Microsoft is ready to let anyone test its upcoming Office client. Starting today, the software maker is launching an Office 2016 preview aimed at IT professionals and developers. "This early build doesn't yet contain all the features we’re planning to ship in the final product," explains Microsoft's Kirk Koenigsbauer, but you'll get a close look at what's coming alongside monthly updates until Office 2016 ships later this year.
At the Convergence 2015 event held in Atlanta, Microsoft launched a technical preview of Office 2016 for the Windows desktop. This preview will aim at IT professionals and developers. Users can sign up for Microsoft’s Office 2016 preview here.
Microsoft said it plans to release Office 2016 for Windows in the second half of the year, while the version for Mac is expected over the summer.
For now, Microsoft is staying quiet on features for end users, as the first Office 2016 preview focuses on businesses and IT managers. Microsoft’s Office blog has a full feature rundown.
A quick overview of what Office 2016 Preview users can expect:
Data Loss Protection for Word, Excel and PowerPoint : In past DLP feature was available in Microsoft Exchange, Outlook, OneDrive for Business and SharePoint only. Now the same feature has been implemented in Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs of Office 2016. With the help of DLP, you can create, manage and enforce polices for content authoring and document sharing as a part of user restrictions.
Outlook technical improvements: Microsoft is making a bunch of improvements to its email software, including multi-factor authentication support, additional storage options, faster overall performance, and more reliable search.New settings to better manage disk storage by only retaining 1, 3, 7, 14 or 30 days of mail on the device.RPC-based sync replaced by new MAPI-HTTP protocol to support Exchange/Outlook connectivity
New deployment features: IT pros can take advantage of new bandwidth management features, more flexibility for updates, and a way to manage device activation across multiple users.New options to manage the frequency of feature updates and bug fixes download
Accessibility features: Microsoft is promising better keyboard accessibility for major Excel features such as PivotTables, and has addressed readability problems in Outlook. As rumored, Office 2016 will also include a dark color theme.
Information Rights Management for Visio diagrams: IRM allows users to lock down documents against editing or sharing, and now these features are being extended to Microsoft’s flowchart software.
Microsoft also released a technical preview of Skype for Business. The new version specifically targets companies and other organisations as it offers enterprise-level security along with the necessary management controls for IT professionals. The preview is now available for download from Microsoft’s TechNet Evaluation Center.This version is a replacement for the company’s primary communications tool Lync. This announcement was made last November.
CONCLUSION :
Office 2016 has been the subject of rumors and speculation for months, but this marks the first time that Microsoft has talked openly about the next version of its productivity suite. While these new features probably won’t be of much interest if you’re just using Office at home, you can expect a steady drip of new information now that the preview is out in the open.
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