Office for Mac update to add versions, auto-save, full-screen for Lion
Microsoft has revealed that a forthcoming update for Office for Mac 2011 will add support for new features in Mac OS X 10.7, including versions, auto-save and full-screen.
Pat Fox of the Office for Mac team wrote on the company's official blog this week that inquiries about those features have been the "most common question" for users of late. The Microsoft team is said to be "working hard with Apple" to enable the features.
"I know your next question will be 'when?', and unfortunately I can't answer that -- but it's likely measured in months not days -- just to set expectations," the post reads.
The news came alongside the release of an update to Communicator for Mac, which addresses an issue related to crashing in Lion. The download is available through Microsoft AutoUpdate.
The company also reiterated that Office for Mac 2004 will not ever work on Lion, because the software was a PowerPC-based product, and Lion no longer includes Rosetta.
"Now would be a great time to upgrade to Office for Mac 2011 if you're upgrading to Lion!" Fox said.
Office for Mac 2011, the industry's most popular productivity suite, was released last October, delivering better compatibility with the Windows version of Office and corporate server products. It also features a revised user interface that's similar to the "ribbon" interface used in Windows.
Those user interface elements are built on Cocoa, the development layer of Mac OS X. And the all-new version of Outlook that shipped with Office for Mac 2011 was also built from the ground-up with Cocoa for the Mac.
File versions, auto-save and full-screen are major features touted as part of the newly released Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system. With support for Lion, documents are automatically saved, and multiple versions of the file are stored allowing for Time Machine-like recovery of previous iterations of a file.
The new full-screen support in Lion also brings an iPad-like feel to the operating system, allowing users to concentrate on one task at a time and quickly swipe between full-screen applications with a multi-touch gesture.
Apple's own competing productivity suite, iLife, was already updated for Lion earlier this month. iWork Update 6 adds support for full-screen mode, resume, auto-save and versions to Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
Pat Fox of the Office for Mac team wrote on the company's official blog this week that inquiries about those features have been the "most common question" for users of late. The Microsoft team is said to be "working hard with Apple" to enable the features.
"I know your next question will be 'when?', and unfortunately I can't answer that -- but it's likely measured in months not days -- just to set expectations," the post reads.
The news came alongside the release of an update to Communicator for Mac, which addresses an issue related to crashing in Lion. The download is available through Microsoft AutoUpdate.
The company also reiterated that Office for Mac 2004 will not ever work on Lion, because the software was a PowerPC-based product, and Lion no longer includes Rosetta.
"Now would be a great time to upgrade to Office for Mac 2011 if you're upgrading to Lion!" Fox said.
Office for Mac 2011, the industry's most popular productivity suite, was released last October, delivering better compatibility with the Windows version of Office and corporate server products. It also features a revised user interface that's similar to the "ribbon" interface used in Windows.
Those user interface elements are built on Cocoa, the development layer of Mac OS X. And the all-new version of Outlook that shipped with Office for Mac 2011 was also built from the ground-up with Cocoa for the Mac.
File versions, auto-save and full-screen are major features touted as part of the newly released Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system. With support for Lion, documents are automatically saved, and multiple versions of the file are stored allowing for Time Machine-like recovery of previous iterations of a file.
The new full-screen support in Lion also brings an iPad-like feel to the operating system, allowing users to concentrate on one task at a time and quickly swipe between full-screen applications with a multi-touch gesture.
Apple's own competing productivity suite, iLife, was already updated for Lion earlier this month. iWork Update 6 adds support for full-screen mode, resume, auto-save and versions to Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
Comments
Maybe they could focus on extremely basic bug fixing. Word 2011 14.1.2 still has the autosave error (your hard disk is too full to save this 50k Word file). It's been there for over 10 years. Will Microsoft add saving to the program? It is July 2011. Time to get saving figured out.
If they don't fix it soon that bug will be given a historical monument status
Maybe they could focus on extremely basic bug fixing. Word 2011 14.1.2 still has the autosave error (your hard disk is too full to save this 50k Word file). It's been there for over 10 years. Will Microsoft add saving to the program? It is July 2011. Time to get saving figured out.
Hmm, I've never encountered this error. Maybe you can tell me how to duplicate it so I can see it.
Also, MS better not take away the save as function. I think Lion's autosave shit is terrible.
And the all-new version of Outlook that shipped with Office for Mac 2011 was also built from the ground-up with Cocoa for the Mac.
That's a big lie from Microsoft. 95% of the code is from Entourage, which uses Carbon. The UI wasn't built ground-up using Cocoa. Outlook still uses the WASTE text engine for Christ's sake!
