Microsoft Office Suite Office 2013 (15.0)

2013, January 29

Microsoft Office 2013 (codenamed Office 15) is a version of Microsoft Office, a productivity suite for Microsoft Windows. Unlike with Office 2010, no macOS equivalent was released.

Microsoft Office 2013 includes extended file format support, user interface updates and support for touch among its new features and is suitable for IA-32 and x64 systems.

Office 2013 is compatible with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 through Windows 11 v21H2 and Windows Server 2022. A version of Office 2013 comes included on RT devices. It is the last version of Microsoft Office to support Windows 7 RTM and Windows Server 2008 R2 RTM.

Development on this version of Microsoft Office was started in 2010 and ended on October 11, 2012, when Microsoft Office 2013 was released to manufacturing. Microsoft released Office 2013 to general availability on January 29, 2013. This version includes new features such as integration support for online services (including OneDrive, Outlook.com, Skype, Viva Engage and Flickr), improved format support for Office Open XML (OOXML), OpenDocument (ODF) and Portable Document Format (PDF) and support for multi-touch interfaces.

Microsoft Office 2013 comes in twelve different editions, including three editions for retail outlets, two editions for volume licensing channel, five subscription-based editions available through Microsoft Office 365 program, the web application edition known as Office Web Apps and the Office RT edition made for tablets and mobile devices. Office Web Apps are available free of charge on the web although enterprises may obtain on-premises installations for a price. Microsoft Office applications may be obtained individually; this includes Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Project and Microsoft SharePoint Designer which are not included in any of the twelve editions.

Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released on February 25, 2014. Support for the original release (RTM) ended on April 14, 2015, and Service Pack 1 is required for receiving updates and support. Support for Office 2013 ended on April 11, 2023.

On June 9, 2018, Microsoft announced that its forums would no longer include Office 2013 or other products in extended support among its products for discussions involving support. On August 27, 2021, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Outlook 2013 SP1 with all subsequent updates will be required to connect to Microsoft 365 Exchange servers by November 1, 2021; Outlook 2013 without SP1 will no longer be supported.

Office 2013 removed support for processors without PAE, SSE2 and NX and is also the final version of Microsoft Office that supports processors without PrefetchW, LAHF and SAHF. Its successor, Office 2016, requires a processor with PrefetchW, LAHF and SAHF in any supported architecture. It is also the final version of Microsoft Office to receive a Service Pack from Microsoft.

Despite the end of support for Office 2013 in April 2023, monthly security patches for the Office suite programs was available until November 2023.

Development

Development started in 2010 while Microsoft was finishing work on Office 14, released as Microsoft Office 2010. On January 30, 2012, Microsoft released a technical preview of Office 15, build 3612.1010, to a selected group of testers bound by non-disclosure agreements.

On July 16, 2012, Microsoft held a press conference to showcase Office 2013 and to release the Consumer Preview. The Office 2013 Consumer Preview is a free, fully functional version but will expire 60 days after the final product's release. An update was issued for the Office 2013 Customer Preview suite on October 5.

Office 2013 was released to manufacturing on October 11, 2012. It was made available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers on October 24, 2012. On November 15, 2012, 60-days trial versions of Microsoft Office 2013 Professional Plus, Project Professional 2013 and Visio Professional 2013 were made available to the public over the Internet. Microsoft has released Office 2013 for general availability on January 29, 2013. Microsoft released the Service Pack 1 update on February 25, 2014.

Features

New features

Office 2013 introduces Click-To-Run 2.0 installation technology for all editions based on Microsoft App-V Version 5. Previously, only certain editions of Office 2010 were available with Click-To-Run 1.0 installer technology, which was based on App-V 4.x, where a separate Q drive was created and installed files of Office were isolated from the rest of the system, causing many Office add-ins to not be compatible. With the newer Click-To-Run technology, Office 2013 installs files just like Windows Installer (MSI) to the Program Files directory. Retail versions of Office 2013 use the Click-to-Run installer. Volume-licensed versions use Windows Installer (MSI) technology. Some editions like Professional Plus are available in both retail (C2R) and volume (MSI) channels.

Office 2013 is more cloud-based than previous versions; a domain login, Office 365 account, or Microsoft account can now be used to sync Office application settings (including recent documents) between devices, and users can also save documents directly to their OneDrive account.

Microsoft Office 2013 includes updated support for ISO/IEC 29500, the International Standard version of Office Open XML (OOXML) file format: in particular it supports saving in the "Strict" profile of ISO/IEC 29500 (Office Open XML Strict). It also supports OASIS version 1.2 oISO/IEC 26300:2006, Open Document Format, which Office 2013 can read and write. Additionally, Office 2013 provides full read, write, and edit support for ISO 32000 (PDF).

New features include a new read mode in Microsoft Word, a presentation mode in Microsoft PowerPoint and improved touch and inking in all of the Office programs. Microsoft Word can also insert video and audio from online sources as well as the capability to broadcast documents on the Web. Word and PowerPoint also have bookmark-like features which sync the position of the document between different computers.

The Office Web Apps suite was also updated for Office 2013, introducing additional editing features and interface changes.

Other features of Office 2013 include:

PDF Import feature in Microsoft Word

Improved text wrapping and improved Track Changes feature in Microsoft Word

Flash Fill in Microsoft Excel

Office Remote/Microsoft PowerPoint Remote app and Office add-in to control presentations from a Windows Phone or Android phone.

