Microsoft wants everyone to get involved in its next generation products and services, and today it launched the Office 2016 preview that’s aimed for all users. This comes two months after releasing the Office 2016 IT Pro and Developer Preview which was obviously aimed at enterprise customers.
On its Office blog, Microsoft Office marketing exec, Jared Spataro, wrote:
Over the last 12 months, we’ve transformed Office from a suite of desktop applications to a complete, cross-platform, cross-device solution for getting work done. We’ve expanded the Office footprint to iPad and Android tablets. We’ve upgraded Office experiences on the Mac, the iPhone and on the web. We’ve even added new apps to the Office family with Sway and Office Lens. All designed to keep your work moving, everywhere. But that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten where we came from. While you’ve seen us focus on tuning Office for different platforms over the last year, make no mistake, Office on Windows desktop is central to our strategy.
Install Microsoft Office 2016 Preview
If you’re interested in testing out the next release of Office, and providing your feedback to Microsoft, you can get started today. If you’re an Office 365 subscriber, all you need to do is go to the Office My Account page and log in. Then go to Language and install options > Additional install options and select the 32 or 64-bit version of Office 2016 Preview from the dropdown menu.
If you aren’t an Office 365 subscriber, you can get it by downloading the 32 or 64-bit version from the direct links below.
Use the product key:Â NKGG6-WBPCC-HXWMY-6DQGJ-CPQVG (and no, we’e not giving away any secret code here, it’s clearly posted on Microsoft’s site.)
You don’t need to be a Windows Insider and testing Windows 10 preview to participate in the Office 2016 Preview program. And remember, just like Windows 10 preview, Office 2016 is also beta software, so this isn’t for everyone. This preview is intended for enthusiasts and power users, and Microsoft points out that you should test it if you’re familiar with the following:
- Know how to reinstall your previous version of Office from the original installation point.
- Really know your way around a PC and feel comfortable troubleshooting problems, backing up data, and uninstalling and installing the Office 2016 Preview to fix issues.
Important Note: You cannot install Office 2016 Preview side-by-side with Office 2013. You have to uninstall Office 2013 first. You’ll also need to be running Windows 7 or higher.
We haven’t had time to test out the preview yet, but according to Microsoft, there are some notable new features coming. Some of the new features include real-time co-authoring, accessing documents from any device via the cloud, smart applications, easier data analysis, new modern charts and graphs, and a lot more. We’ll have more about this new version as well as tips and tricks in future articles.
3 Comments
Leave a Reply
Leave a Reply
Alan Wade
May 4, 2015 at 11:37 pm
Tried it yesterday and for my part of the world (Sweden) it needs more work before being let loose on the unsuspecting got to try all things new person. The ONLY thing I noticed that was different was that I could no longer gain access to my email as when I tried to start Outlook it threw up a message regarding pstprm.dll was missing or corrupt. After a couple of attempts to get my email back up I swiftly uninstalled it and went back 2013. As I say, its proberly a localisation thing but I will wait a little before trying it again.
shockersh
May 5, 2015 at 11:11 am
Cool…. will install it tonight and let everyone know how it goes.
Jan
May 10, 2015 at 10:30 pm
I can’t test it myself, but I’m very interested in knowing
(1) whether or not Word is any easier (than the detestable Word 2013) on the eyes of people who have poor sight. Does it still have the faint lines separating sections and a scroll bar that only appears when you hover over it?
(2) whether Word offers any color schemes other than white, grey, and a little more grey? It would be easier on both the eyes and the psyche if we could have some real colors. How I would love to go back to the days when you could set colors for the various windows used elsewhere in your computer and they would apply to Office as well!