What is included in Windows 11 Professional & Office 2021 Professional Plus?

Windows 11 Pro – BitLocker, Hyper-V, Sandbox and Remote Desktop host.
Pro-only tools – Group Policy editor and domain join.
Office applications – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher.
Publisher included – Still part of the 2021 Office generation.
Supported pairing – Microsoft supports Office 2021 on Windows 11.
Important – Teams client and Microsoft 365 services not included.

Microsoft Windows 11 Professional in detail
Full description of the operating system and the features reserved for the Professional edition

Microsoft Office 2021 Professional Plus in detail
Full description of the Office suite, its applications and what the 2021 generation added

Microsoft Office - Full Comparison of all Versions from 2010 to 2024 – Which Programmes are Included?
To compare the applications in each Office generation, read our overview:

Why buy Windows 11 Professional and Office 2021 Professional Plus together?

Microsoft names Windows 10 and Windows 11 as the supported platforms for Office 2021, and Windows 10 left support in October 2025, so Windows 11 is the platform on which this Office generation still sits on a supported system underneath. Office 2021 keeps its working files on the local disk – Outlook data files, Access databases, Publisher layouts – and the Windows features that encrypt, isolate and remotely reach those files are the Professional ones.

Supported platform – Microsoft supports Office 2021 on Windows 11.
Windows-only applications – Access and Publisher do not run on macOS.
Encrypted local files – BitLocker protects the documents Office stores offline.
Remote access – Reach the Office machine from another PC.
Isolated testing – Sandbox opens unknown attachments away from the suite.
Combined price – Lower than the two keys bought separately.

Windows 11 Home vs Windows 11 Pro: What's the difference
For a focused edition comparison, read our guide:

Do Office 2021 Professional Plus and Windows 11 Pro work together?

Yes. Microsoft states that Office LTSC 2021 is supported on devices running Windows 10 or Windows 11, without restricting it to a particular Windows edition. Of those two operating systems only Windows 11 is still in support, because Windows 10 reached its end of support on 14 October 2025, which is the practical reason the two products are bought together for a machine being set up or replaced. Two of the applications in this suite make the pairing tighter still: Microsoft states that Access and Publisher are not available for devices running macOS, so a Windows system is not one option among several for that part of the suite.

Windows compatibility with Office - supported Windows and Windows Server versions for Office 2010 to Office 2024
To check whether your Windows version fits your Office version, read our overview:

In which order should the two products be installed?

Set up Windows 11 Professional first, then install Office 2021 Professional Plus into the finished system. Office installs onto the system drive, so a clean Windows setup afterwards erases that volume together with the suite's program files and registry entries, and you install Office a second time for nothing. Microsoft also recommends uninstalling existing versions of Office before deploying Office 2021, which is one problem fewer on a system that has just been set up. It is worth switching BitLocker on before you copy over document archives and Outlook data files, so those files are written to a volume that is already encrypted.

How does Windows 11 Pro protect the files Office 2021 creates?

Through BitLocker Drive Encryption, which Microsoft lists for Windows Pro, Enterprise and Education editions and not for Windows Home. This matters with a purchased Office suite because the working files stay on the local disk: the suite includes no Microsoft 365 storage service, and the OneDrive (Groove) sync client that older Office versions installed is no longer part of Office 2021. Windows 11 Home is not without encryption – it has Device Encryption, which uses the same underlying technology – but Device Encryption covers the operating system drive and fixed drives only, switches on automatically rather than per drive, and does not extend to removable media through BitLocker To Go. On a notebook that leaves the office with an Outlook data file and a customer database on it, that difference is the whole point of the Professional edition.

Can I reach the Office workstation from another computer?

Yes, because Windows 11 Pro can act as the Remote Desktop host. Microsoft states that the PC you connect to must run a Windows Professional edition, while the device you connect from can run Home or a different operating system altogether. An Access database cannot be opened in a browser and a Publisher layout has no web version, so a remote session is the realistic way to reach that kind of file while the machine holding it stays in the office. On a Windows 11 Home PC the incoming Remote Desktop option does not exist.

Who is this bundle best suited for?

It fits a PC that is being built or rebuilt and needs the system and the office suite in one step. The case it covers better than either half alone is local business data that never goes into a cloud service: a parts list, order book or customer file in an .accdb database, price lists and mailings laid out in Publisher, all sitting on a drive that BitLocker encrypts and that a Remote Desktop session can reach from elsewhere. Hyper-V adds a virtual machine for testing a change before it touches the live database, provided the guest system carries its own Windows licence. If the work is documents and email only, and nobody opens a database or a print layout, that argument does not apply and a smaller Office edition covers the same PC.

When is it better to buy the two products separately?

Whenever you already own one half. A PC that already runs Windows 11 Professional gains nothing from a second operating system, so only the Office key is needed, and the reverse applies to a machine with a current Office suite on it. If the PC will never encrypt a drive with BitLocker, host a remote session or run a virtual machine, Windows 11 Home covers the operating system side, since Office 2021 runs on Windows 11 regardless of the edition underneath. One more case belongs here: Microsoft's support for Office 2021 ends on 13 October 2026, so buy this generation deliberately – for compatibility with an existing installation, or because Publisher is not part of Office 2024 – and take the newer suite when neither of those applies.

Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro? Who needs what and why?
To decide whether the Professional edition is necessary for your PC, read our guide:

What is not included in this bundle?

The Teams client app and the Microsoft 365 services. Microsoft has removed the Teams client from Office LTSC 2021, so existing installations keep it but a new one does not include it. As a one-time purchase, the suite carries none of the services that belong to a Microsoft 365 plan, such as Exchange Online or SharePoint Online, and it receives no new features after release. Project and Visio are separate Microsoft products and are not part of Professional Plus, Power View is no longer available in Excel 2021, and the Office Telemetry Dashboard is no longer installed with the suite.

Frequently asked questions about Windows 11 Professional & Office 2021 Professional Plus

Does Windows 11 Professional already contain an Office version?

No. Windows 11 Professional contains no Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access or Publisher, which is why the office suite is the second half of this bundle. Windows 11 does preinstall the new Outlook mail app, but that is a mail client and not the classic Outlook desktop application that comes with Office 2021 Professional Plus.

Does Office 2021 Professional Plus also run on Windows 11 Home?

Yes. Microsoft names Windows 10 and Windows 11 as supported for Office 2021 without naming a required edition, so the applications themselves install and run on Home. What the Professional edition adds is BitLocker, Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox and Remote Desktop hosting, none of which the Office applications need in order to start.

Are Access and Publisher part of Office 2021 Professional Plus?

Yes, both. Microsoft lists Access, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, Skype for Business and Word for Office LTSC Professional Plus 2021, and Publisher is one of the applications that later disappeared from Office 2024. Neither Access nor Publisher is available for devices running macOS.

Does Microsoft Access and Office Pro Plus Still Have a Future? – A Fact-Based Look Beyond the Rumors
For more context about Access and Office Pro Plus, read our article: