Microsoft Office 2016 is Now Installed by Default as a Microsoft Store Application

Office is no longer an ISO installation

Microsoft Office 2016 is now pre-installed on Dell systems as an application. This differs from previous generations of systems that were installed from an ISO (from a disc or physical media).

Due to Microsoft's ongoing transition to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) installation process from the Microsoft store, Microsoft Office now installed by default as an APP and not an ISO install as was the previous process (also known as Centennial Bridge Mode). As a result, users may be confused when Office is not listed in Add/Remove Programs and the Office folder, in Windows, will show it contains 0MB of files.

This is working within the design specification for the current Microsoft Office 2016 individual system license installation process.

The first step when working with any Universal Windows Platform (UWP) application is to update the Windows Store.

While Windows has an built-in system task to automatically update the Microsoft Store app, Office may be launched before the automated update process begins. Since the connection between the app tiles on the desktop and the store may not be up to date, the installation may not be successful.

To update the Microsoft Store app (or Windows Store in earlier releases of Windows 10):

1. Open the Microsoft Store
2. Click on the Account icon and sign into the store with a Microsoft Account (Figure 1.)
   
   Figure 1. - Updating the Microsoft Store.

• Click on the three dots "…" next to the account icon and select "Downloads and updates"
• Click on Microsoft Store and let the update finish.
  
  NOTE: When signing into the MSA and multiple products are listed in the account, select the product with the highest parenthetical number. If the program selects automatically ("We've selected the best product for you"), then the key on the system may be an old key that does not match the key registered to the system.

Your Microsoft Office installation is now shown in Windows as an app under Apps and Features and you can modify or uninstall the installation of Office from that location. (Figure 2.)

If the ISO installation is desired, you can complete the ISO install per the following Microsoft Link:  Download and install or reinstall Office 365 or Office 2016 on a PC or Mac

This will allow you to download the Office ISO from https://www.office.com/myaccount > Other install options > Advanced. Choose the language and bit version (32 or 64bit) you want and then select Install.

Figure 3. - ISO Installation Option.