Microsoft Office 2016 Coming In Latter Half Of 2015

Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s promising Windows 10 unveiling comes news about the company’s other flagship product: Microsoft Office. Updated mobile versions of Office were announced alongside Windows 10 earlier this week and now the Office team has confirmed that Microsoft Office 2016 for PCs will be available in the second half of 2015.

PowerPoint for Window 10 app.
PowerPoint for Windows 10 app.

In a blog post, Office Product Management Team general manager Julia White officially announced Office 2016 and answered the most pressing concern many of us have about the new version: Yes, her team understands the importance of keeping Office keyboard and mouse friend. “We will have more to share on Office 2016 in the coming months,” White said. “But this suite will remain the comprehensive Office experience you’re long familiar with, best suited for a PC with keyboard and mouse.”

Sadly, that’s all the Office team is sharing about Microsoft Office 2016 at the moment, but it has been saying plenty about the updated “universal” mobile apps for Windows 10.  The Word for Windows 10 app will have the new, Bing-powered Insights for Office feature, which is meant to make online content easier to access while working with Word.

Microsoft is releasing Office 2016 and Office for Windows 10 apps
Word for Windows 10 app.

The PowerPoint for Windows 10 app has Ink Tools so you can annotate slides while you’re giving a presentation. And while all of the apps are meant to be more touch-friendly, it sounds like Excel has received particular attention in that area so that selecting cells and managing cell content isn’t headache-inducing. OneNote and Outlook will also be available as universal apps.


The universal Office apps will be available on Windows 10 devices and will be free downloads for people with Android or iOS device. Your first hands-on with them will likely be with the upcoming Windows 10 Technical Preview.