Automatic slide resizing/refit in Microsoft PowerPoint

New Office Open XML-based format, VSDX for Microsoft Visio

Flatter look of the Ribbon interface and subtle animations when typing or selecting (Word and Excel)

Band in application color at bottom of each screen

A new visualization for scheduled tasks in Microsoft Outlook

Remodeled start screen

New graphical options in Word

Objects such as images can be freely moved; they snap to boundaries such as paragraph edges, document margin and or column boundaries

Supports embedding of Online picture support with content from Office.com, Bing.com and Flickr (by default, only images in public domain) to in replacement to the cliparts gallery from previews office versions.

Ability to return to the last viewed or edited location in Word and PowerPoint

New slide designs, animations and transitions in PowerPoint 2013

Support for Outlook.com and Hotmail.com in Outlook

Support for integration with Skype, Yammer and SkyDrive

IMAP special folders support

Starting with Office 2013, proofing tools are separately and freely downloadable without being bundled in Multilingual User Interface (MUI)/Multilanguage packs, Language Interface Packs (LIPs) or Single Language Packs (SLP).

Removed features

The following features were removed from Microsoft Office 2013.

Removed from the entire suite

Microsoft SharePoint Workspace

Microsoft Clip Organizer

Microsoft Office Picture Manager

Office 2007 and Office 2010 chart styles

Ability to insert a 3D cone, pyramid, or cylinder chart (It is still possible to insert a 3D rectangle chart and change the shape after insertion.)

Only basic version of help files available while offline. There is no longer an option to install local help files during installation.

Features removed from Microsoft Word

Custom XML markup has been removed for legal reasons

Older WordArt objects are now converted to new WordArt objects

Word 2013 no longer uses ClearType

Features removed from Microsoft Excel

Simultaneous open files via Multiple Document Interface (MDI), along with requisite changes to VBA code to no longer support MDI; Excel is now Single Document Interface (SDI) only

Features removed from Microsoft Access

Access Data Projects (ADP) Support for Jet 3.x IISAM

Access OWC control

dBASE support suite

Features removed from Microsoft Outlook

Download Headers Only mode for IMAP

Outlook Exchange Classic offline

Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 support

Public Folder Free/Busy feature (/Cleanfreebusy startup switch)

Ability to import from or export to any formats other than Personal Storage Table (PST) or comma-separated values (CSV)

Notes and Journal customization

Outlook Activities tab

Outlook Mobile Service (OMS) Outlook Search through Windows Shell

Features removed from Microsoft PowerPoint

Support for Visio Drawing

Changes

Distribution changes

Unlike past versions of Office, retail copies of Office 2013 on DVD are only offered in select regions, such as those Microsoft classifies as emerging markets, as well as Australia, at the discretion of retailers. In all other regions, retail copies of Office 2013 and Office 365 subscriptions only contain a product key, and direct users to the Office website to redeem their license and download the software.

Licensing changes

The original license agreement for retail editions of Microsoft Office 2013 was different from the license agreements of retail editions of previous versions of Microsoft Office in two significant ways. The first of these was that the software could no longer be transferred to another computer. In previous versions of Office, this restriction applied only to OEM editions; retail Office license agreements allowed uninstalling from one computer to install on another computer.

Digitally downloaded copies of Office were also said to be permanently locked to that PC's hardware, preventing it from being transferred to any other computing device. Should the buyer have wished to use Office 2013 on a different computer, or if they later became unable to use the computing device that the original license was downloaded to (e.g. hardware became inoperable due to malfunction) then a completely new, full-priced copy of Office 2013 would have to have been purchased to replace the prior one. Microsoft stated that this change was related to the software piracy that has been rampant for years, worldwide. However, many commentators saw this change as an effort to forcibly move its customers towards the subscription-based business model used by the Office 365 service. The legality of this move, particularly in Europe, has been questioned.

However, on March 6, 2013, Microsoft announced that equivalent transfer rights to those in the Office 2010 retail license agreements are applicable to retail Office 2013 copies effective immediately. Transfer of license from one computer to another owned by the same user is now allowed every 90 days, except in the case of hardware failure, in which the license may be moved sooner. The first user of the product is now also allowed to transfer it to another user. The second difference, which remains in the updated licensing agreement, is that the software can be installed on only one computer. In previous versions of Office, this restriction also applied only to OEM editions; retail Office license agreements allowed installing the product on two or three computers, depending on the edition.

Microsoft requires an account in order to activate any Office edition from 2013 on.

Editions

Traditional editions

As with previous versions, Office 2013 is made available in several distinct editions aimed towards different markets. All traditional editions of Microsoft Office 2013 contain at least Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote and are licensed for use on one computer.

Five traditional editions of Office 2013 were released:

Home & Student: This retail suite includes the core applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

Home & Business: This retail suite includes the core applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote plus Outlook.

Standard: This suite, only available through volume licensing channels, includes the core applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote plus Outlook and Publisher.

Professional: This retail suite includes the core applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote plus Outlook, Publisher and Access.

Professional Plus: This suite includes the core applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote plus Outlook, Publisher, Access, InfoPath and Lync.