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Visual update in Office for Windows now available in Current Channel (Preview)

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Hi, Office Insiders! I’m Kori Loomis, a Program Manager on the Office Experience team. At the end of June, we announced the visual update of Office, which is designed for Windows 11 but also elevates your experience in Windows 10.

Visual Update for Office for Windows

For those of you running Beta Channel builds, we hope you are enjoying the simple and more coherent experience. We thank you for sharing your questions and suggestions on the design with us.

Today, we are pleased to announce that the visual update is available to 100% of Office Insiders running Current Channel (Preview) builds. Based on the feedback we received from Beta Channel users, we wanted to provide additional information to help you navigate the visual update.

For more detailed descriptions of the Office visual update, scenarios to try, and more, please read our original blog post.

screenshot showing Coming Soon feature

Coming Soon feature

Frequently Asked Questions on the Office Visual Update

  • How do I pin the ribbon? To collapse or pin the ribbon, select Ribbon Display Options, and then Always Show Ribbon to keep the ribbon visible, or Show Tabs Only to collapse it. You can also click ctrl+F1 or double click a ribbon tab to quickly toggle the ribbon state. Learn more
  • What happened to the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)?

Show Ribbon menu

How to show the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)

    • Showing and hiding: We’ve added the ability to hide the QAT. If you’ve never customized your QAT, it will be hidden by default. To show it, select Ribbon Display Options > Show Quick Access Toolbar  or right-click any area of the ribbon and select Show Quick Access Toolbar in the shortcut menu.
    • Position: By default, the QAT appears below the ribbon. You can also put it above the ribbon by selecting Customize Quick Access Toolbar  Customize Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) button> Show Above the Ribbon.
    • Labels: To help you differentiate commands in the QAT, we now support showing command labels. These can be disabled by clicking Customize Quick Access Toolbar Customize Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) button > Hide Command Labels.
    • Default commands: The Undo and Redo commands appear on the Home tab. To further customize the ribbon and QAT, use the Ribbon Display Options or Customize Quick Access Toolbar menu. Learn more about QAT.
  • I can’t hide AutoSave or Save. We are listening to your feedback and planning updates to these controls.
  • My theme changed! The new default Office theme is “Use system setting.” This means you will see the Office White theme if your OS is set to Light theme, and Office Black theme if the OS is set to Dark theme. If you had Colorful theme selected before, your theme will now be set to “Use system setting.”  Learn more

Dark Mode in Word

Word in Black theme matching Windows Dark theme

  • Where is the Mica glass effect?  We are currently working on adding support for this effect in Office. It is coming in a future update.
  • ____ feature is not updated.  Like with Mica, we are working on updating additional regions and components. Please watch for updates coming in the future.

Availability  

This visual update is available to Current Channel (Preview) users running build Version 2108 Build 14326.20046 or later.

If you’re using Windows 10, you will need to opt-in by clicking the megaphone button in the upper-right corner of the app window.

If you’re using a Windows 11 Preview build, you will need to restart any Office app in order to see the visual refresh.

Feedback

Please let us know what you think! To get in touch, do one of the following and add #OfficeRefresh to your comment:

  • In the app, click Help > Feedback, and then tap I like something, I don’t like something, or I have a suggestion.
  • Respond to this post by clicking the Was this information useful button at the bottom of the post.
  • Tweet at @OfficeInsider.

Learn what other information you should include in your feedback to ensure it’s actionable and reaches the right people. We’re excited to hear from you!

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