Checking style in proofing in Word 2016

The proofing options are heavily used, especially those of us who manage proposals and write client deliverable. Thank goodness that I am the only one in my company that has not been upgraded to the latest version of Office 365. I have refused to let them upgrade me until Microsoft restores the missing style proofing tools.

I had started to create a training module about how to set up Word for working on a proposal, when I noticed that the people who had been upgraded to 2016 did not have the necessary grammar and proofing settings. It is most inconvenient and inconsiderate to Word's end users, who need to use more than just the basic settings, for Microsoft  to pull a key feature from the software without prior notice to power users. The amount of time is takes people at my company to edit and proof documents has doubled!

And while I am on the subject of features, here are additional comments about changing or deleting features in Word:

• Bring back the browse by object button on the scroll bar - quicker to use than Control+G (the go to feature).
• Please never delete my secret Word weapon - the style separator! The only way to easily use two Word styles on the same line.

Will Microsoft provide status updates in this thread about the ETA for restoring then style portion of the proofing tool? Thank you.

Thanks again for your feedback. Passive voice is on the list as well and will be added as part of the update.

All features and options need maintenance, regular updates, re-implementation for new versions of Office etc. and are therefore always accompanied with a considerable amount of investment. Features which are used only by a very small amount of users may occasionally be removed in favor of investing more in another more popular feature or for example to replace them with features which are requested by many users.

As explained earlier, the English Grammar Checker had to be ported to different technology for several reasons, which means that every single rule needs to be implemented from scratch. We want to make sure we prioritize the rules which are most useful. We received negative feedback on some of the rules, for example the one that alerts you to Fragments, but doesn't provide any suggestions, instead asks you to consider revising (Fragment (consider revising)). To make the rules more helpful, we want to focus on rules where we can provide a correction suggestion.

Apologies again for this inconvenience caused. We expect to have an update ready by the start of next year to release to Subscription users.

To Nicole \[MSFT\]: There are so many problems with your statement here that it barely passes muster as useful, and in any case now (more than 4 months later) constitutes an unfulfilled promise to correct a serious defect in Word 2016.

Where at MS (email or postal address) can I get an official statement of reasons for the removed grammar and style checking capabilities and when they will be put back or replaced with something better?  I mean "official" as in a corporate press release or something I can use for that purpose.  If you can't provide such contact information, please let me know who can.

If your "by the start of next year [2016]" means what it says, what is the new "expected" release date, since we are now approaching the start of the second quarter?

For those of us who had to fall back to the 2013 version to be able to use the product the way we had been heavily relying on it for many years, how will we know when the 2016 version gets the promised "update" to put grammar and style checking back in place?

Since Automatic Updates won't give me 2016 updates when I have 2013 installed, are you going to send out an email notice to all subscribers like me who bought 2016, or to all who used their Account Page to downgrade to 2013, or is there a place I can sign up to be notified?

And/or, is there a place I can check online where I can RELIABLY expect to see an announcement about it (blog, press release, etc.)?

Or must I keep coming back here every few months to ask you (or post a new thread) if my purchase of 2016 is ready for release to use in the ways I used the prior several versions to which 2016 was supposed to be an upgrade, not a downgrade?

The current status of the solution to this downgrade/removal of important features in Word 2016 is unsatisfactory, unjustified, and leaves customers effectively defrauded about what they thought they were buying in version 2016.

I am also downgrading to 2013 in response to this specific issue.