How to install the Office 2016 desktop applications that come with the free trial of Office 365 Home

1. Run the downloaded installer

Using Windows/File Explorer (or whatever file manager you prefer), locate the downloaded installer for the Office 2016 apps that are included as part of the Office 365 Home subscription. The name may vary depending on your operating system, but it will look something like this:

Setup.<lots of other characters here>.exe

Run it (usually, via a double-click, but that depends on your file manager and settings) and then click the "Run" button on the "Security Warning" dialog.

2. Accept the User Account Control dialog

Depending on your User Account Control (UAC) settings, you may or may not get the UAC dialog. If you do, click the "Yes" button.

3. Wait until all Office 2016 apps are installed

Although it says, "We'll be done in just a moment", grab a cup of coffee.

4. Check for the Office Tools shortcuts

Check to make sure that the installer created a "Microsoft Office 2016 Tools" program group, with two shortcuts in it.

5. Check for the Office shortcuts

Check to make sure that the installer created shortcuts for all of the Office 2016 apps. It does not put them in a program group — it puts them in the root of the Start Menu. You may want to create a "Microsoft Office 2016" folder to contain all of those shortcuts (I did).

6. Test the shortcuts

Execute the shortcuts to make sure they all work (in the video, I test Word 2016).


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