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When you install does it replace Office 2011 or can you carry on using the old one?
I have Office 2011 installed and it works fine alongside Office 2016. Office 2011 has libraries installed in the /Library/Application Support and /Library/Preferences folders while Office 2016 appears to actually be packages with the library files included. For example, Word 2011 is only 60Mb while Word 2016 is 1.72Gb.
 
"Office for Mac will also be available as a one-time purchase in September."

THIS!!! Thank you, Microsoft, for listening to those of us who dont like the subcription model. Say what you will about MS, but they do listen to their customers, care about backwards compatability, and do seem very interested in innovating.
 
"Office for Mac will also be available as a one-time purchase in September."

THIS!!! Thank you, Microsoft, for listening to those of us who dont like the subcription model. Say what you will about MS, but they do listen to their customers, care about backwards compatability, and do seem very interested in innovating.

It's always been available as a standalone purchase...
 
How long can I continue to use the Preview For Mac? I'm hoping until the stand alone comes out. Can you still use these apps for free for just the basic stuff?
 
Is it just my side, or is the Microsoft Education site boinked? Trying to get in there to verify what is available, and simply not loading...
 



Following a beta testing period that began in March, Microsoft today announced the official launch of its next-generation office software designed for Mac users, Office 2016. The new Office 2016 software is the first major Mac release since Office 2011, and it brings new versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with redesigned, Retina optimized interfaces, new features, and a focus on collaboration and cloud integration.

officeformac2016.jpg
Office for Mac 2016 has adopted many elements previously found in the Windows version of Office and the mobile Office apps for better cross-platform familiarity. For example, Office for Mac now uses the Ribbon to organize tools and formatting options, plus there's a task pane for improved graphics customization in all three of the main Office apps, along with new themes and styles.

The software includes a new Yosemite-style design that takes advantage of features like full-screen support, Retina displays, and multi-touch gestures, while cloud integration makes all Microsoft files available across a range of devices.

Word 2016 for Mac includes a new Design tab for quickly customizing layouts, colors, and fonts while working on a document, and the multi-author experience has been improved. There's a sharing interface at the top right of the app that allows multiple people to work on the same document at once, with threaded comments to communicate.

word2016.jpg

Excel 2016 for Mac's chart preview feature suggests the charts that best fit a set of data and it adds deeper data analysis functionality with PivotTable slicers for dealing with large amounts of data to find patterns. Shortcuts within Excel and the other Office apps have been updated to match their Windows counterparts, and there's improved autocomplete and a better formula builder that makes it easier to create spreadsheets and add data.

microsoftexcel.jpg

PowerPoint 2016 for Mac includes an improved Presenter view that shows current slide, next slide, speaker notes, and a timer, much like the PowerPoint for iOS app. In the top left, the presenter sees exactly what the audience sees, including animations in real time, for a better idea of how a presentation is going. There's also a new animation pane for designing and tweaking animations, plus new slide transitions.

powerpoint2016.jpg

Outlook for Mac, released last October, is also designed to work with the new Office apps, with push mail support, an improved conversation view, and message previews, as is OneNote for Mac, released in March of 2014.

According to Microsoft, several major changes like improved Mail Merge for Word, Propose New Time in Outlook, and support for External Data Connections in Excel were added based on user feedback during the beta testing program. Microsoft plans to introduce new updates to the software at least once per quarter going forward.

Office 2016 for Mac is available for all Office 365 subscribers users beginning today, and is officially supported on machines running the latest version of OS X, Yosemite. Office for Mac will also be available as a one-time purchase in September.

Office 365 Personal, which includes Office access for 1 computer, 1 phone, and 1 tablet, is priced at $69.99 per year or $6.99 per month. Office 365 Home, with access for 5 computers, 5 tablets, and 5 phones is priced at $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month. There are also Office 365 plans designed for students and businesses at different price points.

