We will continue to update this page as more information becomes available, and we'll extend the FAQ below as customer questions come in following this announcement.
Microsoft has announced the end of support and retirement of Office Online Server (OOS), effective December 31, 2026, as it shifts its investment to cloud-first solutions. After this date, Office Online Server will no longer receive security updates, bug fixes, or technical support from Microsoft (Microsoft's announcement).
How does this impact you?
eLabNext (SciSure Research) relies on Office Online Server to power in-browser viewing and editing of Microsoft Office documents (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) inside your lab notebook, through the Office Online Server add-on. If your lab or organization currently uses the Office Online Server add-on, this change will affect how you view and edit Office documents within the ELN. The impact will depend on how your eLabNext (SciSure Research) environment is hosted.
Customers with a Cloud or Private Cloud hosted solution
For customers on a Cloud or Private Cloud hosted solution, we will transition Office document editing from Office Online Server to a direct Microsoft 365 connection. Microsoft 365 provides secure, continuously updated, browser-based versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Your existing Office documents and sections will continue to work — they simply become Microsoft 365 sections.
What changes for your users: Before editing an Office document in eLabNext, users will be required to authenticate (sign in) with their Microsoft 365 account, and Office documents may open in a separate browser tab for editing. This relies on the valid Microsoft 365 / Office 365 license plan that was agreed to when the Office editing add-on was first enabled — with the move to Microsoft 365, that license will now be validated explicitly by Microsoft and the requirement will be enforced. Aside from these changes, document viewing and editing will continue to work as you expect.
What may be required of you or your system administrator: Unless you are unable to sign in to Microsoft 365, no action is required on your part. Your group or system administrators may need to update the Office Online Server add-on to a newer version, or install a new add-on, before the change takes effect. We will communicate any required steps in good time, once timelines are confirmed.
Customers with an On-Premises hosted solution
For environments hosted entirely on your own infrastructure, a direct Microsoft 365 connection is not an option: Microsoft's terms require that documents edited through Office for the Web are cloud-hosted, which is incompatible with a fully on-premises deployment. As an alternative, on-premises Office document editing will transition to Collabora Online, an open-source, self-hosted document editing solution that keeps all data within your own network.
What this involves:
Licensing Collabora (either directly, or through SciSure — we will advise on the best option for you).
Hosting a Collabora Server within your own environment, alongside your on-premises eLabNext server.
Configuring and maintaining the Collabora server and supporting infrastructure to allow secure communication between Collabora and your eLabNext server.
Because Collabora runs on your own infrastructure, this transition is a shared effort between your IT team and SciSure. We will provide documentation and guidance, and can take on a more hands-on role where you need it; to support you efficiently we require reliable remote access to your environment. On-Premises environments are serviced under our Premium SLA, and additional costs may apply — for the Collabora license and for any hands-on installation or maintenance work you ask us to perform. Please see the FAQ below for details on responsibilities, technical requirements, and access, and refer to Collabora's technical documentation for setup and configuration details.
This is a more involved migration, and our Technical Support team will work directly with your IT staff to plan and support the transition to Collabora. Please contact our Customer Success team to plan and handle the transition. We expect to be ready to support integration with Collabora in the 2026 Q4 release update (scheduled for pre-release on October 21, 2026 to customers with an acceptance server). We will support and handle the transition to Collabora following that update.
What happens next
We will continue to keep our customers informed. If you have questions in the meantime, please see the frequently asked questions below. If you would like to start planning early, please contact SciSure Support and we will be glad to help.
Frequently asked questions
I am not sure whether my organization uses a Cloud or an On-Premises hosted solution — how can I tell?
If the URL of your eLabNext application runs on a *.elabjournal.com or *.elabnext.com domain, your system is running in our cloud environment. On-Premises solutions are typically hosted on your own organization's domain. If in doubt, please contact support.
When will this change for Cloud customers?
We are currently establishing the exact date (pending completion and approval of the integration with Microsoft 365), but we plan to complete the transition in our Cloud environments no later than December 1, 2026. For customers with a Private Cloud installation, our Customer Success team will contact you to communicate the exact date for the transition.
What will happen after December 31, 2026?
