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Microsoft Launches Office 2016 for Mac Preview, Available for Free to Mac Users

Belmont31R said:
I usually get something like this from professors, "Please put your topic suggestions into a Micsosoft Word (or Word-comatible) document, and send the document to me as an email attachment." For this particular assignment it was just a few research topics we might like to do our final paper on, and I did write that out in Pages. I then copy/pasted into Word, and the formatting was messed up. So when professors prefer Word I just tend to write the assignment in Word to avoid any issues.

A PDF would probably be ok for some but I am used to defaulting to Word at this point, and don't want to take chances.
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Why would you do this? Why not go to File > Export in Pages and export the doc to a Word file?
 
jgadbaw1 said:
Does AppleMail work with outlook 2016? What is the secret to getting apple mail map setup to work with 2016?
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Yes, it works. Easy to set up.

I set it up using my @me.com account iCloud.com account should work the same.

Incoming Server: mail.me.com Port 993
SSL checked

Outgoing Server smtp.me.com Port 587
Override default port and SSL checked

Click on "more options" and make sure Authentication type is set to "Incoming server info."
 
No doubt this will be more functional than Office 2011. Unfortunately it suffers from the same ugly flatness disease that both Windows and Mac suffer from. I know, it's all the rage but still ugly to my eyes.

For example Outlook 2011 has easily identified blue folders in the sidebar. Mac Mail's sidebar is monochrome but has bigger fonts. They stand out more.

On the other hand the folders on the sidebar of the new beta Outlook are small, like those of Outlook 2011, but are just outlines. Along with the skimpy icons at the top of the page it is not as readable as Outlook 2011 or Mail.

Word looks pretty nice and crisp but the items along the top are less contrasty and therefore harder to read than those on Word 2011 Most likely we'll have to live with the flat stuff for awhile. I do not think that Yosemite has "flat" down as well as Windows 10.

Office's problems are similar to those of Quicken. Quicken Essentials for Mac looks pretty good. The new Quicken for Mac is flat and ugly. The latest Quicken for Windows has some flatness but still looks like a professional-level application.
 
brianvictor7 said:
While most of the time this preserves the formatting, it rarely seems to be perfect 100% of the time.
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I'm a dedicated user of Pages '09, but it astounds me how many people don't realize this. Even with simple documents, I often find spacing is slightly different. Like Pages will put one line on the next page where Word won't.

I would NEVER export as a Word document without actually opening it in Word first. Luckily, most of my stuff is sent as a PDF.
 
So much hate about Office when, in all honesty, nothing beats Word and Excel, the two most-used Office apps.

The interface on the Mac is much better than on PC, thanks to the gorgeous interface we have in OS X. We just went from Office 2003 to 2013 at my job, and gah... it feels so bland. Plus, there's so many icons and small spots of color in Outlook 2013 that I don't even see my flagged messages anymore. Great.
 
Patronus said:
Why would you do this? Why not go to File > Export in Pages and export the doc to a Word file?
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I have run into formatting issues doing that, too. It usually revolves around bullets/numbers and such. Just basic typing into paragraphs exports and/or copies over but not much else. I tried to use iWork in a business computer applications course and it was always just much easier to use Office than go back and forth between iWork and Office.
 
PsykX said:
So much hate about Office when, in all honesty, nothing beats Word and Excel, the two most-used Office apps.

The interface on the Mac is much better than on PC, thanks to the gorgeous interface we have in OS X. We just went from Office 2003 to 2013 at my job, and gah... it feels so bland. Plus, there's so many icons and small spots of color in Outlook 2013 that I don't even see my flagged messages anymore. Great.
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While I cannot agree with your Mac over Windows view I can agree that nothing beats Word and Excel. They just work better, period. On my home PCs I use Office 2010 but at work I'm still stuck with the wonderful-because-of-no-ribbon Office 2007.

I like the colors on Office 2013 and Windows 10. It is easier to see bright, highly contrasted objects than the flat, grey blobs so popular now.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
Yes, it works. Easy to set up.

I set it up using my @me.com account iCloud.com account should work the same.

Incoming Server: mail.me.com Port 993
SSL checked

Outgoing Server smtp.me.com Port 587
Override default port and SSL checked

Click on "more options" and make sure Authentication type is set to "Incoming server info."
Click to expand...