Article Link: Microsoft Releases Office 2016 for Mac With Updated Versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and More



Following a beta testing period that began in March, Microsoft today announced the official launch of its next-generation office software designed for Mac users, Office 2016. The new Office 2016 software is the first major Mac release since Office 2011, and it brings new versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with redesigned, Retina optimized interfaces, new features, and a focus on collaboration and cloud integration.

officeformac2016.jpg
Office for Mac 2016 has adopted many elements previously found in the Windows version of Office and the mobile Office apps for better cross-platform familiarity. For example, Office for Mac now uses the Ribbon to organize tools and formatting options, plus there's a task pane for improved graphics customization in all three of the main Office apps, along with new themes and styles.

The software includes a new Yosemite-style design that takes advantage of features like full-screen support, Retina displays, and multi-touch gestures, while cloud integration makes all Microsoft files available across a range of devices.

Word 2016 for Mac includes a new Design tab for quickly customizing layouts, colors, and fonts while working on a document, and the multi-author experience has been improved. There's a sharing interface at the top right of the app that allows multiple people to work on the same document at once, with threaded comments to communicate.

word2016.jpg

Excel 2016 for Mac's chart preview feature suggests the charts that best fit a set of data and it adds deeper data analysis functionality with PivotTable slicers for dealing with large amounts of data to find patterns. Shortcuts within Excel and the other Office apps have been updated to match their Windows counterparts, and there's improved autocomplete and a better formula builder that makes it easier to create spreadsheets and add data.

microsoftexcel.jpg

PowerPoint 2016 for Mac includes an improved Presenter view that shows current slide, next slide, speaker notes, and a timer, much like the PowerPoint for iOS app. In the top left, the presenter sees exactly what the audience sees, including animations in real time, for a better idea of how a presentation is going. There's also a new animation pane for designing and tweaking animations, plus new slide transitions.

powerpoint2016.jpg

Outlook for Mac, released last October, is also designed to work with the new Office apps, with push mail support, an improved conversation view, and message previews, as is OneNote for Mac, released in March of 2014.

According to Microsoft, several major changes like improved Mail Merge for Word, Propose New Time in Outlook, and support for External Data Connections in Excel were added based on user feedback during the beta testing program. Microsoft plans to introduce new updates to the software at least once per quarter going forward.

Office 2016 for Mac is available for all Office 365 subscribers users beginning today, and is officially supported on machines running the latest version of OS X, Yosemite. Office for Mac will also be available as a one-time purchase in September.

Office 365 Personal, which includes Office access for 1 computer, 1 phone, and 1 tablet, is priced at $69.99 per year or $6.99 per month. Office 365 Home, with access for 5 computers, 5 tablets, and 5 phones is priced at $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month. There are also Office 365 plans designed for students and businesses at different price points.

Article Link: Microsoft Releases Office 2016 for Mac With Updated Versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and More
 
I have been using the beta versions of the suite for months. Excel, Word, and OneNote rock. Cranky people who find the price steep, must get paid $8.00/hr. My time is well worth the cost. All they have to do is save me 5 minutes/month and it has paid for itself. Now as for Outlook... It is still a mess. I have an Exchange and have used it with and without it, but since contacts are an integral part of using a mail client, and Outlook still doesn't understand that you can have a company with no 'people', it is useless. And it is buggy. It would stop receiving mail and I would have to quit and restart. And then it added an INBOX that came from nowhere and could not be deleted. Seems no one does everything well....
 
Just installed it.
Typical Microsoft logic.
New Outlook 2016...
...that doesn't fully support Outlook.com accounts.

I can access my e-mail, just not any of the other things like Calendar, Contacts, etc.

I still don't understand this stupidity.

The Mac version of Office will forever (I believe) the bastard stepchild from MS. I don't think they'll ever have feature parity out of spite/desire to push Windows.

There's no reason Outlook 2016 couldn't support Outlook.com accounts fully or cardDAV/calDAV. The Windows version works with outlook.com as well as it does Exchange.
 
