Microsoft revealed earlier this year that it was planning to stop supporting Office apps (Microsoft 365) on Windows 10 after the October 14th end of support cutoff. Now, Microsoft is performing a U-turn and has pledged to continue providing security updates for Office apps on Windows 10 for an additional three years.

“To help maintain security while you transition to Windows 11, Microsoft will continue providing security updates for Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 for three years after Windows 10 reaches end of support,” says Microsoft in an updated support article published last week. “These updates will be delivered through the standard update channels, ending on October 10, 2028.”

Microsoft quietly announced this three-year extension in late April in a separate support article for IT admins, and it reiterates that the Microsoft 365 apps will “continue to function as before,” but that businesses should upgrade to Windows 11 “to avoid performance and reliability issues over time.”

This latest language is a lot different to the blog post Microsoft issued in January that warned businesses that Office apps would no longer be supported on Windows 10 later this year. “To use Microsoft 365 Applications on your device, you will need to upgrade to Windows 11,” said Microsoft at the time.

Microsoft has been pushing consumers and businesses to upgrade to Windows 11 ahead of the end of support for Windows 10 on October 14th. The company declared at CES earlier this year that 2025 would be “the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh,” despite Windows 11 adoption lagging behind Windows 10.