Office for Mac 2011 to feature co-authoring, ribbon interface

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Microsoft on Thursday detailed some of the new features in its forthcoming Office for Mac 2011 suite, including co-authoring tools, Web apps, and a redesigned ribbon interface more consistent with its Windows counterpart.



Microsoft is a part of Macworld 2010 expo in San Francisco this week, and has used the event to divulge details on its forthcoming update to Office for Mac, expected to arrive later this year.



"Together with your team -- officemates, family or classmates -- you are part of the community that helps shape each version of Office for Mac," said Eric Wilfrid, MacBU general manager at Microsoft Corp. "You?ve told us that working together across platforms is a priority to you and that?s why we are making Office for Mac 2011 the best, most compatible productivity suite on the Mac."



Pricing for the new version has not yet been made available, and a company official told Mary-Jo Foley of ZDNet that Microsoft is looking into support for the forthcoming Apple iPad, though it has nothing to announce at this time. Apple will sell multi-touch versions of Numbers, Pages and Keynote -- part of its competing iWork suite -- for the iPad for $9.99 each, and Pages will allow users to save documents as Microsoft Word files.



Microsoft revealed Thursday that the co-authoring tools in Office 2011 will allow multiple users the ability to work on files from Word, PowerPoint or Excel from different locations. The Presence Everywhere feature gives real-time updates on who is working on the document directly in the application.



Microsoft Web Apps can also be accessed from within Office 2011, allowing users to share Office documents from any machine with an Internet connection.



The addition of a ribbon layout to Office for Mac hasn't completely rearranged the design users have become accustomed to, Microsoft said. Instead, it gives "the best of both worlds" by using the classic Mac menu and Standard Toolbar.



"Together these tools make it easy to find and discover new and frequently used commands," the company's press release said. "In fact, more than 80 percent of the most used features live in the default view of our new user experience so you don't have to waste time finding the tool you need."







The company also previously announced that it would include a brand new version of Outlook built as a Cocoa application from the ground up for the Mac platform. The company has said its new Outlook will make the application attractive, give it high performance, and integrate it with the Mac OS X operating system.



Microsoft also announced Thursday that Outlook for Mac would allow importing of .PST files from Outlook for Windows, which it said was one of the top requests from customers. The new Outlook will also allow Spotlight search and backup support from Time Machine.
«1345

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 89
    I hope they fix the performance hit introduced with Office 2008.
  • Reply 2 of 89
    Looks more like iWork 09.
  • Reply 3 of 89
    Been using Office 2007 on my MBP and I see no reason to upgrade to Office 2011. MS has a habit of making their Mac versions of Office less than their PC/Windows counterpart. Anyone want to venture a guess why? Personally, I like the ribbon, but many may find it an inconvenience.
  • Reply 4 of 89
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    I just want Outlook for Mac. I'm not a fan of my mail, calendar and address book being separated.
  • Reply 5 of 89
    512ke512ke Posts: 782member
    It feels like every iteration of MS office for Mac just gets worse. Each new version is slower to load than the last one, less responsible, and more complicated -- without being more capable.
  • Reply 6 of 89
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I just want Outlook for Mac. I'm not a fan of my mail, calendar and address book being separated.



    So many DB errors in Entourage I got mad with it (reconstruction, reinstalling, etc : the whole

    Microsoft ).

    I dumped it and use Mail / iCal / Address Book since a year : never a single bug.

    Talk about stopping losing time?
  • Reply 7 of 89
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Dear MacBU:



    I know there are Office for Mac haters out there (a few might show up on this very thread). But I'm not one of them. For me, Office for Mac means that I don't have to run Windows at home (like I do at work). Just so you know where I stand, I'm a big, big fan.



    That said, I do NOT love the ribbon on Office 2007. IMO it's a huge impediment vs. the menu interface for those of us who are not brand new to Office (or computers in general). I'm asking that you please NOT REPLACE THE MENU! If some users want the ribbon, fine, but make it possible to at least optionally run Office the old way with the standard menu; at least Word and Excel. That is important to me and probably to most of the Office for Mac users (again, ignoring the haters who don't count as they probably aren't actually customers in the first place).



    Who knows, maybe the Office for Windows team could learn a thing or two from the MacBU team?



    The only other things I need would be to have macro support added back in Excel, and some way to edit the current cell via a keyboard shortcut in Excel (like F2 in Mac for Windows).



    Thanks for your consideration.



    John.B
  • Reply 8 of 89
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by FineTunes View Post


    MS has a habit of making their Mac versions of Office less than their PC/Windows counterpart.



    That was absolutely untrue in 2004.
  • Reply 9 of 89
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


    Dear MacBU:



    I know there are Office for Mac haters out there (a few might show up on this very thread). But I'm not one of them.

    Thanks for your consideration.



    John.B



    Since Office X (1999), spellcheck is a bag of hurt — even doesn't work AT ALL in O. 2008.

    Since Office 2004, Word quits unexpectedly every day.

    Since Office 2008, lines and signs counter disappeared from the status bar — how stupid is that

    for any writer ?

    Und so weiter…
  • Reply 10 of 89
    What about some of the other Office apps? I haven't been able to use it much, but Infopath has a lot of potential for office use, and I've heard good things about OneNote.



    I read elsewhere that this version will bring back support for VBA. (hooray!) What about VSTO? I don't expect to be able to develop on a Mac, but a Mac user should be able to use plug-ins and documents that use it. Between Silverlight and Mono, such things seem quite possible.



