Users of Office for Mac haven't seen a major update of the venerable office suite since Office for Mac 2011. If you're wondering about Office 365, it doesn't count in my book, since the Mac version is really just a rebranded copy of Office for Mac 2011.
Well, the wait is nearly over. Today Microsoft released a free preview version of Office for Mac 2016. The preview version is fully functional, and includes the familiar Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps, along with OneNote and Outlook.
The new version of Office makes use of many of the features and UI of its Windows counterpart, including a new Ribbon design that better organizes tools for the task at hand. It also uses the task pane interface in the three main apps. While the overall design may be driven by the Windows version, the soul of the new Office app is clearly derived from Office for iPad. Microsoft even notes that much of the code is shared between the two platforms.
The new version of Office supports robust cloud syncing capabilities that will allow your recently used iPad Office documents to be available in the Open dialog in the Mac version, and, of course, vice versa. You can also invite others to collaborate on documents you're working on. Microsoft claims collaboration is nearly real-time. I haven’t been able to put that to the test yet, but I suspect "nearly" is a key provision. Nevertheless, the collaboration features will be a welcome feature for many of us.
Microsoft hasn't yet released any pricing details, nor has it mentioned how the office suite will be packaged into various editions.
You can download the free preview at:
Microsoft Office for Mac 2016 Preview site.
Requirements and Important Information
- OS X Yosemite (10.10.x) is the minimum operating system required to run the preview.
- The preview version and Office for Mac 2011 can coexist.
- The preview version includes a feedback and bug reporting system.
- Previews will expire whenever a new preview version becomes available.
Although Microsoft refers to this release of Office for Mac 1016 as a preview, remember that it's actually a public beta. As such, you should take the typical precautions when working with a beta product, including:
- Backing up your Mac before installing the preview.
- Not using the preview to work with important documents, because beta issues could corrupt documents.
- Creating a partition with a clone of your Mac's startup drive in order to work with the beta. This will keep your data isolated in case there are any issues with the beta.
Published: 3/5/2015
Updated: 3/6/2015