Last week, Microsoft announced a new look for the Office apps on Windows 10 and Windows 11. It was supposed to begin rolling out right away, but it turns out Microsoft ended up delaying it. In an update to its blog post, the company has said that the new Office design is now rolling out to Office Insiders in the Beta channel.

The new design in Microsoft Office is based on the Fluent Design principles Microsoft established a while back. This new design language matches up perfectly with the upcoming Windows 11, though it's also available for Windows 10 users.

With this redesign, the Office apps will have a cleaner look, specifically the ribbon at the top of the apps. With this update, the ribbon is contained in a large rectangle that pops out from the window background a bit more. You can also see rounded corners for the apps, something Microsoft is pushing with Windows 11.

The new design is available for Office Insiders running version 2108 of the Office apps, specifically build number 14301.20004 or higher. You'll need to enroll in the Beta channel of the Office Insider program, which you can do from the account settings in any of the Office apps. After installing the latest updates from the Beta channel, you can enable the look by clicking the megaphone icon in the apps' title bar. However, Microsoft notes this only works in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Excel for now. If you enable it in those apps, it will work on other apps, too, like Outlook.

We can expect a few more design tweaks to be available for Office Insiders in the future before an official rollout. Microsoft is planning to add the new Mica material to the app at some point. This will add a sense of translucency to the Office app windows, similar to what you see in the Windows 11 Settings app.