


That’s a welcome change from the past installation system which gave only 32-bit Office with other options (64-bit, Insiders, other languages etc) all tucked away where most people could not find them. Here’s what we’re seeing with ’32-bit English’ shown and an ‘Other options’ link easily seen. The current default is still 32-bit (as at 11 January) but the install choice has been updated to make the 32 vs 64 bit option more explicit than in the past. We checked the current Office 365 download pages for Home/Personal/University.

That page applies to “ Office 2019 Office 2016 Office for business Office 365 Admin Office 365 for home Office 365 Small Business Office 365 Small Business Admin” – we’ve highlighted some that are relevant to Office 365 consumers. The updated page says “ 64-bit version is automatically installed”. Microsoft’s web page about choosing Office 32-bit vs 64-bit has been quietly changed, seemingly in advance of the changeover to a 64-bit default. Office 365 Home / Personal / University too While the Office 365 Admin statement seems to only apply to Office 365 ProPlus and Office 2019 for business customers it appears to also apply to Office 365 for consumers (Home, Personal, University). Office for Mac has already been 64-bit for some time. While it’s not stated, this only applies to Office 365/2019 for Windows. Office 365 administrators received warning about this in the Office 365 Admin Centre – which isn’t a lot of help to regular users Even admins themselves might have not noticed the change (we’ve copied the Admin notice below).

Microsoft loves to say that their blogs are a way to openly communicate but the Office blogs are silent on this important choice.įor some reason Redmond thinks it’s better to hide the switch to 64-bit and hope no-one notices or complains. The situation is confusing because Microsoft has chosen NOT to openly talk about the change. Yet Microsoft has chosen to communicate this vital change very poorly and without proper clarity. An important change in the way Office is installed by default. Microsoft is giving little warning of the change despite the compatibility risks to customers. The default is changing from 32-bit to 64-bit software in mid-January 2019. Microsoft Office 365/2019 installation is about to change in a big way for all users – home and business.
