Microsoft is working on the next version of Office for Windows computers and it’s set to launch this fall. But now you can take an early build for a test. Microsoft has released Office 2016 Public Preview and it’s available as a free download.

Office has seen a lot of changes in the past few years. Microsoft has recently introduced new versions of Office for Mac, Android, iOS, and Windows devices with touchscreens including tablets and smartphones.

But Office 2016 Public Preview gives us an early look at the version of Office that many people are most familiar with: the Windows desktop app.

word 2016

So what’s new? First up, there’s more support for cloud features, letting you save documents to the cloud or open and edit documents stored online.

There’s also support for real-time co-authoring of documents. Multiple users can edit the same document at the same time. This is a feature that had already been available in Office Online, but now it’s part of Office for desktop users.

Office 2016 also includes a new search tool called “Tell Me” which lets you search for commands by typing what it is you’re trying to do, and a “Clutter” tool for Outlook which helps keep your email inbox clean by moving low-priority messages to a Clutter folder automatically.

Other new features include new charts and graphs for Excel, and support for multi-factor authentication for Outlook.

Office 2016 Preview supports Windows 7 or later, but you’ll need to uninstall Office 2013 or earlier if you want to test the software.

While Office 2016 Preview is available to test for free, it’s a trial version of the software. You can use it for free for 180 days, but you’ll either need to sign up for an Office 365 subscription or pay if you want to keep using Office 2016 after it officially launches later this year.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

4 replies on “Microsoft releases Office 2016 Public Preview”

  1. Of course, the irony is that for the vast majority of Office users, the feature set they use on a daily basis has been there since Office 2000, or earlier. No wonder Microsoft decided to migrate to a subscription model.

  2. Very nice, especially on the Windows 10 Insider Preview. I have no personal or work need for Microsoft Office, but it’s cool to install this to tinker around with for free, keeping up with the latest from Microsoft. 🙂

Comments are closed.