Microsoft Office 16 Design, Features Tipped in Purported Screenshots

While Microsoft seems to be readying itself for the unveiling of Windows 9 on September 30, and the release of a technical preview shortly after, details about the next version of Microsoft Office, thought to be called Office 16, and its own technical preview have been leaked to the Web in purported images.

According to the Verge's report, the purported screenshots of Office 16 are from an early build being distributed to partners, and features 'fairly minor' changes. The report also notes that the sources familiar with Microsoft's Office plans have informed that it is still in the early stages of testing, like Windows 9 technical preview.

(Also see: Microsoft Set to Unveil Windows 9 at September 30 Event)

The report notes that the next release of Microsoft Office will be the first of several minor updates that will be rolled out regularly, the ideal model for the now subscription-based Office 365 productivity platform.

Visible in the purported Office 16 screenshots is the Office Ribbon interface from previous generations with the option to enable a dark theme, for improved long duration usability. The black theme visible in the screenshot was first actually introduced in Office 2010, and the Verge notes Microsoft had said it was the most requested feature for Office 2013. The black colour is likely to be an option alongside the light grey, dark grey and white themes.

Other minor changes from the existing Office 365 include automatic image rotation in documents (based on image metadata), with the ability to manually rotate it afterwards; as well as new syncing options for the Outlook email client to support devices with lower storage capacities, with download options including 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, or 14 days, when the earlier minimum was one month of email.

One of the bigger changes from the report seems to be the addition of the 'Tell Me' helper borrowed from Office Online apps, which sits at the top of documents as search and help tool. No animated character as expected, like Clippy, was visible.