MS Office 2016 is a powerful software used to edit and create documents. It is available in both 32 and 64-bit versions. Have you ever considered installing expensive Microsoft softwares like Microsoft Office 2016 for free? You don’t always need to pay a dime to install Microsoft Office on your PC. Our ultimate step-by-step guide will illustrate How to Download Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit for free. Meanwhile, we also recommend you best free alternatives to it without complex process. Have a try now!
Difference Between 64-bit version and 32-bit version
There are two versions of Microsoft Office 2016, 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Let us look at the differences between these two versions so that you can decide the one that suits your requirements better.
System Requirements for Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit
Processor: Microsoft Office 2016 works fine with 1 GHz or faster x86- or x64-bit processor with an SSE2 instruction set or the latest one.
RAM Memory: At least 2GB RAM
Storage Space: It requires 3GB of space.
Operating System: It is compatible with Windows 8/8.1/10, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 10 Server, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2008/2012 R2. However, it doesn’t support Windows XP.
Graphics Card: The graphics hardware acceleration requires a DirectX10 graphics card and a minimum of 1024 x 576 resolution.
How to Download Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit for Free
Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit is replaced by Office 365 and is not available for sale on Microsoft's official website. You have to download this program from other websites. Let me take you through the stepwise process of Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit can be downloaded.
1. Visit SoftFamous and land on the download page for Microsoft Office 2016.
2. You can see the Download button; click on it.
3. You can find two options on the next page. One is linked to downloading the Home and Student versions while the other one is to download the Professional version.
4. Choose the right version for you, it will redirect you to the download page. Click on start download, or your download will automatically start.
Learn more about how to activate Microsoft Office.
How to Install Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit on Your PC
First things first, you can not install MS Office 2016 if you have already installed any other Office version on your PC. For this purpose, you will have to remove the current version of MS Office from your PC. Follow the below-mentioned steps to do it properly.
1. Go to the Control Panel of your computer. Click on Uninstall a Program.
2. After that, find the current version of Office on your PC, select it and press uninstall.
3. Now, double click on the zip file. Extract the settings to a folder.
4. You will find setup.exe in the folder.
5. Open it, and follow the instructions from the wizard, and it will lead to installing MS Office 2016 on your PC.
How to Manually Update Office 2016 64-bit
Usually, Microsoft automatically updates your MS Office applications to the latest available versions. However, if you want to manually update applications like Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook, follow these steps.
1. Open any application like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.
2. Go to File and then click on More. Select Account.
3. On the left side, you will see all your account information. On the right side of the screen, you can find Update Options. Click on it.
4. It will look for any available updates and update your Office quickly.
Bonus Tip: Download free alternatives to MS Office 64-bit
Although Microsoft Office 2016 can be downloaded for free, it takes a long time to download and install, and there may be some unexpected problems that take a lot of time to research. There is also a quick way for you to get the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office 2016 for free, which is to download its free alternative version. WPS Office is recommended here. It is the office software second only to Microsoft in global users. You can download it for free in wps Edit word, excel, ppt and Pdf documents.
Below is a comparison chart of WPS Office and MS Office 2016:
Overall, Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit version is more extensive in terms of features with enhanced cloud integration, collaboration, and customer support. However, it is costly, especially for individuals, and has compatibility issues with non-Microsoft platforms. WPS Office is recommended to individuals and even small startups as a decent, free, and easy-to-use alternative. All the basic features are identical to MS Office, and the interface is the same.
Common Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit Issues and How to Fix Them
Microsoft Office 2016 works perfectly fine with a PC with minimum requirements. However, this software has common issues, like compatibility with older hardware, issues with installation, and specific programs that usually don’t work with MS Office. We will discuss all these issues today and provide you with a handy solution.
1. Compatibility issues with older hardware
The Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit is an advanced software and requires a PC with decent specifications. Hardware must be 64-bit architecture as it won’t work with 32-bit architecture. Moreover, even with 64-bit architecture, if your PC doesn’t have at least 2GB RAM, 3GB HDD storage, and a 1GHZ processor, it is more likely to have compatibility issues with your system.
Solution:
If you encounter hardware compatibility issues with MS Office 2016 64-bit, check your PC's specifications. You may need to upgrade your hardware to meet compatibility requirements. Moreover, if that option seems pretty costly, which it is, then installing the 32-bit version of MS Office 2016 is recommended, but that has performance constraints. You have to compromise either on performance or budget.
2. Troubleshooting Installation Issues
Another issue commonly observed with Microsoft products is the installation process. At times, the installation process may be complete but corrupt; at other times, these issues won’t let your installation process complete at all. In both scenarios, you won’t be able to use Microsoft Office 2016 on your PC properly. These errors include freezing installation wizard, error messages like “Error 1935”, activation issues, corrupted installation files, and version of your OS.
Solution:
If you encounter installation issues, you need to run the installation file as Administrator, disable antivirus on your PC, restart your PC, and update your Windows version. If all these don’t work, uninstall the current corrupted version of MS Office and re-install it on your PC. Ensure you have a backup of your critical files before uninstalling the software from your computer.
3. Issues with Specific Programs
If you have successfully installed Microsoft Office 2016 64-bit free on your PC, you might face issues with specific office programs. For instance, you may feel MS Word freezing, crashing, or poor performance while processing large files. Similarly, with Excel, you may find compromised performance with larger data sets. The same can happen with other MS Office softwares, including Outlook can have synchronization issues with email while sending and downloading files.
Solution:
If your MS Office programs are slow and freezy, try disabling Add-in and check if you are running it in safe mode; immediately remove that. For Excel, try to keep the workbook size smaller and, if possible, use simple predefined formulas rather than creating complex ones yourself. Disabling hardware graphics acceleration may also help greatly in the case of Outlook.
