Office 2007 Stops Getting Updates Today

What ends today

Microsoft's extended support for Office 2007 ends today. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and the other programs in the suite will receive no more security fixes.

Nothing stops working. The programs open, documents print, and email arrives as usual.

What changes is invisible. Any flaw discovered in Office 2007 from now on stays open on every computer that still runs it, and attackers know which programs have stopped being fixed.

Many small offices still have at least one copy, usually on the computer nobody has found time to replace.

Why documents are the way in

Email attachments are a favourite way into a small office: an invoice, a job application, a shipping notice, a contract to review.

Opening the file is the attack. A document built to exploit a flaw in the program that opens it can run code on the computer without asking for anything more.

Other documents simply ask. A message inside the file tells the reader to enable content to see it properly, and that switches on macros, small programs hidden inside.

The first kind depends on unfixed flaws, which is exactly what Office 2007 will now collect. The second works on any version, which is why staff habits matter as much as software.

What an unsupported Office leaves open

• No security fixes for flaws discovered from today onwards.
• No Protected View, which arrived with Office 2010.
• Outlook 2007 laying out every email with Word 2007.
• Macro warnings that staff have learned to click past.
• Old add-ins and templates nobody has looked at in years.

The second is the one few offices have heard of. Later versions open files from email and the internet in a restricted, read-only mode until the reader chooses to trust them. Office 2007 opens them fully, straight away.

Finding the computers still running it

Office 2007 is easy to recognise. Its programs have a large round button in the top left corner, where later versions have a File tab.

To be sure, open Word, click that round button, choose Word Options, then Resources, and look under About. The list of installed programs in the Control Panel shows the version as well.

Check every machine, not just the obvious ones: the reception computer, the bookkeeper's, laptops that travel, the old computer in the back that runs one program, and any home computer used for work.

Write down each computer, who uses it, and whether it opens email and documents from outside the business.

A worked example

An employment law firm with three lawyers and two assistants receives documents from clients every day: employment contracts, termination letters, pay records and long email chains saved as attachments.

Two of its five computers still ran Office 2007, including the reception computer, where incoming documents were opened first to be named and filed.

The firm had put off upgrading because its letter templates and a Word add-in linked to its practice management software had been built around 2007, and nobody wanted to break them in a busy year.

So the computer opening the most outside documents had the least protection, and it was about to stop receiving fixes altogether.

In September the firm tested its templates and the add-in on one upgraded machine, then upgraded reception and the assistants' computers, with the lawyers' laptops following. Meanwhile, attachments from unfamiliar senders were opened only on an upgraded computer.

What to check before upgrading

The usual reason an office stays on an old version is fear of breaking something that depends on it. That fear deserves respect, and testing answers it.

List what plugs into Office: add-ins from accounting or practice software, mail merges, macros in shared spreadsheets, letterhead templates, and any database built in Access.

Install the new version on one computer and try each of those with a real task. Most will work unchanged, since the file formats Office 2007 introduced are the ones later versions still use.

Whatever fails, find out before the rest of the office is upgraded, not after.

Upgrading in order

Not every computer carries the same risk, so upgrade in order of exposure.

First, computers that open documents from outside the business: reception, accounts, and anyone receiving files from customers or suppliers. Then any computer where Outlook 2007 is the email program.

Then laptops, which connect to unfamiliar networks. Last, machines that only open the business's own files.

Check each computer's operating system as well. Current versions of Office need Windows 7 or later, so a machine still on Vista needs replacing, not just upgrading.

Choosing what to upgrade to

There are two routes. Office 2016 can be bought outright for each computer. Office 365 business plans that include the desktop programs keep them up to date for a monthly or yearly fee per person.

The subscription suits offices that want every computer on the current version without thinking about it again. The one-time purchase suits offices that prefer to pay once and replace computers on their own schedule.

Either is fine. What matters is genuine licences from a reputable seller, since keys sold far below the usual price are often not what they claim.

Until a computer is upgraded

Open documents from unfamiliar senders on an upgraded computer, or phone the sender to check they really sent them.

Never enable content in a document that asks for it to be read properly. Keep Windows and antivirus updates running, and uninstall Office 2007 from any machine that barely uses it.

The counter-case

A computer that never receives outside documents and never opens email, such as one running a single program in a workshop, carries far less risk. It can wait its turn.

And an office with one old copy used twice a year for a legacy spreadsheet may do better removing it than upgrading it.

But anything that opens email or documents from outside should be off Office 2007 soon, starting with the computers that open the most.

This month

1. Look for the round button on every computer.
2. List who uses each one and what it opens.
3. Test templates and add-ins on one upgraded machine.
4. Upgrade reception and accounts first.
5. Replace any computer still running Vista.
6. Open outside attachments on upgraded machines meanwhile.
7. Remove Office 2007 where it is barely used.

Step three is what gets an upgrade unstuck. Most offices delay because something might break, and an afternoon of testing on one computer replaces that worry with a list.

A different trick aimed at the same office computers is covered in the tech support call that is really a scam.

Frequently asked questions

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