As per Microsoft, there will be no SharePoint designer 2016 for SharePoint 2016 on-premise version. Similarly, there will be no SharePoint designer 2019 for SharePoint 2019.
SharePoint 2013 designer is the latest version of the SharePoint Designer. You can use SharePoint designer 2013 to connect to SharePoint 2013, SharePoint 2016, SharePoint 2019 or SharePoint Online Office 365 sites.
This SharePoint Designer 2016 tutorial give you details about what happened to SharePoint designer 2016? Can we download SharePoint designer 2016? If SharePoint designer 2016 is not available then how we can customize SharePoint 2016 sites?
If you have installed SharePoint 2016 in your on-premise environment, then you must be thinking of downloading and installing SharePoint designer 2016 to customize your SharePoint 2016 sites.
Hold on !!!
There is no SharePoint designer 2016 available, Microsoft has not released any newer version to SharePoint 2016. If you have used SharePoint designer in earlier versions of SharePoint like SharePoint 2013 or SharePoint 2010, then you must have used the same designer versions like SharePoint designer 2013 or SharePoint designer 2010.
Various SharePoint Designer Versions
Below are the SharePoint designers for various SharePoint versions.
- MOSS 2007 -> SharePoint designer 2007
- SharePoint 2010 -> SharePoint designer 2010
- SharePoint 2013 -> SharePoint designer 2013
- SharePoint 2016 -> SharePoint designer ????
- SharePoint 2019 -> SharePoint designer ???? [Download FREE SharePoint 2019 installation and new features PDF]
SharePoint designer 2013 was quite popular with lots of new features compared to previous versions of a SharePoint designer. SharePoint Designer is a free no-code rapid development/customization tool from Microsoft.
And another advantage SharePoint designer 2013 has 2 different setups for a 32-bit operating system and a 64-bit operating system which you can install in any of the operating systems like Windows 7 or Windows 10 or in Windows server 2012 r2 or Windows server 2016.
Not necessarily SharePoint needs to be installed in the operating system. It allows you to perform a wide range of tasks: from branding to connecting to external databases, building lists.
Apart from this very popularly we use SharePoint designer 2013 for developing workflows.
Can I Download SharePoint Designer 2016?
If you are trying to search and download for “SharePoint designer 2016 download”, you will not get a link to download. Because there is no SharePoint designer 2016, Microsoft has already announced that there will be no new versions of SharePoint designer for SharePoint server 2016.
SharePoint designer 2013 is the latest version of SharePoint designer, there will be no further versions of SharePoint. So there is no version of SharePoint designer 2016. Microsoft is investing in Microsoft Flow, which might be a replacement for SharePoint Workflows.
How can I Open SharePoint 2016 Site using SharePoint Designer?
You can use SharePoint designer 2013 to connect and open your SharePoint server 2016 sites. You can do all the operations whichever you were doing in SharePoint 2013 sites.
First, download SharePoint designer 2013 from this MSDN URL and then install it.
Once SharePoint designer 2013 installation is over, open SharePoint designer 2013 and click on Open Site. Then provide the SharePoint 2016 site collection URL like below:

Then it will ask you to provide the credentials to open the site.

Then you can see, your SharePoint 2016 site collection will open in SharePoint designer 2013.

Can we develop workflows for SharePoint 2016 using SharePoint designer 2013?
Yes, we can develop workflows for SharePoint 2016 site, using SharePoint designer 2013. But by default SharePoint 2013 workflow platform will not be available in SharePoint designer 2013. Only SharePoint 2010 workflow platform will be available.
We need to install and configure Workflow manager on the SharePoint 2016 server. You can follow one article on how to install and configure workflow manager in SharePoint 2016.
Once the Workflow manager is installed and configured successfully, you can create workflows for SharePoint 2016.

Can we edit SharePoint 2016 sites using SharePoint designer 2013 like SharePoint 2013?
Yes, we can edit SharePoint 2016 sites using SharePoint designer 2013. Like you can edit master pages, page layouts, list forms, etc. We can edit pages or sites the same way we were doing in SharePoint 2013 sites.
Can I control access to SharePoint Designer for SharePoint 2016 sites?
In SharePoint 2013 you can control access to SharePoint designer 2013, if you will restrict it then people will not be able to open the site using SharePoint Designer.
In the same way you can also restrict using of SharePoint designers to open SharePoint 2016 site. You can do it from SharePoint 2016 central administration.
Open SharePoint designer 2013 and click on General Settings from the left navigation. And in the General Settings page, click on “Configure SharePoint Designer settings” which is under SharePoint Designer settings.
Then in the “SharePoint Designer Settings” page, choose the particular Web Application and can change the settings like below:

To use SharePoint Designer and edit the SharePoint Site contents, you need to be a member of one of the following groups:
- Site Collection Administrators
- Designers
- Owners
You may like the following SharePoint designer tutorials:
- Make attachment field mandatory in InfoPath Designer 2013 in SharePoint Online list
- Start a task process SharePoint designer 2013 workflow action
- Copy Document SharePoint Designer 2013 Workflow Action
- SharePoint designer 2013 Workflow: Assign task to group using Assign a task workflow action
- SharePoint Designer 2013 Workflow: Do Calculation Action Example
- SharePoint Designer 2013 Workflow: Create List Item Action with Example
- SharePoint designer 2013 Workflow Condition: person is a valid sharepoint user with Example
- The expected version of the product was not found on the system error while installing SharePoint designer 2013 Service Pack 1
- SharePoint Online Create Workflow History List using PowerShell or using SharePoint Designer 2013
- You do not have permission to open this web site in sharepoint designer 2013
Conclusion
There will be no new SharePoint designer 2016, SharePoint designer 2013 is the last version of SharePoint Designer. You can use SharePoint designer 2013 to connect to SharePoint 2013 sites, SharePoint 2016 sites, and SharePoint Online sites.
I am Bijay a Microsoft MVP (8 times –Â My MVP Profile) in SharePoint and have more than 15 years of expertise in SharePoint Online Office 365, SharePoint subscription edition, and SharePoint 2019/2016/2013. Currently working in my own venture TSInfo Technologies a SharePoint development, consulting, and training company. I also run the popular SharePoint website EnjoySharePoint.com