Office 2016 is now available as a Preview for developers and IT users

This new version of Office had already been tested for a long time within a limited preview, which could only be accessed by direct invitation from Microsoft. From that preview, some screenshots and data on the new functions that are being incorporated had already been leaked.The difference is that now the testing program is extended to users linked to companies and Microsoft commercial customers, so that they can provide feedback and thus help that the final version of Office 365 is more polished.

This developer preview will be updated every 1 month, and a new version is expected to be released in the second half of this year test, this time focused on end users.

Therefore, Microsoft advises us that the preview they are releasing today does not yet include all the features that are planned to be included in the product final, but even so it contains several new features compared to the previous leaked builds, which we will discuss below.

What's New in Office 2016 Preview

New visual theme with emphasis on colors

"While this change is not documented by Redmond in the official note they posted, it is almost the first thing users who downloaded the preview have noticed. It is a new visual theme whose name is colorful>"

Its appeal is that it highlights very intensely the characteristic color of each application. For example, when using it, the Ribbon in Word turns completely blue, the Ribbon in Excel turns completely green, etc.

This new theme also seeks to make Office for Windows more similar to its versions for Mac, tablets, and mobile phones, which already use a similar visual style.

Data Loss Protection

This feature was previously available in Exchange, Outlook, OneDrive for Business, and SharePoint, but now will be included in Word, Excel, and PowerPointThis will allow system administrators to better enforce policies to restrict the modification and distribution of documents.

Outlook Improvements

Updates the synchronization protocol (from RPC-based to MAPI-HTTP) to improve compatibility with web accounts, such as Office 365. Multi-factor authentication is also added for improve security.

In addition, Outlook 2016 incorporates several changes focused on improving the performance of the application Thanks to them, the time that this delay is reduced to download new messages, display the mailing list, or show new mail notifications after the PC wakes up from hibernation. Instant search is now more instant and also more stable. Also, we are guaranteed that Outlook will suffer fewer crashes when working on unstable networks.

Improvements in update management

With the advent of Office 365 and regular updates to application features came complaints from many system administrators who complained that the pace of updates imposed by Microsoft was inconvenient for them, and that they would prefer more control over how and when updates are installed.

With Office 2016, Microsoft has addressed those complaints through a series of changes. For example, Office 365 updates now are less intrusive by using network bandwidth, reserving space for other business tasks.

More and better tools are also delivered so that system administrators can control the download and distribution of updates, even allowing the installation of new features to be postponed, while continuing to install new ones immediately. security updates.

Macro and add-in support, accessibility and more

Microsoft points out that, despite the many changes and many technologies that have been implemented in Office 2016, the compatibility with macros and old add-ins is not affected.

It also highlights accessibility improvements that are now available when using highly demanded features, such as pivot tables, along with with the new Office dark theme, which is designed to help those who suffer from eye problems.

Lastly, Microsoft Visio is now also compatible with Information Rights Management, thanks to which it is possible to copy protect documents created with this application.