Download and install Office 2016 Preview

Brad Chacos reveals how you can take an early look at Microsoft’s Office before its general release

Not long after releasing the locked-down Office 2016 developer preview, Microsoft has thrown open the proverbial doors to welcome all-comers to the Office 2016 consumer preview. Aside from the touch-enabled Office apps currently being tested with Windows 10, Office 2016 appears to be largely an iterative update to Office 2013. Nevertheless, Office 2016 will have all sorts of nifty new tweaks and tricks up its sleeve, like real-time document collaboration, the ability to both access data from and share data with third-party apps and other outside sources, and a TellMe search field that understands natural language queries to point you toward the exact features you’re seeking.

In this article we explain how to install the Office 2016 Preview today. It’s easy, though you’ll need to be running Windows 7, 8, or 10 to use the new Office suite.

Forget the past

Before you install the preview, you’ll need to remove any existing Office installations from your PC. Just like the official Office releases, the Office 2016 Preview doesn’t play nice with its siblings.

Before you get started, jot down your current Office version’s product key first, so you can reinstall your current version of Office when the Office 2016 Preview ends. (When we booted up the Word 2016 Preview on 4 May, a message appeared telling us that the preview will be valid for 179 more days, for what it’s worth.) To uninstall your existing Office software, go to Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a program and eradicate the Office programs.

If you don’t have your product key handy, run Belarc Advisor (tinyurl.com/5w6o) before you uninstall Office. A report will pop up in your browser; look for the Office product key in the “Manage all your software licenses” portion of the page.

The next steps vary depending on whether you’re an Office 365 subscriber, but either way, it’s an easy process.

Install the Office 2016 Preview

Installing the Office 2016 Preview should be a breeze if you’re an Office 365 subscriber. (Note, however, that our colleague Mark Hachman was unable to install Office 2016 via Office 365 for some reason, though we had no problems installing the standalone version.) Just head to your Office 365 My Account page, then click Language and install options. From here, click Additional install options. In the drop-down menu, select to install either the 32- or 64-bit version of the Office 2016 Preview. Once the software’s installed, you’ll need to enter the email address matched to your Office 365 subscription, the first time you boot an Office app.

The process is just as easy if you’re not an Office 365 subscriber. Go to the Office 2016 Preview page (tinyurl.com/kfdpsbu) and download the executable for either the 32- or 64-bit version of Office. Once it’s downloaded, click the program icon to begin the installation process. When you’re prompted to enter the email address associated with your Office subscription the first time you boot an Office app, press the small blue ‘Enter a product key’ link underneath the field instead. Then use the following product key:

That’s it. Poke around, try all the new stuff, and be sure to send Microsoft feedback using the smiley-face icon in the upper-right corner. The tech giant wants to hear whenever you stumble across either pain points or frictionless experiences. That’s what previews are for, after all.