Through its Windows Insider program, Microsoft has invited anyone of a technical disposition to test its upcoming operating system. As it turns out, there’s a similar option for the Office productivity suite. The Office 2016 Pre-Release program allows testers to offer their feedback on the entire range of Office products, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Visio, Access, Publisher, and Outlook. Even server products and cloud services like Exchange, SharePoint, and Project are included.
The Office 2016 Preview is already showing some interesting changes over the previous version. For instance, the title bar blends into the ribbon tabs with a splash of color – using each programs respective branding color, of course. Word can now take advantage of the Insights feature, which provides users with a sidebar of context-sensitive information regarding any highlighted word group. And Outlook has the machine-learning tool Clutter, which analyzes your email for low-priority messages, automatically separating them out for you.
If you’re interested in taking a peek at the next version of Office and improving it, give the Pre-Release program a shot! Microsoft is currently looking to increase the scale of the program, so it’s not too late to join.
