The Fourth Edition of Office 365 for IT Pros is Nearly Here

I’m excited to announce that Office 365 for IT Pros, 4th Edition is nearly ready to be released. Assuming there are no last minute problems we’re expecting to release the new book later this week.

I wanted to give you this heads up because I know from feedback after previous releases that some of you need a few extra days to get approval for business purchases. If that is you, then here’s some information to help you with that process. For everyone else, this info should also answer the most frequently asked questions we get about buying or upgrading Office 365 for IT Pros.

Q: When will Office 365 for IT Pros, 4th Edition be available?

We’re expecting to have it available later this week. If you’re an email subscriber you will receive an email to let you know. The release will also be announced here on the blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

Q: What’s in the new edition?

Office 365 is a continually evolving and growing cloud service. The third edition of Office 365 for IT Pros has been updated regularly to adjust to those changes (full change log here), but structurally the book was losing alignment with the changes to Office 365’s services in a few key areas. A good example is the Office 365 Governance framework which has unified multiple, separate tools and capabilities into the Security and Compliance Center.

The new edition of the book has provided the opportunity to overhaul how those capabilities are covered, and better position the book for what will no doubt be a wave of further changes announced later this year at Microsoft Ignite.

In addition to the security and compliance changes, coverage has been expanded for important areas like Office 365 Groups, and the growing number of services that leverage Groups, such as Teams and Planner. There is also new content for Intune and Skype for Business Online, which have been among the most requested topics when we surveyed readers.

The cleanup has also allowed us to remove some obsolete material. Even so, the book has now grown to over 1000 pages, not including the separate bonus material that we also offer.

Essentially what you can expect to receive is the most up to date and comprehensive guide to Office 365 that is available anywhere.

Q: What is the price?

Office 365 for IT Pros, 4th Edition, will have the same pricing as the previous edition when purchased directly from Practical 365.

• Standard Package – eBook (PDF + EPUB) + bonus PDFs, $39.95 (USD)
• Premium Package – all of the above plus additional audio and video material, $49.95 (USD)

For a limited time we will be offering the above packages with a 20% discount.

For existing customers of Office 365 for IT Pros, 3rd Edition, you will receive an email with details of a discount upgrade offer. The emails will be sent when the new edition is ready for release. By upgrading you will receive the new edition plus ongoing updates to that edition. Updates to the 3rd edition will be ending after the 4th edition has been released.

Q: Will there be a Kindle version?

Yes. The Kindle version will appear in the Amazon Kindle Store in a few weeks. There’s some extra work involved, plus any delay in approval by Amazon.

The pricing for the Kindle version will remain the same. We are not able to offer a discount or upgrade to previous Kindle buyers due to the limitations of the Kindle store. If receiving upgrade offers in future is important to you then we recommend you purchase the PDF/EPUB version directly from Practical 365. The files are suitable for reading on a computer or tablet (I simply use iBooks my iPad, it works great).

We’re really looking forward to getting Office 365 for IT Pros, 4th Edition, out the door and continuing the work of maintaining and updating it in future. If you have any other questions that haven’t been answered here please feel free to ask in the comments below.