How to find out what version of Microsoft Office I have

Microsoft Office version

Office is the most widely used office suite par excellence around the world, in addition to being the most veteran. Microsoft has always found behind this software a set of applications that initially consisted of Word, Excel and PowerPoint and those that were later added by Outlook, Access and OneNote.

Despite being a software created by Microsoft, it was initially released for Apple's OS X in 1989, arriving a year later for Windows. As the years have passed, the number of functionalities that the different applications that are part of Office have been receiving are quite numerous.

However, these features are not available in all versions and to enjoy them, you need to use the latest version, which at the time of writing this article is the Office 2019 version. The first versions of Office used sequential numbering, a numbering that was discontinued when Microsoft Office 95 was released.

What version of Office do I use on my computer

Office version

To know which version of Office we have installed on our computer, we must open any of the applications that are part of Office, click on Archive and then in Account.

In the right column, we should see the version details in About "name of the application that we have opened" to see the version and build number.

What version of Office do I use on my phone

Office on mobile

To find out which version of Office we are using on our smartphone, we cannot access the properties of the application to know it, since eThis information is always available in the app store either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

In the case of mobiles, not only do we have independent applications for Word, Excel and PowerPoint (applications that require a subscription to Office 365 to function) but we also have a reduced version of all applications in just one application called Office.

This app is available for download completely free of charge and it does not require any subscription to be able to use it.

Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot

[app 541164041]

After Office 95, Office 97, Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2007, Office 2010, Office 2013, Office 2016 and Office 2019 arrived. As Office has evolved, the format of the applications that make up this office suite has also evolved. has evolved to adapt to the type of content that can be created in them.

Microsoft Word file format

  • .doc through Office 2003.
  • .docx from Office 2007 to present.

Microsoft Excel file format

  • .xls up to Office 2003.
  • .xlsx from Office 2007 to present.

Microsoft PowerPoint file format

  • .ppt up to Office 2003.
  • .pptx from Office 2007 to present.
  • .ppsx from Office 2007 to the present.

Microsoft Outlook file format

  • .pst (in a single file that stores all emails) up to Office 2003.
  • .docx from Office 2007 to present.

Office versions

Knowing what is the format of the files that we can create with the different applications that make up Office, we can shorten what is the version of Office that we have installed on our computer.

  • If the files we create use the .doc, .xls and .ppt format, we are talking about a version of Office prior to Office 2003.
  • If the extension of the files uses the format .docx, .xlsx and .pptx / .ppsx we are talking about Office 2003 onwards.

While the most modern versions of Office that include the X at the end of the extension do allow us to open older formats of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, old versions are not supported with the most modern versions.

What is Office 365

Office 365

In 2011 Microsoft changed the commercialization of Office, becoming  an annual subscription service, subscription that allows you to use each and every one of the applications that are part of this package.

In addition, users who pay for the subscription receive free updates to the versions for PC and Mac and also have a web version at their disposal, with which they can create or edit any type of document, a document that is automatically stored in the Microsoft cloud, OneDrive, thanks to 1 TB of free storage that includes this subscription.

The Office 365 subscription allows users to use the versions of Office available on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, where we also have Word, Excel, Teams and Powerpoint versions available, in addition to Outlook although the latter is completely free.

What's included in Office 365

Microsoft's suite of applications for the office, Office, is currently made up of:

  • Microsoft Word
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Publisher
  • Microsoft Access (of which there is no web version).
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Microsoft OneNote

Features of each version

With the release of each new version of Office, Microsoft includes new functionality that take advantage of improvements to operating systems in addition to the technological improvements that the new equipment also receives through the processors.

The new features that are included in each new version, are not backward compatible, so if we do not update to the same version in which a created document has been created, we will not be able to access them at any time.

Fortunately, the new features no essential functions for day to daySince the basic or fundamental functions have been included for several years, hence Office has earned the reputation of being the best suite of office applications on the market.