Microsoft’s new Office user interface is now available to testers

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Microsoft started testing the new Office design today. The software maker originally teased its design changes to Office last year before revealing last month that the new Office user interface was designed to fit the redesigned Windows 11 operating system. Office Insiders can now access the new test user interface before it’s available to all Microsoft 365 users later this year.

The main changes are a rounded look to the Office ribbon bar, with minor tweaks to some of the buttons in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Microsoft originally made more dramatic changes to its Office user interface, which included moving to a more command bar instead of the traditional Ribbon interface.

Microsoft has teased even bigger changes to the user interface for Office. Photo: Microsoft

It appears, for now at least, that Microsoft is gradually making subtle changes to its Office design rather than eliminating the ribbon interface entirely. Microsoft is still working on the adaptive command that will eventually see the Office ribbon interface replaced with a detachable toolbar to float nearby actions you take in documents.

We expect to see these changes appear on the web and mobile versions of Office first, before any significant design overhauls for the major desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Microsoft said last year that these changes could take a year or two to roll out, so we’re only starting to see the first changes in time for Windows 11 right now.

This updated Microsoft Office interface is available for testers on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. You’ll need to be part of the Office Insiders group and set to receive beta channel updates in Office settings. Once updated, the speaker icon at the top of any Office application will allow you to toggle the new user interface on or off.

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