the Office Suite and Clean Install your New Office Application
This process is a direct download and install process of Microsoft Office 2021. If you still using Office 2019 and want to upgrade it, you can follow this process. In this process, you can install Office 2021 by downloading the ISO file. Let’s check the entire process:
Log Out of your Microsoft Account
If you already use the older office application version, you need to sign out of your Microsoft account. You can do it easily by navigating and clicking on the following steps inside any office application: File > Account > Sign Out.
Uninstall your existing Office 2019 version.
Now it is time to uninstall your current office application. To do that, you can follow the easy steps:
- First, go to the start menu and click on the settings options
- Under the settings options, then, click on the Apps menu
- From the next Window, navigate to the Apps & Features option
- You can directly jump into the apps & features by pressing the Windows + I button and then Apps > Apps & features
- Find out the Office application by scrolling down or typing in the search box
- Now, right-click on your current office application and click on the uninstall option
- It’s starting to uninstall and you can see a progress bar
- You will be notified after a message including “Done uninstalling,” and press the close tab
- It’s the end of the uninstalling process.
Directly download the Office 2021 ISO file.
You can also download the Office 2021 file from the official Microsoft website. But there you need to sign in, select the product category and go through a lot of hassle. So, keep following the process to download Office 2021.
- Open your internet browsers, such as Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer
- Copy and paste your ISO download link for Office 2021 in the URL bar.
- If you do not have the Office 2021 ISO download link, then use this link to download Office 2021 iso.
- It starts the download and after completing the download, you will be notified.
Install the Microsoft Office 2021 With a License Key
- Navigate the downloaded ISO file on your device.
- After finding the file, click on it and select the Mount option. You need to press the Open option from the pop-up Window.
- Like the image below, you can see a new file on your device.
- Double-click on the file to jump inside the folder. Then again, double-click on the setup files to install the office application.
- The installation process will start and it’s time to prepare the system.
- After a few moments, you will see a screen like the image below, where you need to input the license key.
- Input the valid Office 2021 product key and press the Enter button.
Now you are enjoying the latest Office 2021 application and you can confirm the version by clicking the following steps: File > Account > Product activated

Update and Change the License Key
If you have an original product key, you could change the license key easily inside the office application. To do this process, follow the steps:
- Open any Office application like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
- Locate the account option from the left sidebar below.
- Click on the account option to see the settings inside this option.
- You can see a button on the next screen named “Change License.”

- Click on the Change License button to see a new window with your Microsoft account.
- If you are using several Microsoft accounts, switch to the right account that you want to use to update.
- Click the Next button to see the updated products under your Microsoft account on the next screen.
- Select the 2021 Office version and hit the Next button to start the automatic update process.

- You will be notified after updating the office project to the 2021 version.
- For confirmation, you can check the version from the Product activated section, like the image below.
Note: If you don’t have an original Office 2021 product key, get an Office 2021 key cheaply from our store.
Summary
Microsoft included new advanced features in the 2021 Office application. To update the latest version of the office, you need some essential preparation that we have included in the article. If you use an older version of the office application, you can upgrade to the new version of the office by following the two processes. You may face problems changing the office license key directly. Alternatively, you can install the new office by downloading the ISO file. Hope, following the process, you can successfully upgrade your Office application to the new 2021 version.
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