Thanks - It worked perfectly!
 
I'm still using Office 2008 for mac which came with 5 mac (family) license. Unfortunately a separate license is needed for each mac with the newer versions of Office, making it quite expensive for a casual home user. I presume Office 2016 will also be single license. I just hope they don't go subscription only!

I assume the old version of Office can be installed along-side the Beta without any trouble - can anyone confirm this?
Thanks.
 
bmac89 said:
I'm still using Office 2008 for mac which came with 5 mac (family) license. Unfortunately a separate license is needed for each mac with the newer versions of Office, making it quite expensive for a casual home user. I presume Office 2016 will also be single license. I just hope they don't go subscription only!

I assume the old version of Office can be installed along-side the Beta without any trouble - can anyone confirm this?
Thanks.
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You can get Office 365 Home Premium 1 year (up to 5 Macs license) for about $75.00 right now on Amazon.
 
I have some very specific questions about Excel 2016..hope someone can answer.

1. Can someone attest to this statement?

With Office 2011, many users were frustrated that the Mac shortcut keys were not the same as the Office for Windows shortcut keys, so Microsoft has made all Windows shortcuts available on the Mac.

I am a power Excel user and rely on keyboard shortcut all the time. How does it work in Excel 2016? I mean there is no ALT key on MAC. And CRTL key on PC and MAC means different things. Or can I just hook up a PC keyboard and it will work like on a PC?

2. Can you add quick access button to the toolbar? Previously not possible on Excel 2011.
 
MacAddict1978 said:
It is with great pain that I agree....
And in many ways, Microsoft has surpassed Apple in innovation.
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Given that your forum name is "MacAddict", I can only image how much it huts you to say that. I have been a rabid Apple fan myself since 2008. Apple, through its products and events, has inspired me in ways that Microsoft seldom could. Now, even that gap is closing.

I had to install windows 8 under bootcamp for a class I have coming up, and my XBox One eased me into the tiles a bit... (which i never really liked...) but they are actually highly useful bits.
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I test drove a Windows 8 laptop back in Fall 2013 for a week. It wasn't at all a bad experience once I figured out where everything was. The tiles system is a neat idea.

I think Win8 has a bit of an identity crisis even still (and its hard adjusting to hot keys on a mac for windows) but it's actually a really decent OS now that I've actually used it vs. bashing it without really knowing it. MS really has gone in a direction I thought Apple would have been the leader in, and Windows 10 seems to really have ironed out the lack of harmony between touch and keyboard and mouse use.
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I haven't looked into this much. I'm sure I will when it is released.

I would love to be able to pop the display off my MacBook at times... or touch it.... touch has become a much more natural response to things. After I've been on my tablet, I do find the transition odd going back to my Mac. The iPad just still does not cut it as a true productivity device.
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I so hear you on the desire to pull the display off my MacBook and carry it around. The problem is, sure, it could be engineered to do that, but then you have a heavy tablet. While this may be better than no tablet in many cases, the pounds add up quickly. I don't own an iPad, but I've played with them plenty enough to appreciate how touching the screen to move an object is more natural than using a mouse. Sometimes, though, I need the precision that the mouse offers. Tim Cooke says he can get 80% of everything he needs done on his iPad. I wonder if that is true for most users.

Win8 really has a bit more elegant mix of doc and mission control type layout, and more logical.

Yet for as much as I like about it, the identity crisis (do I want to be a metro app, a classic desktop app, or a decent hybrid like Chrome) is just still too awkward for me to say I would consider a Windows machine as a primary purchase.

It really is hard for Apple to justify the hardware costs considering the wide price gap vs. performance these days. That "it just works" classic mac appeal waned with the death of power pc. Yet Mac's still have a bit more logical work flow and ease of use.

Microsoft still hasn't quite learned to make a simple task 1 or 2 steps like apple. They still love you to take 9 clicks through screens to adjust a setting or do something simple.
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I think I can agree with everything in this block.

Might now break down and buy a winbox, but bootcamp worth windows has become.

