Microsoft is retiring several Office products over the coming weeks, ending support for Publisher and Project Online alongside the wider Office 2021 lifecycle. The move affects businesses still relying on these tools for desktop publishing and project management, forcing many to migrate to newer, and often pricier, alternatives before support lapses and security updates cease.

Publisher, which dates back to the Windows 3.x era, will be removed from Microsoft 365 subscriptions on 1 October 2026, with support for perpetual versions ending on 13 October alongside Office LTSC 2021 and Consumer Office 2021; Microsoft offers no direct replacement for it. Project Online retires on 30 September, with the Project Online Essentials licensing tier reaching end of life the following day, and Microsoft recommending affected users move to Planner Plan 1 or Planner and Project Plan 3. Third-party options exist too, such as ProjectLibre's newly launched Cloud AI 2.0 service at just under $10 per user monthly, while 0patch has pledged unofficial critical security fixes for Office 2021 for at least three more years since Microsoft won't offer an Extended Security Updates programme for it.