2012 is shaping up to be quite the year for Microsoft. The world’s largest software company released a new version of Windows along with updates to popular programs like Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer.
If you want to test out Microsoft Office 2013, you can do so for free for 60 days. Microsoft recently made a 60 day free trial available online.
Microsoft Office 2013 can only be installed on Windows 7 or Windows 8 PCs. When the full suite of Office is released, it will probably cost hundreds of dollars. So the free trial will make sure you know exactly what you’re spending your money on.
Here’s how to download it:
In order to test out Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 today, you need only go to the official Microsoft website and click Get Started Now. It’s the big green button at the bottom of the page. You’ll need to sign in with some sort of Microsoft account, like Hotmail or Live.
Then, choose the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Office and start downloading. This will activate the Microsoft download manager, which will handle the 666MB download and installation process.
The problem with downloading the free Office trial is that you downloaded an IMG file – which can’t be run just like any executable file. In Windows 8, you can right click on the IMG file and press ‘Mount’, but Windows 7 users will have to turn to third-party disc mounting programs like DaemonTools or Virtual CloneDrive.
Of course, if you want to take the time to burn the IMG file onto a CD or DVD, you can do that too. But virtual drives are easier to handle and you don’t have to waste a DVD.
Once you’ve mounted the IMG file, you can follow through with the Office trial installation process. If the IMG doesn’t start up automatically, you can go to the My Computer screen and double click on the Office disk located in your new virtual drive slot.
Once you’ve entered your license, you have access to Office for 60 days.
Office 2013 changes and new features
Office 2013 comes with a few new features that will be particularly useful to touchscreen users. Those features include:
-Better “touch-enabled experiences”
-Integration with Windows 8 apps
-Click-to-Run which gives users access to Microsoft Office programs even if they’re not fully installed on the computer
-Hundreds of tweaks and minor new additions
-For a full list of changes in Office 2013, click here.
Want a longer free Office trial?
If you want to extend your free trial of Microsoft Office, then you may not want to download the official free trial at all. No, we’re not talking about turning to illegal methods of installing copyrighted programs. Instead, Microsoft has made a different sort of free trial available: it’s called Office 365 Home Premium Preview.
The ‘Preview’ copy allows users to access all the popular Office apps, including Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Access, Outlook, Publisher, OneNote, etc. and install them on five different computers. And best of all – the preview will work for 60 days after the official release of Office 2013.
So the official trial we mentioned above only works for 60 days in total. The preview copy works until Office 2013 gets released – and then 60 days after that. Office 365 is the corporate version of Microsoft Office, but for all intents and purposes, it works the same as Office 2013.
You can download the Office 365 Home Premium Preview here, but you’ll need a Microsoft account to sign up.
