Choosing between Office LTSC Standard 2024 and Professional Plus 2024
Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 has one app that Office LTSC Standard 2024 doesn’t, Microsoft Access. Both editions install the same Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote from the same build, receive the same monthly security updates and stay supported until 9 October 2029. Professional Plus also offers Skype for Business as an optional install. If nobody who uses the PC needs Access, Standard has every app they will open.
In Microsoft’s words, “Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 includes Access, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word. Skype for Business is available as an optional install during setup.”
The two editions side by side
| Office LTSC Standard 2024 | Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Word, Excel and PowerPoint | Yes | Yes |
| Outlook | Yes | Yes |
| OneNote | Yes | Yes |
| Access | No | Yes |
| Skype for Business | No | Optional install |
| Publisher | No | No |
| Teams app | Separate download | Separate download |
| Project and Visio | Sold separately | Sold separately |
| Product ID in the Office Deployment Tool | Standard2024Volume | ProPlus2024Volume |
| Licence | One device, one-time purchase | One device, one-time purchase |
| Security updates until | 9 October 2029 | 9 October 2029 |
Word, Excel and the other shared apps are identical
Some buyers expect Professional Plus to bring a more capable Excel or a fuller Outlook. The shared apps are the same build in both editions, so a workbook, a mailbox or a slide deck behaves the same way in either.
Everything Microsoft added in the 2024 release is in both. Excel has the IMAGE function, which places a picture from a web address inside a cell, and 14 new text and array functions including TEXTSPLIT, TEXTBEFORE, TEXTAFTER, VSTACK and HSTACK. Charts now extend on their own when a dynamic array spills into more rows. Word reopens your documents after a crash with session recovery. PowerPoint can put your live camera feed on a slide with cameo and export a presentation as a video with Recording Studio. Outlook’s search across mail, calendar and contacts has improved, and both editions support OpenDocument Format 1.4.
The two editions also share the same omissions. Publisher isn’t in either, and the Teams app is a separate download. Microsoft’s overview adds that “The Publish to Power BI feature is removed from Excel.” ActiveX controls are disabled by default in both, so a workbook that relies on ActiveX controls needs an administrator to switch them back on.
What Access does and who needs it
Access is a desktop database. Tables, queries, forms and reports live together in a single .accdb file, and plenty of small businesses depend on one that somebody built years ago, whether that’s a stock list, a job tracker, a booking system or a membership register. Some companies also use Access as the front end for data kept in SQL Server.
Anyone who opens, edits or maintains one of those databases needs Access on their PC, and of the two LTSC editions only Professional Plus includes it. Without Access installed, the .accdb file won’t open. Excel can import the tables, but the forms, reports and macros built around them only run in Access.
Access 2024 on Windows also gained a Dataverse connector, which can move an Access database’s tables into Microsoft’s Power Platform. That matters if you already use Power Apps, or if you plan to move an old database onto it.
There is no Access for the Mac
Microsoft states that “Access isn’t available for devices running macOS.” That is why the Mac has a single edition, Office LTSC Standard for Mac 2024, with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. An .accdb file can’t be opened on a Mac at all. Our guide to Office LTSC Standard for Mac 2024 covers the Mac version in detail.
Skype for Business
Microsoft describes Skype for Business as an optional install in Professional Plus. It only does anything if your organisation still runs its own Skype for Business Server, because Microsoft retired Skype for Business Online in July 2021 and moved its users to Teams. Most offices leave it out.
The name Office 2024 Professional Plus
Retailers often list this product as Office 2024 Professional Plus. Microsoft’s name for it is Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024. LTSC versions stay on the feature set they launched with, or as Microsoft puts it, “Unlike Microsoft 365 Apps, it doesn’t receive feature updates after launch.” Security and quality updates carry on until 9 October 2029.
Microsoft’s consumer editions of Office 2024 are separate products with a different line-up. Office Home 2024 has Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, and Office Home & Business 2024 adds Outlook. Neither includes Access.
System requirements for both editions
The requirements are the same for Standard and Professional Plus. Microsoft asks for a 1.1 GHz or faster processor with two cores, 4 GB of memory, 4 GB of free disk space and a display of at least 1280 x 768, with 64-bit Office needed for 4K and higher resolutions. The supported versions of Windows are Windows 11, Windows 11 LTSC 2024, Windows 10 LTSC 2021 and Windows 10 LTSC 2019, plus Windows Server 2025 and Windows Server 2022. The regular Home and Pro editions of Windows 10 aren’t on the list.
Checking which edition is installed
Open Word, go to File > Account and look under Product Information, where the product name reads Office LTSC Standard 2024 or Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024. The Start menu gives it away faster, since Access only appears there with Professional Plus.
Mixing editions in one office
Office LTSC is licensed per device, so each PC can have the edition its user needs. In a five-person office where the bookkeeper keeps the customer database in Access, the bookkeeper’s PC gets Professional Plus and the other four get Standard.
If there’s a reasonable chance someone will need Access on a PC later, buy Professional Plus for that PC now. A Standard licence doesn’t convert into Professional Plus, so moving a PC across later means buying a Professional Plus licence and reinstalling Office.
For a new PC that also needs Windows, the Windows 11 Pro and Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 bundle covers both licences in one purchase.
Installing either edition
Both editions install with the Office Deployment Tool. The configuration file names the edition by its product ID, Standard2024Volume for Standard or ProPlus2024Volume for Professional Plus, and the rest of the file is the same for both. Our Office Deployment Tool guide has a configuration file you can copy.
Both come in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, and 64-bit suits nearly every PC. The reasons Microsoft gives for choosing 32-bit are narrow ones, such as a PC with less than 4 GB of memory, 32-bit COM add-ins with no 64-bit alternative, or VBA code that uses Declare statements.
Both editions install to the system drive. Microsoft’s deployment guide says “The installation location can’t be changed.”
You’ll find Office LTSC Standard 2024 and Office LTSC Professional Plus 2024 with the rest of our Microsoft Office licences.
Standard or Professional Plus, common questions
Is Professional Plus faster or more stable than Standard?
No. The shared apps come from the same build and get the same updates on the same day.
Does Office LTSC Standard 2024 include Outlook?
Yes. Standard includes Outlook along with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.
Does either edition include Publisher?
No. Microsoft left Publisher out of Office LTSC 2024, and Publisher itself reached end of life in October 2026.
Can I move a PC from Standard to Professional Plus later?
Yes, with a Professional Plus licence and a new installation in place of Standard. The Standard licence itself doesn’t convert.
Do both editions work alongside Project Professional 2024 and Visio Professional 2024?
Yes, with volume licences that use the same architecture as Office, both 32-bit or both 64-bit, and the same PerpetualVL2024 update channel. Project Professional 2024 and Visio Professional 2024 install with the same tool and go in the same configuration file. A retail Project or Visio key, redeemed to a Microsoft account, isn’t supported on the same PC as Office LTSC 2024.
Sources
- Overview of Office LTSC 2024, Microsoft Learn
- What’s new in Office 2024 and Office LTSC 2024, Microsoft Support
- Office 2024 and Office LTSC 2024 FAQ, Microsoft Support
- Deploy Office LTSC 2024, Microsoft Learn
- Office system requirements for enterprise, business, education and government, Microsoft Support
- Choose between the 64-bit or 32-bit version of Office, Microsoft Support
- Supported scenarios for installing different versions of Office, Project, and Visio on the same computer, Microsoft Learn
- Update Office LTSC 2024, Microsoft Learn
- These versions of Office can’t be installed or activated on the same device, Microsoft Support