What Most People Miss About How Long Excel V Lasts
By Rachel Torres
Excel V doesn’t exist — but people keep asking how long it lasts. But that confusion is the clue: what *is* being referenced? And why do so many users think there’s an 'Excel V' floating around in IT tickets, training docs, or old macros?
Quick Answer
There is no Excel V — Microsoft never released an 'Excel 5' as 'Excel V', and no version uses Roman numerals in its official branding. The question stems from misreading 'Excel 5' as 'Excel V', or conflating Excel’s internal version numbers (like 11.0 for Excel 2003) with marketing names.
Let’s walk through checking Application.Version in VBA — because this is where the 'V' confusion most often surfaces. Open any workbook, press Alt+F11. In the Project Explorer, right-click VBAProject (Book1) → Insert → Module. Paste:
Sub ShowExcelVersion()
MsgBox "This Excel instance is version: " & Application.Version & vbCrLf & _
"(e.g., 16.0 = Excel 2016/2019, 22.0 = Microsoft 365)", vbInformation
End Sub
Run it (F5). You’ll see '16.0', '22.0', or '24.0'. Here’s what most miss: the decimal isn’t arbitrary. Excel 2003 was 11.0, 2007 was 12.0, 2010 was 14.0 (yes — they skipped 13.0), 2013 was 15.0, 2016/2019/2021 all share 16.0, and Microsoft 365 updates bump the major number yearly (22.0 in 2022, 23.0 in 2023, 24.0 in 2024).
The beauty of this approach is that it’s runtime-accurate — not based on filename or registry guesses. Try it on a machine running Excel LTSC 2021: you’ll get '16.0', same as Excel 2019. That’s why version number alone isn’t enough. You need the build number too — visible in the 'About Excel' dialog.
Here’s sample output from real machines:
Cross-referencing Microsoft’s official Lifecycle site is the only way to answer “how long does it last” — because support duration depends on edition, not just version number. Go to learn.microsoft.com/lifecycle/products/microsoft-excel. You’ll see this structure:
Excel Version
Release Date
Mainstream Support Ends
Extended Support Ends
Excel 2016 (perpetual)
2015-09-22
2020-10-13
2025-10-14
Excel LTSC 2021
2021-10-05
2026-10-13
2031-10-14
Microsoft 365 Apps
Continuous
N/A (rolling updates)
N/A
Excel 2003
2003-10-21
2009-04-14
2014-04-08
Excel 2010
2010-06-15
2015-10-13
2020-10-13
Notice something surprising? Excel 2016 and Excel 2019 both use 16.0 — but their support timelines differ. 2016 mainstream ended in 2020; 2019’s ended in 2024. Why? Because Microsoft treats perpetual licenses by release year, not version number. So even though they share the same internal version, their lifecycle clocks start on different dates. That’s the nuance most skip — and why answering “how long does Excel V last” requires ditching Roman numerals entirely and reading the fine print on Microsoft’s site.
Cheat Sheet
Action
How
Shortcut
Notes
Find your Excel version
File → Account → About Excel
None
Shows full build string — critical for support eligibility
Get version programmatically
VBA: Application.Version
Alt+F11, then F5
Returns major.minor (e.g., 24.0), not marketing name
