08-05-2021

What Is The Most Current Microsoft Office Version For Mac

Some trivia about Outlook version numbers;

Microsoft Office Version History
What Is The Best Microsoft Office Version For Mac

What are the version numbers of Outlook and their released names?
Why does it start with version 8.0?
Why is there no version 13.0?
Why isn’t Office 2019 version 17.0?
What are the build numbers of the Service Pack releases?

Previous versions of Office, such as Office 2010, may work with Office 365 with reduced functionality. This compatibility with Office does not include the Office 365 F1 plans. Annual commitment required. Custom domain $12/year after the first year. Only new Office 365 for business subscribers eligible. In the dialog box that opens, you can see the version number as well as the license type. In the example below, the version number is 16.18 and the license is a one-time purchase of Office 2019 for Mac.

Version Names and Version Numbers

The version number of Outlook relates to the first 2 numbers of the entire build number as reported in Outlook’s About dialog. side from Outlook 98, this second number is always 0.

You can look up the build number of Outlook in the following way:

Outlook 2007 and previous
Help-> About Microsoft Office Outlook
Outlook 2010
File-> Help-> About-> Additional Version and Copyright Information
Outlook 2013, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019 and Office 365
File-> Office Account-> About Outlook

An overview of the released versions of Outlook and their version numbers;

Version Name	Version Number
Outlook 97	8.0
Outlook 98	8.5
Outlook 2000	9.0
Outlook XP/2002	10.0
Outlook 2003	11.0
Outlook 2007	12.0
Outlook 2010	14.0
Outlook 2013	15.0
Outlook 2016	16.0
Outlook 2019	16.0
Office 365	16.0

This version number is used for stamping the installation files of Outlook and is also used in the Registry, with the most known Registry hive being;
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice<version>Outlook

Office 2019 is not version 17.0?

As you can see, since Outlook 2016 the version number is stuck at 16.0 and Office 2019 didn’t become version 17.0. This is because Office 2016 and Office 2019 now use the same code-base as Office 365 and your license determines which features are enabled.

At the same time, this change also increases (or to be more technically correct; doesn’t decrease) compatibility with add-ins and external applications which explicitly look at the version number.

Background info

Outlook was first introduced in Office 97 which had the version number 8.0. The version numbering of Office itself skips number 5 and 6. This is because since Office 95 (version 7.0), all Office applications started sharing the same version number. Word at the time was in its 6.0 version and with that it had the highest version number. Its next version for Office 95 would become version Word 7.0 so that version number was taken for the entire Office 95 suite.

Outlook 97 replaced the applications Schedule+ and Exchange Client which were previously bundled with respectively Office and Exchange Server.

Before Outlook 97 there were already clients called Outlook bundled with Exchange. Their names are; Outlook for MS-DOS, Outlook for Windows 3.x, and Outlook for Macintosh. After “Microsoft Outlook 2001 for Macintosh” came Entourage which offered Exchange connectivity for Mac users. All these versions have their own version numbers which have nothing to to with the current versioning scheme.

Outlook 98 was initially a free download and later remained as a free upgrade for Outlook 97 users adding new features – most notably support for non-Exchange accounts. Its availability has been pulled shortly before the release of Outlook 2000. As its release was outside the normal release cycle of the Office suites (to which the version numbers have been tied), the version number of Outlook 98 could not be a full version higher than Outlook 97.

No version 13.0

At the MVP Summit in 2009, Steve Ballmer admitted (to little surprise) that there won’t be a version 13.0 for any of the Office applications because of “plain old superstition”. However, he also said that there is no “company policy for superstition” and that other product groups may release a 13.0 version of their product in the future. Obviously this superstition isn’t going to be localized for other markets where they would fear the number 14.

Other current uses of the Outlook brand

Outlook on the Web is the Web-based e-mail interface of Microsoft Exchange Server. Initially it was called Exchange Web Connect but soon replaced with Outlook Web Access. In Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2013 it is called Outlook Web App and was renamed to Outlook on the Web with Exchange 2016. As it is a part of Exchange, the Outlook Team doesn’t develop it. However, the release cycle of Exchange is synchronous to the Office Suite and shares the same version number since Office 2010.