Has Microsoft released a separate Office for Mac or Word for Mac that is a one time fee? An owned program instead of the 365 subscription?
 
There's no reason Outlook 2016 couldn't support Outlook.com accounts fully or cardDAV/calDAV. The Windows version works with outlook.com as well as it does Exchange.
I disagree, and IMO there's a very good reason. MS announced several weeks ago they're porting Outlook.com to the same engine that powers Office 365, and that the transition will be completed later this year - it's in their Outlook.com blog and you can search my posts for that link to that post.

Outlook, the app, supports EWS and IMAP very well, just as their updates since Entourage moved to EWS after Apple cut off Sync Services. EWS is MS's replacement for the legacy MAPI protocol - I'd put the proverbial turd in the Outlook.com team for not getting Outlook.com ported from their "old" engine to the EWS engine that Apple and the MS Mac team have provided support for going back to 2009.

FWIW, I also am testing Win 10 - the "stock" Mail/People/Calendar app received a just-over-500MB update late last week. I'm interested to see whether MS will be updating their Windows Office suite soon, and maybe Outlook.com will be free of the ancient EAS engine once and for all so we can get on to bitching about other software! ;)
 
Has Microsoft released a separate Office for Mac or Word for Mac that is a one time fee? An owned program instead of the 365 subscription?
Not yet, but soon is what my MS rep told me. I have several 2-install licenses of Office 2011 Pro I use for my company I'd like to update, so I had to ask that question. Any time between next week (for a download) and early September (for something in a box...).
 
I totally agree. Outlook freezes almost every time when I close the application. Constant prompts about not being able to verify activation, although the installation was activated sucessufuly.
Outlook is still way behind its Windows brother. Proofreading is no near as good as in the Windows version. No handwriting support in OneNote (iPad version has it but no OS X, wtf?). I can go on and on.

After running the betas on Yosemite, this software is in no way shape or form ready for prime time...
 
I love Word 2011. It is a testament to that product that I won't be updating. I tried the beta for a week or so. I couldn't find the thing you pull down to do split view. And the old pre-Yosemite colors of 2011 are easier on my eyes (which isn't Microsoft's fault--they're just keeping up with the OS X aesthetic). As a word processor, pretty much any verison of Word handily beats Pages. Pages to me is a good substitute for something like PageMaker for page-layout; though, I much preferred the old version with the floating Inspector.
 
Office 2011 came with dock folder art, 2016 doesn't seem to have anything. Does anyone have any nice folder art for office 2016 that you are using?
 
I just want to point out 3 things, because there seems to be some unfair misunderstandings of Microsoft:

1) MS Office 2016 will be available to purchase ONCE (maybe $130) and you get to keep that copy forever. You can uninstall it from a Mac and reinstall it on another. This software will continue to be updated freely until the next milestone is released (MS Office 2020, perhaps?).

2) MS Office 2016 will also be available at a very reasonable price, ~$7/Month, which includes 1TB of cloud storage on OneDrive. For people on week-to-week pay checks, $7 a month is much more affordable than $130 in one hit. This software will continue to be updated until the next milestone of office comes out (2020?) or when you stop paying the subscription, whichever happens last.

3) I've been trialling the public beta, and I can promise it is FANTASTIC compared with MS Office 2011 for Mac. It is much more compatible with regards to VB code, Excel formula functions, and Word math equations as well. Occasionally it crashes, but it's still much better software than the prior generation. Your money will be well spent.

One noticeable difference is that MS OneNote is very lacking in editing features compared with the Windows or iPad versions. Free-hand drawing/annotating images are missing features for example. Hopefully these will be implemented in one of Microsoft's upcoming updates.
 
$7 per month forever indentured servitude? No thanks MSFT.

Glad someone sees it as it truly is...

It would be "ok" if you stopped the subscription and it would still work as it is considered the last version you have and would be considered an "old" version. BUT...if you decided to stop the subscription, then the program does not work and all of your documents etc. will not be able to open...

Many companies are going to this type of subscription service. Adobe, AVID and others...

