Question How To Upgrade Office 2016 Pro Plus to Office 2021 Pro Plus on Windows 11 ?

[American2021]

How do I upgrade an existing installation of Office 2016 Pro Plus to Office 2021 Pro Plus in Windows 11?

This would be using a retail store bought version of Office 2021 Pro Plus:

• Office 2021 Pro Plus USB Flash for Installation
• Product Activation Key Card

It's my understanding that when you initiate the Office 2021 Pro Plus installation that the existing copy of stand alone Office is removed in the process (unless there's a problem and then the user has to uninstall the old version of Office and try again). The Win 11 computer uses a Microsoft activated account (not a local user only) and the device shows in the Microsoft account. The old Office software doesn't show in the Microsoft account for whatever reason (probably because the old Office software was installed on the local user only computer before the computer was upgraded to Win 11 using a Microsoft account).

Any issues seen here or things to look out for?

 

[Aeacus]

Usually, when upgrading software, the installer should detect old version and either rewrite the data, or uninstall old version, before installing new version.

In an instance, it doesn't detect the old version, you can manually uninstall the 2016 version and then install 2021 version. Or you can leave 2016 as is, and install 2021 version next to it. But with latter, the issue could be, that when e.g opening *.xml, the 2016 version launches, rather than 2021 version. So, better to uninstall 2016 beforehand.

 

[American2021]

Usually, when upgrading software, the installer should detect old version and either rewrite the data, or uninstall old version, before installing new version.

In an instance, it doesn't detect the old version, you can manually uninstall the 2016 version and then install 2021 version. Or you can leave 2016 as is, and install 2021 version next to it. But with latter, the issue could be, that when e.g opening *.xml, the 2016 version launches, rather than 2021 version. So, better to uninstall 2016 beforehand.

Good reply. I would say that learning to interpret Microsoft documentation is a bit of an art, because whoever writes their documentation is likely an alien.

BUT, that said, I did find a Microsoft article stating definitively that Office 2021 stand alone software will uninstall the existing version of Microsoft Office before installing itself. So all one really has to do is backup all their Office 2016 data to a .pst file and then install Office 2021.

Of course, one can uninstall Office 2016 first before installing Office 2021. And, in the event of Office 2021 installation failure, rebooting and uninstalling Office 2016 manually before installing 2021 would be the step.

Thanks for the reply!