Microsoft Corporate Vice President for Office Client Applications and Services Kirk Koenigsbauer has written a post answering the top 10 most frequently asked questions about Office 2016. It’s worth noting that Koenigsbauer is the man who presented Office on the iPad Pro at the recent Apple Keynote.
How do I get Office 2016 for Windows if I’m an Office 365 customer?
Office 2016 is available for download for all Office 365 subscribers. The update and download methods differ depending on the type of subscription you have:
- Home, Personal, or University customers will receive the update notification soon. Instructions for manual updates can be found here.
- Business and Business Premium customers will receive automatic update notifications later in the year. Manual instructions can be found here.
- ProPlus (including E3/E4) customers should contact their IT administrators. Administrators can find more information here.
How do I get Office 2016 for Mac?
Home, Personal, and University users can go to their MyAccount page on their Mac to download.
Organization users should go through the organization portal.
It should also be noted that Mac users can get opt to purchase a standalone, non-subscription copy of Office 2016 for Mac through the Office for Mac website or through participating retailers.
Can I get Office 2016 without an Office 365 subscription?
Yes, both versions are available through participating retailers or the Microsoft Store.
When will Volume Licensing customers be able to get Office 2016
Starting today through the Volume Licensing Service Center. Home Use Program users can begin installing Office 2016 on October 7th, 2015. MSDN Subscription customers can download Office 2016 now.
I just bought Office 2013 or Office for Mac 2011. How do I upgrade to Office 2016?
Such users are eligible for two upgrade options: a free 1-year subscription of Office 365 Personal, or a $40 USD discounted price for the standalone license. See here for more info.
Are there system requirements I should be aware of when installing Office 2016?
Outlook 2016 requires Exchange Server 2010 or later.
Office 2013 standalone applications, including Project and Visio, cannot run on the same device as Office 2016. Why this is an issue was not explained. For such users, Microsoft offers an easy upgrade path to remedy this here.
Can I install a subset of the Office 2016 applications?
No. Koenigsbauer has suggested the team is open to feedback, however.
What features are only available with Office 365?
Some features in Outlook 2016, such as Clutter and Office 365 groups. Planner (which we previewed earlier) and Delve are only available to Office 365 business customers. Certain subscriptions also feature unlimited online meetings, 1TB of cloud storage per user, and team websites. As time goes on, expect this list of exclusive features to expand.
I have a technical problem. How do I get help?
The best place to start would be the Office support website.
Each respective application has its own uservoice page: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Sway, and OneNote.
Couple with Microsoft’s clarifying post on Windows 10 user security and tracking, it looks like the company’s on a transparency tour to explain as much as it can. Unfortunately, post such as this typically only make it to the people who know where to look. Hopefully, Microsoft’s messages start reaching a larger audience soon.
