Office for Mac 16 Gains Real-Time Collaborative Editing and Other New Features

[MacRumors]

Office for Mac today received a major update, with Microsoft updating the software to version 16 and introducing new features for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Microsoft is introducing real-time collaborative editing, allowing multiple people to work on the same document at the same time. In Word and PowerPoint, flag icons will let you know what others are working on and what's been changed.

Changes to documents, worksheets, and presentations stored in the cloud will be saved automatically, and updates will be synced in seconds. A version history will let you roll back to earlier versions of a document if necessary.

Quick access to sites and groups has also been included, with presentations, documents, and worksheets stored in the frequently used sites and groups section in the Open menu.

In addition to collaborative editing, Excel is gaining new chart types, additional functions, improved support for PivotTable charts, and multi-threaded calculation for faster formula updating when values are changed.

PowerPoint includes a QuickStarter function that lets you create an outline complete with suggested talking points and designs, while a new Trim Media tool will let you quickly edit audio and video clips. The mouse can also be used as a laser pointer in Slide Show for highlighting slide content.

Outlook, Microsoft's email app, is gaining a new feature that will let you archive or delete emails with a swipe across the touchpad, and support for Google Calendar and Contacts has been added.

Along with these feature changes, version 16 of Office 2016 for Mac includes an overhaul of the underlying code for Office, PowerPoint, and Excel, introducing more common code between platforms to ensure better feature parity.

Full details on what's new in Office for Mac can be found in the release notes shared on Microsoft's Office 2016 for Mac support site.

Article Link: Office for Mac 16 Gains Real-Time Collaborative Editing and Other New Features

 

[H2SO4]

Very powerful package is Excel. Glad they are improving it all the time.

 

[RightMACatU]

Probably explains why Office365 went up by $10/y.

 

[EatinPonies]

...but do these changes include multi-CPU/multi-threaded processing? Because taking 45 minutes to calculate some of my Excel documents is absurd, especially when I have other CPUs sitting there idle.

EDIT: YAY!! It does!!! "Multi-threaded calculation Formulas are updated faster when values are changed, because Excel uses multiple processing threads."

EDIT2: Well... I just did a test. It's now using 2 threads, which is obviously better than 1, but still not using the whole of my MacBook Pro's potential.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

I'm surprised Microsoft first added that feature now. There are likely millions of customers who have asked for it in the past.

Unfortunately it is only for files on OneDrive or SharePoint Online.

 

[the_color_orange]

Office 2016 is powerful. I use it for almost everything. I feel bad that iWork hasn’t received any love. Looks like Apple gave up with their productivity applications.

 

[bwintx]

One other change of note: Outlook now seems to show both sides of a "conversation" (thread) without having to click a silly little "text balloons" icon -- in short, it works pretty much the way a Windows user would expect, which is the preferred behavior for those of us who deal with it on both Windows and Mac platforms.

EDIT: Well, sort of. The user's Sent Items don't appear in the middle column but they do appear in the right column (if you're using Preview). So, still not quite like Outlook for Windows, but closer, at least. [And, to be fair, Apple Mail does it the same way.]

 

[Westside guy]

So at first glance, anyway, it seems like this update is designed to bring the two branches - the standalone, purchase-once Microsoft Office and the downloadable versions available as part of the subscription-based Microsoft Office Online / Office 365 / Office WhateverIt'sCalledThisMonth more into feature parity.

One of the things that's bothered me is that some features seem to be only available in one version while other features require the other version - hopefully this is a sign that's finally ending.

 

[nutmac]

Probably explains why Office365 went up by $10/y.

The price looks unchanged to me.

 

[jeabraham]

I'm surprised Microsoft first added that feature now. There are likely millions of customers who have asked for it in the past.

Unfortunately it is only for files on OneDrive or SharePoint Online.

Collaborative editing in Office For Mac has been available for some time. I don't know what's new with this version — maybe not crashing and losing your edits when collaborating?

 

[jp12687]

Office for Mac today received a major update, with Microsoft updating the software to version 16 and introducing new features for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Microsoft is introducing real-time collaborative editing, allowing multiple people to work on the same document at the same time. In Word and PowerPoint, flag icons will let you know what others are working on and what's been changed.

Changes to documents, worksheets, and presentations stored in the cloud will be saved automatically, and updates will be synced in seconds. A version history will let you roll back to earlier versions of a document if necessary.

Quick access to sites and groups has also been included, with presentations, documents, and worksheets stored in the frequently used sites and groups section in the Open menu.

In addition to collaborative editing, Excel is gaining new chart types, additional functions, improved support for PivotTable charts, and multi-threaded calculation for faster formula updating when values are changed.

PowerPoint includes a QuickStarter function that lets you create an outline complete with suggested talking points and designs, while a new Trim Media tool will let you quickly edit audio and video clips. The mouse can also be used as a laser pointer in Slide Show for highlighting slide content.

Outlook, Microsoft's email app, is gaining a new feature that will let you archive or delete emails with a swipe across the touchpad, and support for Google Calendar and Contacts has been added.

