diff --git a/doc/source/user_guide/io.rst b/doc/source/user_guide/io.rst
index 6148086452d54..b3ad23e0d4104 100644
--- a/doc/source/user_guide/io.rst
+++ b/doc/source/user_guide/io.rst
@@ -3471,20 +3471,15 @@ saving a ``DataFrame`` to Excel.  Generally the semantics are
 similar to working with :ref:`csv<io.read_csv_table>` data.
 See the :ref:`cookbook<cookbook.excel>` for some advanced strategies.
 
-.. warning::
-
-   The `xlrd <https://xlrd.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`__ package is now only for reading
-   old-style ``.xls`` files.
+.. note::
 
-   Before pandas 1.3.0, the default argument ``engine=None`` to :func:`~pandas.read_excel`
-   would result in using the ``xlrd`` engine in many cases, including new
-   Excel 2007+ (``.xlsx``) files. pandas will now default to using the
-   `openpyxl <https://openpyxl.readthedocs.io/en/stable/>`__ engine.
+   When ``engine=None``, the following logic will be used to determine the engine:
 
-   It is strongly encouraged to install ``openpyxl`` to read Excel 2007+
-   (``.xlsx``) files.
-   **Please do not report issues when using ``xlrd`` to read ``.xlsx`` files.**
-   This is no longer supported, switch to using ``openpyxl`` instead.
+   - If ``path_or_buffer`` is an OpenDocument format (.odf, .ods, .odt),
+     then `odf <https://pypi.org/project/odfpy/>`_ will be used.
+   - Otherwise if ``path_or_buffer`` is an xls format, ``xlrd`` will be used.
+   - Otherwise if ``path_or_buffer`` is in xlsb format, ``pyxlsb`` will be used.
+   - Otherwise ``openpyxl`` will be used.
 
 .. _io.excel_reader:
 
diff --git a/pandas/io/excel/_base.py b/pandas/io/excel/_base.py
index bce890c6f73b0..786f719337b84 100644
--- a/pandas/io/excel/_base.py
+++ b/pandas/io/excel/_base.py
@@ -160,36 +160,24 @@
     If converters are specified, they will be applied INSTEAD
     of dtype conversion.
     If you use ``None``, it will infer the dtype of each column based on the data.
-engine : str, default None
+engine : {{'openpyxl', 'calamine', 'odf', 'pyxlsb', 'xlrd'}}, default None
     If io is not a buffer or path, this must be set to identify io.
-    Supported engines: "xlrd", "openpyxl", "odf", "pyxlsb", "calamine".
     Engine compatibility :
 
-    - ``xlr`` supports old-style Excel files (.xls).
     - ``openpyxl`` supports newer Excel file formats.
-    - ``odf`` supports OpenDocument file formats (.odf, .ods, .odt).
-    - ``pyxlsb`` supports Binary Excel files.
     - ``calamine`` supports Excel (.xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb)
       and OpenDocument (.ods) file formats.
+    - ``odf`` supports OpenDocument file formats (.odf, .ods, .odt).
+    - ``pyxlsb`` supports Binary Excel files.
+    - ``xlrd`` supports old-style Excel files (.xls).
 
-    .. versionchanged:: 1.2.0
-        The engine `xlrd <https://xlrd.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_
-        now only supports old-style ``.xls`` files.
-        When ``engine=None``, the following logic will be
-        used to determine the engine:
-
-       - If ``path_or_buffer`` is an OpenDocument format (.odf, .ods, .odt),
-         then `odf <https://pypi.org/project/odfpy/>`_ will be used.
-       - Otherwise if ``path_or_buffer`` is an xls format,
-         ``xlrd`` will be used.
-       - Otherwise if ``path_or_buffer`` is in xlsb format,
-         ``pyxlsb`` will be used.
-
-         .. versionadded:: 1.3.0
-       - Otherwise ``openpyxl`` will be used.
-
-         .. versionchanged:: 1.3.0
+    When ``engine=None``, the following logic will be used to determine the engine:
 
+    - If ``path_or_buffer`` is an OpenDocument format (.odf, .ods, .odt),
+      then `odf <https://pypi.org/project/odfpy/>`_ will be used.
+    - Otherwise if ``path_or_buffer`` is an xls format, ``xlrd`` will be used.
+    - Otherwise if ``path_or_buffer`` is in xlsb format, ``pyxlsb`` will be used.
+    - Otherwise ``openpyxl`` will be used.
 converters : dict, default None
     Dict of functions for converting values in certain columns. Keys can
     either be integers or column labels, values are functions that take one