diff --git a/version.props b/version.props
index 68a44892f6..5965a8e4d2 100644
--- a/version.props
+++ b/version.props
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
     <PackageVersion Condition="'$(IsFinalBuild)' == 'true' AND '$(VersionSuffix)' == 'rtm' ">$(VersionPrefix)</PackageVersion>
     <PackageVersion Condition="'$(IsFinalBuild)' == 'true' AND '$(VersionSuffix)' != 'rtm' ">$(VersionPrefix)-$(VersionSuffix)-final</PackageVersion>
     <BuildNumber Condition="'$(BuildNumber)' == ''">t000</BuildNumber>
-    <VersionSuffix Condition="'$(VersionSuffix)' != '' And '$(FeatureBranchVersionSuffix)' != ''">$(VersionSuffix)-$([System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Replace('$(FeatureBranchVersionSuffix)', '[^\w-]', '-'))</VersionSuffix>
+    <FeatureBranchVersionPrefix Condition="'$(FeatureBranchVersionPrefix)' == ''">a-</FeatureBranchVersionPrefix>
+    <VersionSuffix Condition="'$(VersionSuffix)' != '' And '$(FeatureBranchVersionSuffix)' != ''">$(FeatureBranchVersionPrefix)$(VersionSuffix)-$([System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Replace('$(FeatureBranchVersionSuffix)', '[^\w-]', '-'))</VersionSuffix>
     <VersionSuffix Condition="'$(VersionSuffix)' != '' And '$(BuildNumber)' != ''">$(VersionSuffix)-$(BuildNumber)</VersionSuffix>
     <!-- VS for Mac does not like letters in package versions -->
     <AddinBuildNumber Condition="'$(BuildNumber)' == 't000'">99999</AddinBuildNumber>