Microsoft 365: Upgrade Now or Lose Voice Features by 2026!
Microsoft warns that the read aloud feature in older Office 365 apps will be silenced by January 2026 unless users upgrade. Procrastinators, prepare to face the wrath of silent documents and emails! Update your Office apps to avoid this quiet catastrophe and keep the read aloud feature in your life.
Hot Take:
Microsoft is playing the ultimate game of hide-and-seek with their Office 365 features, and if you don’t find the latest version by January 2026, you’ll be stuck listening to the deafening silence of your outdated software. It’s time to update or be left talking to yourself—literally!
Key Points:
- Microsoft’s transcription, dictation, and read aloud features will cease to function on older Office 365 apps from January 2026.
- Users must update to versions higher than 16.0.18827.20202 to keep these features alive.
- Government cloud users get an extension until March 2026 to update.
- This change aligns with Microsoft’s backend service upgrade for voice-enabled features.
- Office apps on Windows 10 are also losing support, with security updates ending in 2028.
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