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Microsoft officially unveils key Office 2011 for Mac features

Microsoft has added official notice of a variety of key features in the upcoming release of its Office 2011 suite for Mac users.

The feature roundup on Microsoft's Office Blog includes a brief video of developers talking about the new release, along with four primary features:

  • A new Template Gallery "allows you to quickly and easily pick a template from the built-in designs to the thousands of templates online -allowing you to create a great-looking document right from the start."
  • The new Outlook for Mac" includes a Conversation View to easily sort emails" and uses a new database format designed to support Spotlight search and Time Machine backups.
  • A Vista-like Ribbon UI "designed as an evolution of the Office 2008 Elements Gallery," still retains the familiar Mac menu bar and Office toolbars, providing a hybrid UI that melds Windows and Mac features. The ribbon and toolbar can both be minimized "for more screen space or for the more advanced users who rely on keyboard shortcuts."

In April, AppleInsider profiled the then secret UI features of Office 2011 in Road to Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac: A New Hope, and outlined its new Exchange server and VBA features in May. Other reports in the Office 2011 series profiled its new icons and the fact that the new suite will still be 32-bit due to dependencies on Carbon.



91 Comments

prof. peabody 14 Years · 2858 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Microsoft has added official notice of a variety of key features in the upcoming release of its Office 2011 suite for Mac users.

The feature roundup on Microsoft's Office Blog includes a brief video of developers talking about the new release, along with four primary features:

A new Template Gallery "allows you to quickly and easily pick a template from the built-in designs to the thousands of templates online -allowing you to create a great-looking document right from the start."
The new Outlook for Mac" includes a Conversation View to easily sort emails" and uses a new database format designed to support Spotlight search and Time Machine backups.
A Vista-like Ribbon UI "designed as an evolution of the Office 2008 Elements Gallery," still retains the familiar Mac menu bar and Office toolbars, providing a hybrid UI that melds Windows and Mac features. The ribbon and toolbar can both be minimized "for more screen space or for the more advanced users who rely on keyboard shortcuts."..

So basically whatever features Apple added *last* year to iWorks and MobileMe, are now going to be in Office *next* year. Wow.

Unless you *have* to for your job, why would anyone use Office on the Mac?

joe hs 14 Years · 487 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody

So basically whatever features Apple added *last* year to iWorks and MobileMe, are now going to be in Office *next* year. Wow.

Unless you *have* to for your job, why would anyone use Office on the Mac?

I don't know anyone who does.

solipsism 18 Years · 25701 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody

Unless you *have* to for your job, why would anyone use Office on the Mac?

I?m looking forward to it for Outlook for Mac. I am not a fan of having 3 separate apps for my mail, calendar and address book. I much prefer to have them all accessible within the Mail app from the sidebar.

I?m hoping Apple adds this to 10.7, after all they are already tied together in the OS and through MobileMe.

shiesl 14 Years · 7 comments

I certainly hope that before Macintosh Office 2011 is released - but when it's in the hands of reviewers - that the reviewers take the time to mention all of the features of Office for Windows that are missing from Office for Macintosh. Things like right-to-left, Access, full Basic, etc. come to mind.

I'll admit that I'm tried of being treated like a 3rd rate citizen from Microsoft - especially when the reviewers don't even mention all of the features the Macintosh version is missing.

bluedalmatian 21 Years · 173 comments

another overpriced upgrade for some window dressing.

i havent used MS Office for over a year. OpenOffice 3 is just as good, and its free