    Unfortunately, keeping Office on Windows as a "superior" product is in Microsoft's interest...
  • Reply 11 of 89
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quantz View Post


    Since Office X (1999), spellcheck is a bag of hurt ? even doesn't work AT ALL in O. 2008.

    Since Office 2004, Word quits unexpectedly every day.

    Since Office 2008, lines and signs counter disappeared from the status bar ? how stupid is that

    for any writer ?

    Und so weiter?



    I'm not going to defend MacBU line for line with everyone who has a gripe. But Office 2008 has been an asset for me, esp. since it means I can maintain document compatibility with documents from work while ditching my last Windows PC at home. That's more than I get with iWork, NeoOffice, OpenOffice, etc.



    I'll admit, I'm having none of the problems you seem to be having...
  • Reply 12 of 89
    With all the past security issues with OfficeMac, I really feel sorry for those forced to use it on their Mac's.





    As some might not know, OpenOffice can save files in Office format, so they can be used on a Windows/Office machine at work.



    OpenOffice is free, so give it a try and see if you can use it without having to buy OfficeMac.



    There are also RTF, Text and other formats for files that are cross-platform/program compatible, so one can do some basic transferring without having to specifically use OfficeMac.



    I have nearly managed to get by my entire life without buying or using any Microsoft product (outside of XP and Vista for Fusion) for my own personal use.
  • Reply 13 of 89
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tonton View Post


    That was absolutely untrue in 2004.



    Totally agree, 2004 was lightyears ahead of the windows version, there were things they could do with the mac they simply couldn't do in the windows version, just one example I believe was the transparency they incorporated.
  • Reply 14 of 89
    The Ribbon is a deal breaker; the interface in '08 is bad enough as it is.



    Don't get me wrong, I'm not hatin'... but evaluated on its own merits, and not on any argument based on the premise of "it's what everyone else uses", Office long ago stopped having any compelling reason why anyone should use it. I use it less and less and I look forward to the day when I don't have to deal with M$'s horrible UI and forcing us to do things they way their programmers think we should instead of how we want to.
  • Reply 15 of 89
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I just want Outlook for Mac. I'm not a fan of my mail, calendar and address book being separated.



    Indeedy - I wish there was an option to group them. Or an app that would do this for you. The worlds of calendaring, emails and contacts are but one so why separate them to windows all over the place.
  • Reply 16 of 89
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by John.B View Post


    Dear MacBU:



    I know there are Office for Mac haters out there (a few might show up on this very thread). But I'm not one of them. For me, Office for Mac means that I don't have to run Windows at home (like I do at work). Just so you know where I stand, I'm a big, big fan.



    That said, I do NOT love the ribbon on Office 2007. IMO it's a huge impediment vs. the menu interface for those of us who are not brand new to Office (or computers in general). I'm asking that you please NOT REPLACE THE MENU! If some users want the ribbon, fine, but make it possible to at least optionally run Office the old way with the standard menu; at least Word and Excel. That is important to me and probably to most of the Office for Mac users (again, ignoring the haters who don't count as they probably aren't actually customers in the first place).



    Who knows, maybe the Office for Windows team could learn a thing or two from the MacBU team?



    The only other things I need would be to have macro support added back in Excel, and some way to edit the current cell via a keyboard shortcut in Excel (like F2 in Mac for Windows).



    Thanks for your consideration.



    John.B



    Menus are not being removed. Unlike Windows Office, we're keeping the familiar Mac interface with the standard menubar at the top of the screen.



    VB and Macros are back in Office 2011. I blogged about this a year and a half ago: http://www.schwieb.com/blog/2008/05/...-visual-basic/



    On the Mac, Ctrl-U is the keystroke to edit the current cell. F2 means "Copy" (of you ever used an old Extended Keybard II, you know why...) YOu can use Ctrl-U in all versions of Excel from 98 up!



    Schwieb

    MacBU Dev Lead
  • Reply 17 of 89
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by paxman View Post


    Indeedy - I wish there was an option to group them. Or an app that would do this for you. The worlds of calendaring, emails and contacts are but one so why separate them to windows all over the place.



    Me too. It's not like they aren't all connected on the backend already. I just want an option in the side bar, like with Notes and To Dos to see/edit my AddressBook and iCal.
  • Reply 18 of 89
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Schwieb View Post


    Menus are not being removed. Unlike Windows Office, we're keeping the familiar Mac interface with the standard menubar at the top of the screen.



    VB and Macros are back in Office 2011. I blogged about this a year and a half ago: http://www.schwieb.com/blog/2008/05/...-visual-basic/



    On the Mac, Ctrl-U is the keystroke to edit the current cell. F2 means "Copy" (of you ever used an old Extended Keybard II, you know why...) YOu can use Ctrl-U in all versions of Excel from 98 up!



    Schwieb

    MacBU Dev Lead



    Schwieb,



    Thanks for the feedback and corrections!
  • Reply 19 of 89
    I hope they'll finally introduce support for right-to-left languages such as Hebrew.
  • Reply 20 of 89
    tofinotofino Posts: 697member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tonton View Post


    That was absolutely untrue in 2004.



    really? what about ms access? what about outlook? what about their half assed support for exchange in entourage? i also seem to recall some scripting was removed from their mac version at that time - or was that in 2008?



    i have to admit - i switched to mail around that time after one too many entourage crashes...
Sign In or Register to comment.