Office 2016 will hit General Availability (GA) this fall. So if you want to get the final version, you’ll have to wait until then. But, if you want to get an early look at Office 2016, then I have some good news for you.

Microsoft made Office 2016, the next release of the Office productivity suite for Windows desktops, available as a public preview. Office users from all over the world can now join the preview program and help shape the next release of Office for the desktop.

Jared Spataro, general manager for the Office marketing team, presented the main new features that Office 2016 has to offer. The ones that caught my eye are listed below.

Office 2016 – Main New Features

• Cloud – from your desktop, you can create, open, edit and save files in the cloud. Once they’re in the cloud, you can access them from anywhere and from any device.
• Real-time co-authoring – this collaboration feature, which is already available for Office Online apps, will be available for the desktop as well.
• Smart Apps – that will learn from you and will help you get things done more efficiently.
• New analysis capabilities – built into Excel, these data analysis features will help you pull, map, analyze and visualize your data faster and easier.

Mind you, Office 2016 is still in its early development stages. Spataro pointed out that “while not all of the features we expect to ship in the fall are available for use now, new features will be added every month.”

Additional information about the Office 2016 Preview program is available here.

Visit the Office 2016 Preview website, go over the information it presents, and decide if you want to test the next release of Office on Windows desktops. Microsoft is looking for fans who will test the software and its new features and provide feedback.