I can almost guarantee Office won't be available on the App Store, will they switch to USB distribution? Heh, never thought the day would come when MS had to play by Apple's rules like this.
More likely their own digital storefront.
Well, no, not really. My next question is "Why wasn't it released the same week Lion was?" Followed by "And why the hell are you crowing about being late?"
"Now would be a great time to upgrade to Office for Mac 2011 if you're upgrading to Lion!"
Upgrade to Office 2011! Now with more feature bloat! Why in the name of CPU Jesus would I want to do that, given that Office doesn't yet support Lion? So that I upgrade again when you someday get around to releasing what should already be available. Now would actually be a great time for Apple to release iWork 2011.
It's a pity crap like this goes unchallenged. These PR hacks should be flushed down their own spin.
I just don't get Full Screen. Isn't that what the little green button is for? That's what it does anyway. All my green buttons have cobwebs on them. I usually have other windows I need to see while I'm working in one, or there's something going on in another window I want to keep tabs on (like stocks, subjects of the newest RSS, etc). I just don't understand what the big deal is.
We get it, change and improvements are of no interest to you.
Office 2011 is the gold standard for office suites, it makes iWork look like Office '97 (except that Excel '97 had more features than Numbers, but that's another issue). Versions, auto-save, and full-screen are just a nice touch to an already impressive product.
Now would actually be a great time for Apple to release iWork 2011.
Yea exactly, we have not seen an update to iWork in years. Why wasn't that released with lion.
Look office for mac is an amazing product. Its not bloated, and way faster than 04 or 08. I actually like it much more than iWork. The only iWork app I kept was keynote, cause numbers and pages are simply not as powerful as Word and Excel. In fact pages reminds me of text edit in terms of functionality, unless you use the templates of course.
Just out of interest, if you don't think Office is the gold standard of productivity suites, what is?
I really like Office 2011, and think it's way superior to iWork. Excel is so much better than Numbers.
It's easy to hate Microsoft, but I think it's important to acknowledge when they do something good, and Office is that thing for me. I'll be glad to get the Lion specific features.
I like iWork because it does everything I need it to, and it doesn't suck like Office does. Oh, and Apple actually pays attention to what customers want. Oh, and Apple does things like iCloud to link documents from these apps across devices, instantly.
Can Office do that? Yep, but it will be months or years before they get it together. No patience for that.
Yea exactly, we have not seen an update to iWork in years. Why wasn't that released with lion.
Look office for mac is an amazing product. Its not bloated, and way faster than 04 or 08. I actually like it much more than iWork. The only iWork app I kept was keynote, cause numbers and pages are simply not as powerful as Word and Excel. In fact pages reminds me of text edit in terms of functionality, unless you use the templates of course.
A new iWork won't be competitive with Office 2011 regardless of how good it is simply because of organizational standards; try sending your boss/teacher/professor/co-worker/etc. an iWork document. However, it would cause Microsoft to get off their high horse a bit and release these updates faster so it works out for the people who actually rely on Office as part of their daily life. iWork is nice and affordable for people who study or work in industries that don't require office suites such as in the visual arts, but otherwise, there isn't much of a choice.
Just out of interest, if you don't think Office is the gold standard of productivity suites, what is?
I really like Office 2011, and think it's way superior to iWork. Excel is so much better than Numbers.
It's easy to hate Microsoft, but I think it's important to acknowledge when they do something good, and Office is that thing for me. I'll be glad to get the Lion specific features.
what's with the term gold standard? thats just a way of saying its popular, even if it sucks.
Windows is popular, but its not any good, at all.
Its hilarious to me the way the same discussion goes on and on about Office vs. iWork, yet not one person ever mentions WHY they like one over the other.
I like iWork because it does everything I need it to, and it doesn't suck like Office does. Oh, and Apple actually pays attention to what customers want. Oh, and Apple does things like iCloud to link documents from these apps across devices, instantly.
Can Office do that? Yep, but it will be months or years before they get it together. No patience for that.
Yea they do. It's called office live. They give you 25 gigs of free storage for all your office docs, and you can create word docs online on their website. You can send your files to sky drive and share point too.
A new iWork won't be competitive with Office 2011 regardless of how good it is simply because of organizational standards; try sending your boss/teacher/professor/co-worker/etc. an iWork document. However, it would cause Microsoft to get off their high horse a bit and release these updates faster so it works out for the people who actually rely on Office as part of their daily life. iWork is nice and affordable for people who study or work in industries that don't require office suites such as in the visual arts, but otherwise, there isn't much of a choice.
Worst, lamest, most repeated excuse ever. The idea that if your boss uses crap windows and crap Office, that you have to as well.
iWork can easily be used to create Windows-compatible documents. This has been the case for years.