Microsoft makes preview Office for Windows 10 available

Microsoft has released previews of Word, Excel and PowerPoint of Office for Windows 10. The apps can be installed on systems with Windows 10 Technical Preview. Previews of the same apps for smartphones will follow in the coming weeks.

The apps are available for download from the Windows Store beta, which was recently released along with a new build for Windows 10 Technical Preview. These are ‘universal apps’ that work on multiple types of Windows 10 devices. All versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint are optimized for use on touchscreens, but the mobile phone variants will be released sometime in the coming weeks. The now released apps are therefore for laptops, PCs and tablets with touchscreens, Microsoft reports.

Microsoft is making Office for Windows 10 standard on smartphones and small tablets that run the OS. Other systems with the software can get the apps from the Windows Store. In addition to Word, Excel and PowerPoint, the package will consist of OneNote and Outlook. The software company announced Office for Windows 10 on January 21.

A more extensive version of the office suite will be called Office 16 and this successor to Office 2013 should appear in the second half of 2015, Microsoft recently announced.