Along with these feature changes, version 16 of Office 2016 for Mac includes an overhaul of the underlying code for Office, PowerPoint, and Excel, introducing more common code between platforms to ensure better feature parity.

Full details on what's new in Office for Mac can be found in the release notes shared on Microsoft's Office 2016 for Mac support site.

Article Link: Office for Mac 16 Gains Real-Time Collaborative Editing and Other New Features

[doublepost=1516302568][/doublepost]too bad they still didnt add support for sub-folder notifications. In every other version if a sub-folder has a new email the root folder shows it (bold) in the mew mac versions there is NO indication. I have 100+ sub folders and without being able to know when i get an email its useless.

 

[Avieshek]

iWork is collecting dusts.. and spider webs

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

iWork is collecting dusts.. and spider webs

Most Mac software from Apple is doing that unfortunately.

 

[unobtainium]

Office 2016 is powerful. I use it for almost everything. I feel bad that iWork hasn’t received any love. Looks like Apple gave up with their productivity applications.

Apple's productivity stuff tends to get upgraded once per year, along with MacOS and iOS. It's definitely a weakness of Apple's software strategy and has been for a long time.

 

[sos47]

i like - and i use - this excellent cross plattform business solution every day - and every hour @work and @home. Kudos!

 

[whbunn]

Office for Mac today received a major update, with Microsoft updating the software to version 16 and introducing new features for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, Microsoft is introducing real-time collaborative editing, allowing multiple people to work on the same document at the same time. In Word and PowerPoint, flag icons will let you know what others are working on and what's been changed.

Changes to documents, worksheets, and presentations stored in the cloud will be saved automatically, and updates will be synced in seconds. A version history will let you roll back to earlier versions of a document if necessary.

Quick access to sites and groups has also been included, with presentations, documents, and worksheets stored in the frequently used sites and groups section in the Open menu.

In addition to collaborative editing, Excel is gaining new chart types, additional functions, improved support for PivotTable charts, and multi-threaded calculation for faster formula updating when values are changed.

PowerPoint includes a QuickStarter function that lets you create an outline complete with suggested talking points and designs, while a new Trim Media tool will let you quickly edit audio and video clips. The mouse can also be used as a laser pointer in Slide Show for highlighting slide content.

Outlook, Microsoft's email app, is gaining a new feature that will let you archive or delete emails with a swipe across the touchpad, and support for Google Calendar and Contacts has been added.

Along with these feature changes, version 16 of Office 2016 for Mac includes an overhaul of the underlying code for Office, PowerPoint, and Excel, introducing more common code between platforms to ensure better feature parity.

Full details on what's new in Office for Mac can be found in the release notes shared on Microsoft's Office 2016 for Mac support site.

Article Link: Office for Mac 16 Gains Real-Time Collaborative Editing and Other New Features

Whe
[doublepost=1516310546][/doublepost]When you upgrade the Mac version, you lose your preferences and customized toolbars. Nice job MS

 

[C DM]

Whe
[doublepost=1516310546][/doublepost]When you upgrade the Mac version, you lose your preferences and customized toolbars. Nice job MS

Lose what preferences and in what app in particular?

 

[whbunn]

Lose what preferences and in what app in particular?

Excel and Word. I don't use other apps, so I cannot say for them.

 

[Raptura]

Anyone finding Excel to be buggy and slow after the update?

 

[mrzz]

In Excel it enables cell selection "glide" animation in default which slows down your work. It still can be disabled (Excel > Preferences > Edit and uncheck the "Provide feedback with animation" checkbox).

 

[DarrenNI]

And STILL no voting buttons in Outlook it seems...

 

[TriBruin]

I just wish they would fix the "feature" in Outlook where, if you select text and hit Reply, the replay only includes the selected text instead of the whole original email. It is really annoying and on of the most request changes.

 

[MikeAnd]

The only feature that would ever make me consider using Word again, other than when I have no other choice, would be the ability to reliably save a file that has tracked changes and/or equations in it. I don't expect it to ever get this feature since it hasn't had it for the better part of a decade (and probably since the Mac OS X transition in 2001).

Anyone finding Excel to be buggy and slow after the update?

Wait, how is that different from before the update?

EDIT: Oh, I forgot the other key feature that Office needs to add (restore) to not be a complete POS, which is the ability to continue using the product license that you paid for when you upgrade your computer!

 

[bsmr]

Outlook for Mac is crappy as hell.

Far away from a professional or business mail app.

No chance to setup single views for different folders.
Only with or without reading pane for all folders.
No chance to setup other folder than sent messages to sort by recipients.
No real copy & Paste....

Come on Microsoft. Stop making ********.

 

[Makaus]

Collaborative editing in Office For Mac has been available for some time. I don't know what's new with this version — maybe not crashing and losing your edits when collaborating?

I havent tested the new version. But i just wrote my last project in Word with two friends who uses Windows, i had to save/update to see changes, they got updates on the fly without the need to check for updates. I really hope the new version brings live update to the Mac version.