New Office Insider Build Adds Black Theme, More to Office 2016 for Windows

Microsoft has delivered a new Office Insider build for Office 2016 for Windows desktop, adding among other things a contrasty new Black theme.

Insider build 16.0.6568.2016 includes the following changes and updates (some of which I previously documented in January Updates for Office 365 Include New Inking Capabilities, Much More):

Black theme. If you’re among those who think that the Dark Grey theme in Office 2016 today isn’t dark enough, take heart: You’re going to love the new Black theme, which works in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. (Which is additive, and doesn’t replace any existing theme choice.)

Ink Annotations. You can now Use your finger or pen to write and draw, and use the tools on the new Draw tab to highlight content of particular interest. This works in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

New Excel chart type. Funnel charts can be used to help you display values as progressively decreasing proportions.

Real-Time Presence in PowerPoint. Originally only available in Word 2016, you can now collaborate with others in real-time in a presentation.

You may recall that Microsoft announced the Office Insider program back in November. Based on the highly-successful Windows Insider program, Office Insider works similarly, but provides pre-release builds of Office on a variety of platforms, including Windows desktop, Windows 10 Mobile, Mac, Android, and iOS.

For Windows specifically, you install Insider builds via Office 365 at first, but then they should auto-update from then on.

You can learn more about Office Insider on the Office Insider web site.