Part # 3 {Office Insider} - Install, test earlier preview builds of Office 2016 (Office Insider builds)

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After my Part # 1, Part # 2, i was asked by many of my developer customers, is there any way they can install earlier preview builds of Office 2016, Office insider builds. If you want to enable some of your users, such as testers in the IT department, access to the earliest preview builds, released more frequently, they can install builds from the Office Insider Fast level of the Office Insider program. You need to use the Office Deployment Tool to install these preview builds of Office. Users can’t install Fast level builds from the Office 365 portal.

Important: The Office Insider Fast level is a consumer program and not supported for enterprise use. This level is best for users who want to use the earliest preview builds, released more frequently, to identify issues, provide feedback to make Office better, and don’t mind the risk in using unsupported builds. By choosing the Office Insider Fast level, you agree to the program’s terms , which supersedes your agreement with Microsoft to use Office.

  1. Download the latest Office Deployment Tool (Office 2016 version) from the Microsoft Download Center.
  2. Double-click OfficeDeploymentTool.exe to extract the Setup.exe file and the sample configuration.xml file. Be sure the version of setup.exe is at least 16.0.7407.3600.
  3. Use a text editor (like Notepad) to edit the configuration.xml file like this:
 4.    <Configuration> 

 5.      <Add OfficeClientEdition="32" Channel="InsiderFast"> 

 6.        <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail"> 

 7.          <Language ID="en-us" /> 

 8.        </Product> 

 9.      </Add>   

    </Configuration>

This installs a 32-bit version of Office 365 ProPlus in English from the Office Content Delivery Network (CDN) on the Internet. Office will also get automatically updated from the CDN when a new Office Insider Fast build is available.

Notes:

    • If you want to install the 64-bit version of Office, use 64 for the OfficeClientEdition setting.
    • If you have the Office 365 Business or Office 365 Business Premium plan, use O365BusinessRetail, instead of O365ProPlusRetail, for the Product ID in the configuration.xml file.

For more information about configuration.xml file settings, including how to install Project or Visio (if you have a subscription to those products), see Configuration options for the Office Deployment Tool .

  1. Copy setup.exe and configuration.xml to the computer where you want to install Office. An Internet connection is required to install Office.

Note: If Office is already installed on the computer, uninstall Office and restart the computer before performing the next step.

  1. From an elevated command prompt, go to the folder where you copied the files and run the following command:

Setup.exe /configure configuration.xml

This copies the Office files from the CDN on the Internet to the computer and starts the installation.

  1. After the installation is complete, open an Office app, such as Word, and go to File > Account. Under the Office Updates section, you should see text that includes "Office Insider Fast."

Credits: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/How-Office-365-commercial-customers-can-get-early-access-to-new-Office-2016-features-4dd8ba40-73c0-4468-b778-c7b744d03ead?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

Hope this helps.