Microsoft Office 2019 for Windows

Microsoft Office 2019 is a version of the Microsoft Office productivity suite released on 24 September 2018 for Windows 10, Windows Server 2019 and macOS. If you already own a licence, you can download Office 2019 for Windows again through your Microsoft account; new buyers are pointed to newer Office versions instead.

Overview

Office 2019 was the one-time purchase answer to the subscription model of Microsoft 365. Instead of paying every month or year, you bought a key once and kept the apps on one PC for as long as you wanted. Depending on the edition, the suite included Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, with extra business apps in the professional editions. Its apps are built on the same code base as the Microsoft 365 versions of that time, so documents, spreadsheets and presentations are fully compatible with newer Office releases and with most other office programs. The price of that model is that the apps do not receive new features after release: what shipped in 2018 is what you get. Microsoft ended support for Office 2019 on 14 October 2025, which means no more security updates, and it recommends Microsoft 365 Office as the successor. For a PC that is offline or used for simple documents, that may be acceptable; for a work machine that opens attachments from strangers every day, a supported version is the better choice.

Key facts

How to install it

1. Open office.com and sign in with the Microsoft account linked to your Office 2019 key.
2. Go to the services and subscriptions section and choose to install Office.
3. Run the setup file and wait until all apps are installed.
4. Open Word or Excel and confirm that the product is activated.

Volume licence copies used by companies are installed by the IT department with Microsoft's deployment tools, not through a personal account.

What changed compared with earlier versions

Microsoft keeps a list of new features in Office 2019. If you are moving from an older version, read it to see what is new in each app before switching your documents over.

Price and safety

Office 2019 is paid software. Keys offered at a fraction of the usual price on marketplaces and activators found online are risky: cheap keys may be blocked later, and activators often carry malware. Install only through your Microsoft account.

Pros and cons

• Pro: pay once, no subscription.
• Pro: full compatibility with current Office file formats.
• Con: no new features and no more security updates.
• Con: licence tied to one PC.

Alternatives

Our site also lists Microsoft Office 2016, Microsoft 365 Office, LibreOffice and WPS Office. LibreOffice and WPS Office are free if you do not need Microsoft's own apps.