Microsoft Office 2024 consumer editions (Home & Students and Home & Business) are now available for Windows and Mac platforms new version for local installations of the office suite after the release of the enterprise long-term support version, Office LTSC 2024.

Microsoft had a busy week with the launch of the Windows 11 2024 Update. But he did not stop there and also started his own another big bastion in software: the consumer version of the new suite for productivity and collaboration, Office 2024. The motivation for this version is known: Although Microsoft continues to recommend the use of the cloud version of 365, it does not want to neglect the needs of companies and users who prefer to use an apartment with local equipment, under perpetual license one time payment and no mandatory subscription.

As we have said since the first leaks (surprising because it was thought that Microsoft would not launch new versions of this type), the Redmond firm does not want to leave the way open for alternatives that exist and are excellent, some like LibreOffice free, open source and lots of features for 99% of users.

Basic version (Home) of Microsoft Office 2024 contains the most popular apps in the suitea word processor, Word, Excel spreadsheets, presentations like PowerPoint, and the note-taking one, OneNote. The second version (Home & Business) adds a new version of the new Outlook e-mail client to the previous ones. Either way, as a product for on-premises use and without an internet connection, they don’t have the cloud capabilities of Microsoft 365 apps, such as real-time collaboration or artificial intelligence technologies, which remain exclusive to it.

Microsoft highlighted some improvements compared to the previous local version of Office 2021 like:

• A new default theme that better suits Windows 11 images
• OpenDocument 1.4 format support
• Improved facilitation and control features
• Improved ability to add images from mobile devices
• Pivot charts and new functions in Excel
• Better document recovery in Word
• New drawing tools in OneNote
• Support for subtitles in PowerPoint
• Better search in Outlook
• Performance improvements in macOS.

Microsoft Office 2024, versions and prices

These versions of the suite have a five-year support cycle. Microsoft promises to update apps with fixes and security patches from October 1, 2024 to October 9, 2029. The sold versions are a one-time purchase for one PC (Windows) or Mac (macOS) computer and are available now in some regions at the following prices:

• Office 2024 for Home (and Students): $149.99.
• Office 2024 for Home and Business: $249.99.