Microsoft Office 2021 Standard vs. Professional Plus

The 2021 edition of the Office suite by Microsoft is a relevant tool to answer the operational needs of businesses. It offers productivity software helping businesses achieve their productivity potential. Microsoft released the latest version of the Office suites, Office 2024, but Office 2021 remains a great solution for businesses to this day. Office 2021 is offered in several versions, which include the Standard and Professional Plus editions. This article explores the features of each version of Office 2021, and highlights the differences between both versions. Also, this article mentions some of the most frequently asked questions about Office 2021, as well as the hardware requirements for both versions.

Microsoft Office 2021 Standard

The Standard version of Microsoft Office 2021 offers all the basic applications and features included in Office 2021. It mainly targets smaller businesses, or with less extensive IT needs, by offering user-friendly tools with basic features and applications.

MS Office 2021 Standard: Applications

Regarding applications, Office 2021 Standard offers all the basic Office productivity applications, which are the following:

Microsoft Word: Create and edit documents
Microsoft Excel: Spreadsheets, data analysis, and basic reporting
Microsoft PowerPoint: Create and edit presentations/slideshow
Microsoft Outlook: Email and calendar management
Microsoft Publisher: Create marketing materials like brochures, flyers, and newsletters
Microsoft OneNote: Take notes and organize information

The applications found within the Standard version of Office offer a wide range of possibilities, whether it is for text formatting or slideshow creation.

MS Office 2021 Standard: Features

In terms of features, Microsoft Office 2021 Standard offers integrated collaborative features across applications, as well as application-specific features.

First, regarding collaborative features, MS Office 2021 Standard integrates with SharePoint and OneDrive to offer a collaborative environment in which users can easily share or edit files, and store them to the Cloud for shared access within an organization. SharePoint is a document management platform designed for collaboration, allowing secure file storage and sharing. OneDrive is the cloud storage solution offered by Microsoft.

In addition to the SharePoint and OneDrive integration, Office 2021 Standard offers the real-time co-authoring feature, which, as its name suggests, allows users to collaborate in real time within documents. This feature is available for all Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents, as well as documents stored in OneDrive or SharePoint. Another feature linked to the real-time co-authoring is the addition of modern comments within Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Modern comments allow users to leave remarks within shared documents for co-authors. It enables to follow up on issues within shared documents, with collaboration and productivity in mind.

Also, Office 2021, both in its Standard and Professional Plus versions, has received an updated user interface, promoting a simplified and modernized interface, improving user experience by easing features accessibility.

Regarding application-specific features, Microsoft Excel has received additional functions such as Dynamic Arrays for formulas returning multiple values, or LET functions, intended to simplify complex formulas. Also the XLOOKUP function has been added to Excel to allow users to find anything in their sheets, improving the accessibility of information within Excel.

Finally, Windows Office 2021 Standard includes Windows Rights Management Service (RMS). As its name might hint, Windows RMS is designed to manage access rights to digital information within an organization. It protects digital information from unauthorized access, allowing organizations to keep their sensitive information secured at all times.

SharePoint & OneDrive integration
Real-time Co-authoring
Modern Comments
Updated user interface
MS Excel: Dynamic Arrays, LET function, XLOOKUP function
Windows Rights Management Service (RMS)

Microsoft Office 2021 Professional Plus

The Professional Plus version of Office 2021 offers all the applications and features that can be found within its Standard counterpart, but also offers additional applications as well as more advanced features.

MS Office 2021 Professional Plus: Applications

As mentioned above, the Professional Plus version of Microsoft Office 2021 includes all the applications that can be found in the Standard edition. This means that Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, and OneNote are offered within Office 2021 Professional Plus. This version of Office offers additional applications which are the following:

Microsoft Access: Manage database, create reporting, analyse data (PC only)
Microsoft Teams: Collaborate in real time and communicate with your collaborators

These additional applications are offering data management and collaboration opportunities for organizations.

MS Office 2021 Professional Plus: Features

Office 2021 Professional Plus not only offers additional applications, but also additional, or more advanced features. In this version of Office 2021, most additions in terms of features are application-specific rather than across applications.

First feature is the archiving of emails, and the possibility to implement retention policies within Outlook. This feature is mainly aimed at IT administrators, which can centrally manage archiving and retention policies.

The next features offered by MS Office 2021 Professional Plus are specific to MS Excel. To enhance data analysis and allow for the management of large dataset, the Power Pivot and Power View tools can be found within MS Excel in the Professional Plus version of Office 2021. Power View is the visualization feature for data within Excel, which works with Power Pivot, the data importation, modelling, and analysis features of Excel. Power Pivot is also considered a business intelligence tool as it is capable of generating reports from multiple datasets, as well as establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for performance monitoring, thus helping decision-making.

Last feature specific to the Professional Plus version of Office 2021, is the integration with SharePoint and Exchange which allows to access documents stored in SharePoint or Exchange from Outlook. This feature reinforces the collaborative features of Office 2021 by streamlining collaboration and communications.

MS Outlook: email archiving, retention policies
MS Excel: Power Pivot & Power View integration
- Data management & analysis
- Data-based KPIs
SharePoint & Exchange integration to Outlook

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Office 2021

This section answers some of the most frequently asked questions about Office 2021, whether it is in its Standard edition or Professional Plus edition.

What applications are included in Office 2021 Standard and Office 2021 Professional Plus?