Since Office for Mac 2011, Outlook replaced Entourage but has a completely different development team (they are even located in a different State!) and originally another development cycle. While it does share the same version number, originally, Office for the Mac is released 1 year after its Windows counterpart. This is no longer the case since Office 2019.

In August 2012, it was been announced that Outlook.com would replace Hotmail. While Outlook.com takes over some design elements of Outlook 2013 and OWA 2013, this was also managed by a completely different team. Taking Outlook.com into production is part of the “Wave 15” project which again matches the version number of the Office releases. As of mid-2017, all Outlook.com mailboxes are hosted by the Office 365 platform and is very similar in look and feel to the corporate Outlook on the Web experience as part of Exchange Online. For various new end-user features and changes, Outlook.com often is used as a test-bed for the corporate version.

Build Numbers

The exact build number of Outlook that is shown in the About dialog relates to which updates have been installed. This often helps with troubleshooting and is also referred to as “patch level”.

Below you’ll find an overview of some of the major build numbers.

Outlook 2003	11.0.5510.0
Outlook 2003 SP1	11.0.6353.0	KB842532
Outlook 2003 SP2	11.0.6565.0	KB887616
Outlook 2003 SP3	11.0.8169.0	KB923618
Outlook 2007	12.0.4518.1014
Outlook 2007 SP1	12.0.6212.1000	KB936982
Outlook 2007 SP2	12.0.6423.1000	KB953195
Outlook 2007 SP3	12.0.6607.1000	KB2526086
Outlook 2010	14.0.4760.1000
Outlook 2010 SP1	14.0.6029.1000	KB2460049
Outlook 2010 SP2	14.0.7015.1000	KB2687455
Outlook 2013	15.0.4420.1000
Outlook 2013 SP1	15.0.4569.1506	KB2817430
Outlook 2016	16.0.4229.1003
Outlook 2019	16.0.10336.20039

Microsoft Office Version History

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Office 2016 for Mac is a version of Office that’s available as a one-time purchase from a retail store or through a volume licensing agreement. It will be supported with security updates and bug fixes, as needed, until October 13, 2020. The minimum supported macOS for Office 2016 for Mac is 10.10 (Yosemite).

Note

For security reason, Microsoft has deprecated the use of SHA-1. Learn more
For release notes for Office 2016 for Mac releases prior to September 2018, see Release notes for Office for Mac.
For release information for Office for Mac, which is the version that comes with Office 365 subscriptions, see the release notes and update history for Office for Mac.
Office 2019 for Mac is the most current version that’s available as a one-time purchase. For release information for Office 2019 for Mac, see the release notes and update history for Office for Mac.

Updates for Office 2016 for Mac are available from Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU). To use Microsoft AutoUpdate, start an Office application, such as Word, and then choose Help > Check for Updates. If you're an admin and want to update the computers in your organization with your existing software deployment tools, you can download and deploy the update packages for each application.

Most current packages for Office 2016 for Mac

The following table lists the most current packages for Office 2016 for Mac and for the individual applications, such as Word and Excel. All packages are 64-bit only. The build date is listed in parentheses, in a YYMMDD format, after the version number. The install package is used if you don't have the application already installed, while the update package is used to update an existing installation.

March 10, 2020

Version 16.16.20 (20030700)

Application	Download links	SHA256 hashes for install package
Office suite (all applications)	Install package	E6B38E17FECF5BF67CB08C5EF405BCEFE2079A079637D5800E1815B1FCB8E0B6
Word	Install package Update package	1B60C30C16005DE9D88C93DF5371BEC856944F98B8337D5408DC96C90A808E86
Excel	Install package Update package	4634B23F41A57B02D27F71C37D87856786DEF3653A40FFFFCEDF43857E1D9754
PowerPoint	Install package Update package	B062BAD7FEE443EDA0F5804F4F7C6D90585F62D91B74BD47F9D1EDE29C13DFA8
Outlook	Install package Update package	07E736079C55DC0EB6C355FF45A51A2987D5623F8D1F8F485F378EE721937980
OneNote	Update package	Not applicable