Microsoft Office 2013
(codenamed Office 15) is a version of Microsoft Office, a productivity suite for Microsoft Windows. It succeeds Microsoft Office 2010 and precedes Microsoft Office 2016, and it does not precede or succeed Microsoft Office for Mac 2011. It includes extended file format support, user interface updates, and support for touch among its new features. Office 2013 is suitable for IA-32 or x64 systems and requires either Windows 7 and up or Windows Server 2008 R2 and up. Windows RT comes bundled with this version of Office. Mainstream support ended on April 10, 2018, and extended support ended on April 11, 2023.
Development of Office 2013 started in 2010 and ended on October 11, 2012, when it was released to manufacturing. On January 29, 2013, Office 2013 was released to general availability. This version includes new features such as integration support for online services (such as OneDrive, Outlook.com, Skype, Yammer, and Flickr), improved format support for Office Open XML (OOXML), OpenDocument (ODF) and Portable Document Format (PDF) and support for multi-touch interfaces.
Office 2013 comes in twelve different editions, including three for retail outlets, two for volume licensing channels, five subscription-based editions available through Office 365, the web application edition known as Office Online, and the Office RT editions made for tablets and mobile devices. Office Online apps are available free of charge on the web, although enterprises may obtain on-premises installations for a price. Certain Office applications, such as Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft SharePoint Designer can be obtained individually and are available in any of the twelve editions.
On February 25, 2014, Office 2013 Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released. Support for the original release (RTM) ended on April 14, 2015, and SP1 is required for receiving updates and support. Support for Office 2013 ended on April 11, 2023; despite this, monthly security patches for Office 2013 were 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.
On July 16, 2012, Microsoft held a press conference to showcase Office 2013 and to release the Consumer Preview. The Consumer Preview is free and fully functional, but will expire 60 days after the final product's release. On October 5, an update was issued to the Customer Preview suite.
Office 2013 was released to manufacturing on October 11, 2012, and was made available to TechNet and MSDN subscribers on October 24. On 15 November 2012, 60-day trial versions of Office 2013 Professional Plus, Project Professional, and Visio Professional were made available to the public over the Internet. Microsoft released Office 2013 for general availability on January 29, 2013, and Service Pack 1 was released on February 25, 2014. Microsoft released Service Pack 1 on February 25, 2014.
Features
New features
Office 2013 is more cloud-based than its predecessors; a Windows 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 to their OneDrive account.
It also includes updated support for ISO/IEC 29500, the International Standard version of the Office Open XML file format: in particular, it supports saving in the "Strict" profile of ISO/IEC 29500 (Office Open XML Strict). Office 2013 includes support for OASIS version 1.2 of ISO/IEC 26300:2006, OpenDocument Format, which Office 2013 can read and write. ISO 32000 (PDF) files can now be read, written, and edited.
New features include a new read mode in Microsoft Word, a presentation mode in Microsoft PowerPoint and improved touch and inking in all Office programs. Word can also insert video and audio from online sources as well as the capability to broadcast documents to the Web. Word and PowerPoint now have bookmark-like features that sync the position of the document between different computers.
The Office Web Apps were also updated for Office 2013, introducing additional editing features and interface changes.
Other features new to Office 2013 include:
- Flatter look of the Ribbon interface and subtle animations when typing or selecting (Word and Excel)
- 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
- Online picture support with content from Office.com, Bing, and Flickr. Only images in the public domain are supported by default.
- Ability to return to the last viewed or edited location in Word and PowerPoint
- New slide designs, animations, and transitions in PowerPoint
- Support for Outlook.com and Hotmail.com in Outlook
- Support for integration with Skype, Yammer, and OneDrive
- IMAP special folders support
- Excel now supports new limit models
Removed features
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 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.
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: Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
- Home & Business: Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook.
- Standard: Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, and Publisher; is only available through volume licensing channels.
- Professional: Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, and Access.
- Professional Plus: Includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Access, InfoPath, and Lync.
Office 365
The Office 365 subscription services, previously aimed toward business and enterprise users, were expanded for Office 2013 to include new plans aimed at home use. The subscriptions allowed the use of Office 2013 applications by multiple users using a software-as-a-service model. Different plans are available for Office 365, some of which also include value-added services, such as 20 GB of OneDrive storage (later increased to 1 TB) and 60 Skype minutes per month on the new Home Premium plan. These new subscription offerings were positioned as a new option for consumers wanting a cost-effective way to purchase and use Office on multiple computers in their household.
Office RT
Windows Store apps
Office Mobile
| History • Website • Microsoft Product Activation • Genuine Advantage |
| Windows |
| 3.0 • 95 • 97 • 2000 • XP • 2003 • 2007 • 2010 • 2013 • 2016 • 2019 • 2021 |
| Mac OS/OS X/macOS |
| 3.0 • 4.2 • 98 • 2001 • X • 2004 • 2008 • 2011 • 2016 • 2019 • 2021 |
| Applications (List) |
| Desktop |
| Access • Excel (Viewer) • InfoPath • Lync • OneNote • Outlook (Hotmail Connector • Add-ins) • PowerPoint (Viewer) • Project • Publisher • SharePoint (Designer • Workspace) • Visio • Word (Viewer) |
| Server |
| Forms Server • Groove Server • Lync Server • PerformancePoint Server • Project Server • Project Portfolio Server • SharePoint Server • Excel Services • InfoPath Forms Services |
| Mobile |
| Office Mobile |
| Online |
| Live Meeting • Office Live • Office Web Apps • Outlook Web App • Office 365 • Outlook.com |
| Office tools |
| Microsoft Office shared tools • Ribbon Hero • Ribbon Hero 2 |
| Discontinued |
| Accounting • Document Imaging • Entourage • FrontPage • Microsoft InterConnect • Liquid Motion • Mail • Office Assistants • Microsoft PhotoDraw • Photo Editor • Schedule+ • Snapshot Viewer for Access • Microsoft Vizact |
| Related products |
| Works • MapPoint • Search Server • Language Packs |
| Technologies |
| Information Bridge Framework • Object Linking and Embedding • Office Open XML • Office XML formats • Smart tags • Visual Basic for Applications |