Microsoft Office 2021 Standard includes Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, Publisher, and OneNote. Its counterpart, Office 2021 Professional Plus, includes all previously mentioned applications, and adds Microsoft Access and Microsoft Teams.

What licensing model do Office 2021 Standard and Professional Plus use?

The licensing model for Microsoft Office 2021 Standard and Office 2021 Professional Plus are the same. Both editions are offered as perpetual licenses which means they can be acquired only through one-time purchases, contrary to 365 plans, which are subscription-based.

Are the system requirements different for each version of Office 2021?

The minimum system requirements are the same for both Microsoft Office 2021 Standard and Office 2021 Professional Plus. The only difference can be found between the requirements for Windows based devices and macOS based devices. More information on hardware for Office 2021 further down this article.

What is the target audience for each version of Office 2021?

Microsoft Office 2021 Standard targets smaller businesses, or businesses with basic productivity needs. Microsoft Office 2021 Professional Plus is aimed at larger organizations, or organizations needing extensive productivity applications and features.

Is it possible to upgrade from Office 2021 Standard to Office 2021 Professional Plus?

No, directly upgrading from Microsoft Office 2021 Standard to Office 2021 Professional Plus is not possible. However, it is possible to purchase a separate Office 2021 Professional Plus license to replace Office 2021 Standard.

Does Office 2021 receive updates?

Yes, both Office 2021 Standard and Office 2021 Professional Plus receive updates from Microsoft. Note that perpetually licensed products from Microsoft receive security and bug fix updates, but do not receive any feature updates.

MS Office 2021 Standard vs Professional Plus: Which version to choose?

As depicted by the previous sections of this article, Office 2021 Standard and Professional Plus have both some similarities and differences. Each version answers different needs and is targeted to different audiences. This section highlights the differences between both version of Office 2021, and gives advice about which version to choose depending on your needs.

Differences between Office 2021 Standard and Professional Plus

Microsoft Office 2021 Standard and Office 2021 Professional Plus have differences in the applications they offer, as well as their features.

Microsoft Office 2021 Standard or Office 2021 Professional Plus?

Both versions of Microsoft Office 2021 offer great capabilities in terms of productivity. Considering their differences in applications and features, each version suits different needs. Here are some guidelines to help you decide which version to choose.

Choose Microsoft Office 2021 Standard if:

You are a small/medium-sized business
You have basic IT, collaboration, or database management needs
You are looking for a lower price-point

Being designed to answer the needs of smaller businesses, Office 2021 Standard is a capable productivity solution which will accommodate basic IT, collaborative, or data management needs while offering a lower price-point compared to its Professional Plus counterpart.

Choose Microsoft Office 2021 Professional Plus if:

You are a larger business
You have more advanced IT, or database management needs
You have advanced collaborative needs

Microsoft Office 2021 Professional Plus answers more advanced needs for organizations that are either of a larger size, or have extensive collaborative, or data management needs. It is a complete solution ready to tackle the most advanced productivity needs. While Microsoft released their latest version of Office, Microsoft Office 2024, Office 2021 Standard and Professional Plus remain very capable solutions for productivity needs.

Hardware Requirements for Microsoft Office 2021

Regarding hardware requirements, the Standard and Professional Plus versions of Office 2021 share the same minimum requirements. This section describes the minimum requirements to run Office 2021 Standard and Professional Plus for both windows-based devices and macOS-based devices. Next, this section depicts hardware recommendations for optimal performance, for both Windows and macOS.

Minimum hardware requirements

The minimum hardware requirements states the minimum configuration necessary to run Office 2021. While most modern devices will run Office 2021 without any issues, minimum hardware requirements are important in order to know if an older, or less performant device is capable of running the software or not. Here are the minimum hardware requirements for Windows:

CPU: 1 GHz, 2 cores
RAM: 4 GB
Storage: at least 4 GB of free disk space
Display: 1280x768 resolution
Graphics: Requires DirectX 9 or later, with WDDM 2.0 or higher for Windows 10
Operating System: Windows 10, Windows 11

Minimum hardware requirements for macOS:

CPU: Intel CPU or Apple Silicon (M1 chip or newer)
RAM: 4 GB
Storage: At least 10 GB of free disk space
Display: 1280x768 resolution
Graphics: Metal API support for graphics rendering
Operating System: macOS 10.14 Mojave or later (support for the 3 most recent versions of macOS)

Optimal performance recommendations

While the minimum hardware requirements allow to run Office 2021, better performing hardware benefits the overall user experience by allowing the use of the full potential of the features and applications available in Office 2021. Here are the recommendations for optimal performance on Windows:

CPU: 2 GHz or faster, 4 cores or more
RAM: 8 GB or more
Storage: 10 GB or more of free disk space to accommodate applications and updates
Display: 1920x1080 resolution or higher
Graphics: DirectX 12 or later with updated drivers
Operating System: Windows 11, or Windows 10 with latest update
Internet connection: high-speed internet for updates and cloud-based features

Recommendations for optimal performance on macOS:

CPU: Apple Silicon M1 or newer, Intel 7th generation or newer
RAM: 8 GB or more
Storage: 20 GB or more of free disk space to accommodate applications and updates
Display: 1920x1080 resolution or higher
Graphics: Metal API support for graphics rendering
Operating System: macOS 12.0 Monterey or later
Internet connection: High-speed internet for updates and cloud-based features

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