Office Insider program gets a name change

Kip Kniskern

microsoft teams

The Office Insider program, which started back in late 2015 and offers sneak peeks and opportunities for early feedback on Microsoft 365 / Office products, is changing its name. Aligning with branding changes moving Microsoft Office to Microsoft 365, the program will now be known as the “Microsoft 365 Insider” program.

Microsoft has had a fuzzy relationship with the Office 365 / Microsoft 365 branding for a while, but back last October announced that it would be officially rebranding Office 365 to Microsoft 365, with a new Microsoft 365 app announced at Ignite. Microsoft 365 first started out as a way to distinguish the inclusion of Windows subscriptions along with Office apps in a Microsoft 365 offering, but since then has morphed to mean, well, Office 365.

A blog post announcing the change notes that along with the Current Channel (Preview) and the Beta Channel, “(s)ome Microsoft 365 apps may release features through a different Preview channel,” but that the program should otherwise remain mostly the same, and “no further action is needed on your part” if you’re a current Office Insider.

Release notes, however, have been moved to Learn.Microsoft.com. If you’re interested in becoming an Office Insider Microsoft 365 Insider, you can find more info here.