Hopefully the virtual box, OpenOffice etc. type of communities continue to create virtual OS X's and compatible programs so we can still work on office docs. or use older programs that work fine as is. Virtual Box still has issues running OS X though...

Eventually the old Mac Office 2011 will not run on OS X with the new change to "Swift" code formats probably in upcoming OS X versions, so those who use Microsoft office will have no choice but go into slavery if they want to continue to use Office products.

Making money is not the issue, MAKING people buy a product when they have no choice..IS the problem.

Office has become a standard, especially if you have to collaborate. We don't have choices if we work with others....

Microsoft is trying again to create a monopoly. The failed before, but they are working toward a "closed" ecosystem. Apple has a strong ecosystem, but is still not closed...as of yet....

There are many who desire for technology to be like electricity. Monthly fees for service. Microsoft is desiring to be Edison... $7 a month...
 
Here's to hoping the release an actual standalone version without the 365 account. Subscriptions based software is awful.

Don't hold your breath... Hoping "goodness" in technology is like believing there is Santa Claus.
 
Good grief, my head is going to explode.

I read MacRumors because I have a Macbook Pro and a mini and an iPhone and Apple TV, and there's a lot to like about Apple Products - but also because I have to support Macs in a mixed business environment. I was hoping to read some constructive evaluations of this new version of Office, specifically Outlook.

Instead, the amount of misinformed hyperbole many readers here just spurt out is amazing. What's this about being forced to use software in a Microsoft "monopoly?" You're joking, right? Or this: "Wonder when they will release the version for those stuck using an exchange server." Stuck? What would you enterprise-computing wizards recommend? Tell me about Apple's mail server, would ya? Or even worse - comments that "Exchange is the worst ever, we only have it because it came free with office." No, it didn't. Exchange is actually a very robust, feature-rich, reliable mail server that can handle everything from Mom-and-Pop operations to enterprises. Exchange does NOT come free with anything, you pay for it. It's a serious business platform, supporting all kinds of essential services for running a company: calendaring, public folders, meeting organization, resource reservations, etc. And people complaining that Outlook 2011 for Mac is sloooow...and then saying that they have huge inboxes. I see it all the time at our office - users with 20,000 messages in their inbox alone, 20 gig mail stores, Sent Items chock-full of huge attachments because Mac-to-Mac peer file sharing is hopelessly broken and flawed, wondering why it takes so long to sync up their accounts with the server.

Everybody is entitled to their own likes and dislikes and preferences. But to those of you living in a sheltered Mac-only world, who insist on gabbing about things you really know nothing about, who don't really have any experience having to keep a company running smoothly while keeping both end users and owners happy and secure and productive all at once, here's a bit of 'insider' information for you: It's that kind of amateurish, closed-minded nonsense that hardens well-meaning, knowledgeable, hard-working IT shops from taking you seriously and considering your worthy cause. It leads us to believe that you're just brand-loyal to a fault, running on emotion, and willing to completely overlook technology that could actually increase your productivity or improve your company's bottom lines. It's what causes some IT admins and directors to think of Macs as toys. Worse, it's what emboldens Apple to ignore the enterprise sector and its needs for manageability, technology road maps, and so on.

Educate yourselves a little and try to imagine that there's a whole computing world out there bigger than you might imagine, with needs and experiences and priorities that are quite different than yours, yet still valid and worthy of consideration.

All that said, this is a Microsoft product - and I've been burned by each successive Office for Mac release since the very beginning. That's not Apple's fault. I don't hold out much hope for this one, either. I'm hope I'm pleasantly surprised. I hope that Outlook gets better parity with Outlook 2013 on the Windows side, which is hands-down an amazing email client with a powerhouse server behind it (or, use any other mail service you want - it still works great). I'll keep an open mind, I'll put it through the paces, and hope that we don't just get fancy features that are great for home users and students but meaningless in a real enterprise environment that is forced to keep some Macs around. I'll have to see proof before I'll upgrade and have to continue disappointing my users by constantly having to say "Sorry..the Mac version doesn't support that."
 