Let the hate rain on this post, but I really bashed the hell out of Windows 8 and then I actually used it.... not perfect, but definitely a mile run in the right direction. I honestly can't say that about OSX. The only real new feature was handoff, and it's really not that useful. OSX has mainly seen under the hood changes, lipstick, but not taken an evolutionary leap since maybe Leopard. Leopard was really that last release that felt satisfyingly new in features and experience. The most major shift has really been tabbed finder and the stop light buttons actually.... work like windows! 😱
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I don't see why this should spark hate except from the immature. Computers are just tools that we use to solve problems. I have admitted from the beginning that you can accomplish most everything you would want to do on a Mac or a PC, depending on how much effort you put in. The user experience might be more enjoyable on a Mac in many ways. Sometimes less so (where is the cut and paste for Finder after 15 years!?).

Thank you very much for this thoughtful answer to my question.
 
whohasaquestion said:
I have some very specific questions about Excel 2016..hope someone can answer.

1. Can someone attest to this statement?

I am a power Excel user and rely on keyboard shortcut all the time. How does it work in Excel 2016? I mean there is no ALT key on MAC. And CRTL key on PC and MAC means different things. Or can I just hook up a PC keyboard and it will work like on a PC?
Click to expand...

Alt is just option, control is just command. I assume they mean the shortcut after those buttons. In any case, you've always been able to switch app shortcuts to your liking in the Keyboard pref pane.
 
Traverse said:
I'm a dedicated user of Pages '09, but it astounds me how many people don't realize this. Even with simple documents, I often find spacing is slightly different. Like Pages will put one line on the next page where Word won't.

I would NEVER export as a Word document without actually opening it in Word first. Luckily, most of my stuff is sent as a PDF.
Click to expand...

And this is so frustrating to someone like myself who would like to stick with Apple's productivity suite. Unfortunately, I can't. I work in jobs that use MS Office only. I would have to remember to export every darn document (several steps) then open them in MS Office to check fidelity of appearance before sharing. That's not worth the trouble IMHO.
 
scottsjack said:
While I cannot agree with your Mac over Windows view I can agree that nothing beats Word and Excel. They just work better, period. On my home PCs I use Office 2010 but at work I'm still stuck with the wonderful-because-of-no-ribbon Office 2007.

I like the colors on Office 2013 and Windows 10. It is easier to see bright, highly contrasted objects than the flat, grey blobs so popular now.
Click to expand...

Once adjusted Office 2013 is actually really nice. I hope the Mac 2016 gets some of the backend settings that 2013 has.

----------
brianvictor7 said:
And this is so frustrating to someone like myself who would like to stick with Apple's productivity suite. Unfortunately, I can't. I work in jobs that use MS Office only. I would have to remember to export every darn document (several steps) then open them in MS Office to check fidelity of appearance before sharing. That's not worth the trouble IMHO.
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Which is why I've just defaulted to writing assignments in Office rather than iWork. And Im not an 18 year old doing freshman English assignments. iWork doesn't offer me any benefit to worth the risk of writing assignments in iWork then transferring over to Office which is almost sure to mess up formatting in some regard. And Im not going to submit essays or assignments as a PDF which is hit or miss. Nor am I going to go back and see which professors take PDF or not. .docx is always accepted, and Ive never had any major format issues with that file type even doing computer applications courses switching between different versions of Office.
 
Cougarcat said:
Alt is just option, control is just command. I assume they mean the shortcut after those buttons. In any case, you've always been able to switch app shortcuts to your liking in the Keyboard pref pane.
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Thanks.

I will need to give the preview a try and see for myself.
 
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Daalseth said:
Thanks but I'm happy with Open Office, Pages, and TextEdit, Numbers on occasion. They do everything I need. My Mac is an MS free zone and I like it that way.
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I am envious. You don't have to work with lawyers, accountants, investment bankers etc. in multiple countries like I do.
 
MacHiavelli said:
I only know one person who still uses Office (Word), and he's 86.
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Well he is one lucky guy
Making it to 86 - hope I do
And still able to type
And I am jealous
You don't to deal with financial statements, make payroll, negotiate agreements with customers and their lawyers and all the other dull stuff
 
Desperately want to download this but it keeps cancelling out after 6.3mb! Tried doing it over ethernet instead of wi-fi, clearing history and website data in Safari...don't know how to fix this! Grr!
 
I'm still running Office 2007 for WINDOWS on Yosemite, with Crossover. 😱 I'm trying to wean myself off Office (and too cheap to get a new version when I started using a Mac and had a perfectly functioning Windows version). But I still need it when iWork doesn't play nice with MS files.
 
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