How to reduce the size of quick access toolbar icons? (Office 2016)

The release team just announced availability of the January update:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_sustained_engineering/ (worth bookmarking)

I went looking for the QAT fix in that blog and did not find it there (actually, I gave up before reaching the end because it was so much of search for a needle in a haystack.  ie this months KB:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3131245

lists 20 KB articles for Office 2016

Some of the articles have a section like this:

<snip https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3114536>

Fixes the following issues: 

• You start Outlook 2016, and you use a right-to-left language. In this situation, when you move another window over Outlook 2016, a redraw issue occurs, and the background of Outlook 2016 isn't repainted correctly. Therefore, it is difficult to read the content in Outlook 2016.
• After you change from Mouse mode to Touch mode in Office 2016 applications, the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) icons aren't enlarged.

<snip>

but others are totally opaque. This one just lists a bunch of files, but no indication of why they are listed:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3131245

And, actually I assume that this fix would not be there since it was released 2 days after the blog was published.  Will this fix, and Styles Pane problem ever be added to that blog? 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-word/word-2016-styles-pane-corrupted/be2f03ff-c127-45e2-89b9-ce4806ca37ee?page=5&msgId=500f9529-88aa-4868-8202-3588966e3e44

My guess would be that these fixes will not be added to that entry.

I can only hope there will be a new supplementary notice like there was in November.  But given MS's track record, I would not be surprised if documentation of these important fixes "slips through the cracks".

I mentioned that a few of you had feedback that the deployment team's blog was useful for seeing when an update was being pushed, but not so much for telling what is in each update and they're going to have a think about better ways of keeping you informed on what you're getting. (We're also trying to do a better job of telling you what's new when you first start up an app after it has been updated, especially for new or significantly improved features)

Patrick, thanks again for the update.

The request, DEMAND, for better updates is not new.

You, as someone who apparently is working in production support (user troubleshooting), should be aware that change control is vital to trouble shooting.  The first question any trouble shooter should ask is what has changed on the system recently.  As our own front line production support, ...

we users NEED to know WHEN changes are forced onto our systems

and we NEED to know WHAT has changed!

So the need for the published Windows Update KB articles to provide more specific information is long established.  We don't need to know the technical details of the changes, but we do NEED to know what features have been changed so that we can more easily match new problems to recent code changes/Windows updates.

Now that MS in Win 10 and Office 365 has reverted almost total change control back to MS only, we need better access to MS published change documentation!

(yes, I'm shouting <grin>, because for the last 20+ years MS has not been listening to specific user request! )

Adding a What's New feature to Applications

Adding a "What's New" link directly inside of the applications is a great idea **.**I would guess that it would either be in the help menu, or on the File > Account pane.  It could link directly to a website that reports new features added to 365 apps and maybe even to a list of what bugs have been fixed.  It would have to either link to a subsite dedicated to the application, or to a single page that just has new entries added to it.

There already is a blog with this type of info:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-s-New-and-Improved-in-Office-2016-for-Office-365-95c8d81d-08ba-42c1-914f-bca4603e1426?ui=en-US&rs=en-US&ad=US

but most people are not aware of it.  And, it would be nice to have more details added to it.

Adding

This is what I get upgrading from the application under File | Account

Spoke with the deployment team and (I had a d'oh moment) they pointed out that subscription customers can do the following:

1. In Word, Excel, PowerPoint Select/click the "File" tab header
2. Select/click "Account"

You'll see a big button on the left called "Office Updates" with the text "Update Options" on it.

If you select/click the button one of the options is "Update Now" - if we're rolling an upgrade this should pick it up and apply it to your installation.

I mentioned that a few of you had feedback that the deployment team's blog was useful for seeing when an update was being pushed, but not so much for telling what is in each update and they're going to have a think about better ways of keeping you informed on what you're getting. (We're also trying to do a better job of telling you what's new when you first start up an app after it has been updated, especially for new or significantly improved features)

Finally a couple of folks asked if they could pick and choose updates - we don't really work that way (there are some limited exceptions for enterprise customers hitting specific "Critical Situation" issues) as managing the resultant matrix of applied/not applied patches would soon be a headache for anyone involved in supporting an Office installation. By keeping the matrix simple we think help everyone avoid a whole class of problems of unexpected feature interaction/dependency.

Hope this clears things up a bit.

...pc