Good grief, my head is going to explode.

I read MacRumors because I have a Macbook Pro and a mini and an iPhone and Apple TV, and there's a lot to like about Apple Products - but also because I have to support Macs in a mixed business environment. I was hoping to read some constructive evaluations of this new version of Office, specifically Outlook.

Instead, the amount of misinformed hyperbole many readers here just spurt out is amazing. What's this about being forced to use software in a Microsoft "monopoly?" You're joking, right? Or this: "Wonder when they will release the version for those stuck using an exchange server." Stuck? What would you enterprise-computing wizards recommend? Tell me about Apple's mail server, would ya? Or even worse - comments that "Exchange is the worst ever, we only have it because it came free with office." No, it didn't. Exchange is actually a very robust, feature-rich, reliable mail server that can handle everything from Mom-and-Pop operations to enterprises. Exchange does NOT come free with anything, you pay for it. It's a serious business platform, supporting all kinds of essential services for running a company: calendaring, public folders, meeting organization, resource reservations, etc. And people complaining that Outlook 2011 for Mac is sloooow...and then saying that they have huge inboxes. I see it all the time at our office - users with 20,000 messages in their inbox alone, 20 gig mail stores, Sent Items chock-full of huge attachments because Mac-to-Mac peer file sharing is hopelessly broken and flawed, wondering why it takes so long to sync up their accounts with the server.

Everybody is entitled to their own likes and dislikes and preferences. But to those of you living in a sheltered Mac-only world, who insist on gabbing about things you really know nothing about, who don't really have any experience having to keep a company running smoothly while keeping both end users and owners happy and secure and productive all at once, here's a bit of 'insider' information for you: It's that kind of amateurish, closed-minded nonsense that hardens well-meaning, knowledgeable, hard-working IT shops from taking you seriously and considering your worthy cause. It leads us to believe that you're just brand-loyal to a fault, running on emotion, and willing to completely overlook technology that could actually increase your productivity or improve your company's bottom lines. It's what causes some IT admins and directors to think of Macs as toys. Worse, it's what emboldens Apple to ignore the enterprise sector and its needs for manageability, technology road maps, and so on.

Educate yourselves a little and try to imagine that there's a whole computing world out there bigger than you might imagine, with needs and experiences and priorities that are quite different than yours, yet still valid and worthy of consideration.

All that said, this is a Microsoft product - and I've been burned by each successive Office for Mac release since the very beginning. That's not Apple's fault. I don't hold out much hope for this one, either. I'm hope I'm pleasantly surprised. I hope that Outlook gets better parity with Outlook 2013 on the Windows side, which is hands-down an amazing email client with a powerhouse server behind it (or, use any other mail service you want - it still works great). I'll keep an open mind, I'll put it through the paces, and hope that we don't just get fancy features that are great for home users and students but meaningless in a real enterprise environment that is forced to keep some Macs around. I'll have to see proof before I'll upgrade and have to continue disappointing my users by constantly having to say "Sorry..the Mac version doesn't support that."



Eventually you will be "stuck" because of compatibility issues. If you have time schedules to meet, if everyone who is working on a project does not have the same version then there are many issues and bugs that have to be fixed when opening the file. I have had to spend many hours fixing issues with formatting etc.

Being "force" or "stuck" because you do not have the time to fix something will make people have to be on subscription, especially with Excel if collaborating.

We use words like "slavery" and "stuck" just to make the thread short. If we explain all of the technical issues why you are forced or need to upgrade, then you will not see what it really is. Reliability on the product. That does not sound like slavery, but HAVING to use a product if you want to eat...IS....
 
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Not yet, but soon is what my MS rep told me. I have several 2-install licenses of Office 2011 Pro I use for my company I'd like to update, so I had to ask that question. Any time between next week (for a download) and early September (for something in a box...).

Awesome, thank you for that insight.
 
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