For customers with an On-Premises installation, nothing will change or break directly. Your organization is responsible for hosting and maintaining the Office Online Server used for in-browser viewing and editing of Office documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). SciSure will continue to support the use of Office Online Server at least until July 31, 2027, giving your organization time to transition. We expect customers to plan their transition to one of the offered alternative solutions accordingly, and our Customer Success team will work closely with you to support it.
What if my organization does not have a valid Office 365 license?
A valid Office 365 license has always been part of the terms and conditions of using the Office Online Server add-on. In accordance with Microsoft's updated terms, this requirement will now be enforced: with the move to Microsoft 365, your license is validated explicitly by Microsoft, and Office editing will not be available without a valid, active license.
Under what terms and conditions is Microsoft 365 offered?
Our Microsoft 365 services are provided in compliance with the Microsoft Cloud Storage Partner Program Terms.
Is Microsoft Office 365 (via this integration) FedRAMP compliant?
No. As set out in the Microsoft Cloud Storage Partner Program Terms, this offering does not support Microsoft's Government Community Cloud (GCC) environment and is not intended for end customers who need to comply with FedRAMP, export control, IRS 1075, or CJIS obligations (which may also include, for example, contractors holding or processing data on behalf of the US Government).
Where are my Office documents processed?
As set out in the Microsoft Cloud Storage Partner Program Terms, Microsoft does not geographically restrict where documents are processed in order to enable the viewing or editing of Office documents. This is inherent to using Microsoft 365.
What is the cost impact of the planned changes?
Pricing for our Cloud-hosted customers remains unchanged for now. On-Premises environments are serviced under our Premium SLA. For customers transitioning to Collabora, additional costs may apply — including the Collabora license (payable directly or through SciSure) and any hands-on installation or maintenance work you ask SciSure to perform. Please contact our Customer Success team for more information on pricing.
What is the expected impact of transitioning from Office Online Server to Collabora?
Collabora offers full support for browser-based viewing and editing of Office documents. For a demo or more information, please see collaboraonline.com. Note that Collabora is not a Microsoft-native product, so there may be slight differences when opening and editing Office documents in Collabora, and limited support for some special-case file viewing or editing.
Who is responsible for installing and maintaining the Collabora server?
The transition is a shared responsibility, and we will agree clear boundaries with you before it begins. Because Collabora runs on your own infrastructure, we encourage your IT team to carry out the installation and ongoing maintenance where they can — we provide documentation and guidance to make this straightforward, and teams with container experience can typically complete the setup themselves. Where you would prefer SciSure to install or maintain Collabora on your behalf, we can do so under your support agreement, and additional charges may apply for hands-on work. We are also continuing to improve our self-service installation process to make this easier over time.
What are the technical requirements for hosting Collabora?
Collabora Online is distributed as a containerized (Docker) application and runs on Linux. There is currently no native Windows build, so Windows-only environments should be prepared to run Collabora in a Docker or Linux environment. It can run on a dedicated host or, depending on your setup and available capacity, alongside existing infrastructure — we will advise on the most suitable option for your environment and provide setup documentation for your IT team.
What access does SciSure need to support our On-Premises environment?
To support you efficiently, we require reliable remote access to your environment (for example, a vendor VPN), as set out in your agreement. Without working remote access, our ability to assist and to meet support timelines is limited, so we recommend ensuring this access is in place ahead of the transition.
Can we also transition to Collabora on a Cloud-hosted solution?
SciSure currently has no committed plans to support the use of Collabora for Cloud-hosted solutions. Based on customer feedback, we will continue to evaluate the need to offer Collabora in our Cloud-hosted environment. You can submit your request via our feedback portal.
What if my organization does not agree to the terms of Microsoft or Collabora?
Unfortunately, the ability to view and edit Office documents in the browser will be discontinued in 2027. As an alternative, SciSure offers the ability to edit and view files locally, using the desktop version of Office, through eLabWebEdit. This alternative is free of charge and has no dependency on Microsoft or Collabora.
Will file history and previews of Office documents still be available?
File history and previews rely on the same Office Online Server technology as in-browser viewing and editing, so they are affected in the same way. Customers who transition to Microsoft 365 (Cloud and Private Cloud) or to Collabora (On-Premises) will regain full functionality, including file history, previews, viewing, and editing. Customers who do not transition to either alternative will keep the ability to download Office documents, but in-browser viewing and editing — including file history and previews — will no longer be available.