What is the difference between Ms office 2016 and Ms office 2021

Hello, Kabo Chikuba.

Welcome to Microsoft community.

I understand you want to know about the differences between Microsoft Office 2016 and Microsoft Office 2021, mainly in feature updates, UI improvements, and performance improvements. Here are their main differences:

1. Release time

Office 2016: Released September 2015.

Office 2021: Released October 2021.

2. Interface and visual updates

Office 2021 has a cleaner and modern user interface, optimized support for high-resolution displays, and an improved dark mode with support for all-black themes within the app.

Office 2016 has a relatively old design and a limited selection of themes.

3. Functional improvements

Office 2021 adds many new features, such as:

• Excel: dynamic arrays, XLOOKUP functions, new data analysis tools, and more.

• Word: Improved co-editing, more ink tools, thumbnail viewer, and more.

• PowerPoint: New options for recording slides, richer media and graphics tools, and more.

Office 2016 is relatively basic and lacks some of the advanced features added in Office 2021.

4. Collaboration features

Office 2021 offers better collaboration features, especially when multiple people collaborate to edit documents in real time. While Office 2016 also supports collaboration, it's not as real-time and synchronicity as the 2021 version.

5. Performance and Compatibility

Office 2021 has better optimized performance, especially in startup speed and operational responsiveness. In addition, it is also better compatible with Windows 11.

Office 2016 works well on older systems, but has limited support for newer systems.

6. Term of Support

Mainstream support for Office 2016 ended on October 13, 2020, and Extended Support will end in October 2025.

Office 2021 has just been released, and mainstream support is expected to continue until around 2026.

Summary:

• If you need more powerful collaboration, data processing, and performance improvements, Office 2021 is the better choice.

• Office 2016 is for users who don't have high functional requirements, or who are already familiar with older versions.

Should you have any questions or require clarification, do not hesitate to reach out to me. I‘d like to do my utmost to assist you.

Best Regards,

Hannah.Z- MSFT |Microsoft Community Support Specialist