Microsoft updates Office 2016 for Mac Preview, intros new iPhone apps for Office 365
Microsoft on Wednesday released an updated version of the Office 2016 for Mac Preview, cleaning up bug and performance problems while adding new features, as the company also simultaneously launched two new Office 365 apps for the iPhone, Office Delve and Office 365 Video.
New to Outlook in the Preview is a "Propose New Time" option, which lets meeting guests suggest a new event time, and organizers view those proposals and update meetings accordingly. Excel has a new Analysis ToolPak, as well as a new Solver feature. Solver is a previously Windows-only tool that can find an optimum value for a formula based on constraints imposed in other cells.
The most additions have been made to Word, which now supports macro recording, searching for online document templates, and user information settings in preferences. When proofing, extra dictionary options allow excluding a dictionary or choosing a custom one.
PowerPoint has gained just one significant tweak, which is better VoiceOver support.
During the preview period, Office 2016 is a free download, even without an Office 365 subscription. Users can download the updates manually or through Microsoft's AutoUpdate tool.
Office Delve provides a glimpse at what colleagues are working on -- so long as those documents have been shared -- and can also let users quickly jump into files they've been working on, or suggest relevant documents.
The app is a free download for iPhones running iOS 8, but intended only for organizations using both Office 365 and Delve.
Office 365 Video is likewise organization-oriented, demanding an Office 365 Academic or Enterprise license. The app helps institutions propagate videos such as mission statements, training guides, or meeting recordings. Users can record and upload videos on their own however, as well as search for videos across different channels and see trending material.
Users must have an iPhone with iOS 7.0 or later.
Office 2016 for Mac Preview
New to Outlook in the Preview is a "Propose New Time" option, which lets meeting guests suggest a new event time, and organizers view those proposals and update meetings accordingly. Excel has a new Analysis ToolPak, as well as a new Solver feature. Solver is a previously Windows-only tool that can find an optimum value for a formula based on constraints imposed in other cells.
The most additions have been made to Word, which now supports macro recording, searching for online document templates, and user information settings in preferences. When proofing, extra dictionary options allow excluding a dictionary or choosing a custom one.
PowerPoint has gained just one significant tweak, which is better VoiceOver support.
During the preview period, Office 2016 is a free download, even without an Office 365 subscription. Users can download the updates manually or through Microsoft's AutoUpdate tool.
Office Delve & Office 365 Video
Office Delve provides a glimpse at what colleagues are working on -- so long as those documents have been shared -- and can also let users quickly jump into files they've been working on, or suggest relevant documents.
The app is a free download for iPhones running iOS 8, but intended only for organizations using both Office 365 and Delve.
Office 365 Video is likewise organization-oriented, demanding an Office 365 Academic or Enterprise license. The app helps institutions propagate videos such as mission statements, training guides, or meeting recordings. Users can record and upload videos on their own however, as well as search for videos across different channels and see trending material.
Users must have an iPhone with iOS 7.0 or later.
Comments
The sliding into irrelevancy part isn't happening. MS Office is doing better then ever since it was introduced to the iPad and iPhone. Updating the Mac app will only strengthen the company even more in the area of software.
Is it possible to instal the Preview without interfering with the 2011 Office Suite I'm currently using?
I'd love to find out if it solves some of the network problems I have sharing, in particular, Excel files with Windows colleagues at work.
Until 2008, the company I work for was a Windows/Office company. Today, all the staff have switched to OS X/iWork (and other non-MS software). That's over 10,000 people worldwide.
The UK government has indicated that it will switch all of its workers to open source.
The local medical centre runs a mix of Linux and OS X.
Personally, I only know a couple of people who still use Office. They are both retired.
Is it possible to instal the Preview without interfering with the 2011 Office Suite I'm currently using?
I'd love to find out if it solves some of the network problems I have sharing, in particular, Excel files with Windows colleagues at work.
Indeed it is, I have had no issues switching between Office 2011 and the Preview version.
Until 2008, the company I work for was a Windows/Office company. Today, all the staff have switched to OS X/iWork (and other non-MS software). That's over 10,000 people worldwide.
The UK government has indicated that it will switch all of its workers to open source.
The local medical centre runs a mix of Linux and OS X.
Personally, I only know a couple of people who still use Office. They are both retired.
I guess none of your companies employees are data analysts, Excel is an absolute essential part of my work arsenal, nothing else comes close.
Is it possible to instal the Preview without interfering with the 2011 Office Suite I'm currently using?
I'd love to find out if it solves some of the network problems I have sharing, in particular, Excel files with Windows colleagues at work.
Yes, it does not remove or affect 2011 in any way. I will say that once you have the 2016 preview, you will never go back to 2011 though. Its immensely better.
1. Does it use the same file format as the last version of Office, docx, etc?
2. Does retain visual basic? I recall its return being hailed a few years ago.
3. Does the new Word have the ability to open Word 4.0 files? The last few versions could NOT (and I have several thousand such files I'd love to update).
Pages works fine. Keynote works fine. Numbers is terrible. Email.app is terrible.
Sorry Apple, but MS wins all these for me with their Office products.
I guess none of your companies employees are data analysts, Excel is an absolute essential part of my work arsenal, nothing else comes close.
Unfortunately, saarek is right... there are situations where Excel is necessary. It's a crying shame, though, that Excel STILL cannot track significant figures, and handle correct rounding of sig figs through calculations. Even using scientific notation won't automatically reduce the sig figs when a low quality number is introduced into a calculation. [I.e., 4.56 x 2.00 = 9.12 However, 4.56 x 2 = 9.]
Furthermore, a column of numbers is easier to read and immediately see standout data, than a column of scientific notation, but the scientific notation is required to correctly indicate 3 significant figures.
Example each of these numbers has three significant figures (which should be aligned on the decimal point):
4.91
2.80
0.557
26.1
304.
0.00384
versus:
4.91 x 100
2.80 x 100
5.57 x 10-1
2.61 x 101
3.04 x 102
3.84 x 10-3
Neither Microsoft Excel nor Apple Numbers can handle the significant figure issue.
Pages works fine. Keynote works fine. Numbers is terrible. Email.app is terrible.
Sorry Apple, but MS wins all these for me with their Office products.
Numbers '09 was the best for me. And I still use it. The newer versions are utterly useless. They lack the ability to edit in page-preview mode. All my numbers documents are single-page formatted forms for printing out. It is impossible to properly align and format a full page with the new numbers--it insists on just scaling your document "to fit" but that makes getting the margins correct an impossibility. To add insult to injury, each of my numbers files has multiple "sheets", which can be seen 25 (or so) at a time vertically along the left side of my screen. New numbers forces sheets to be viewed across a horizontal bar, which limits me to seeing 4 or 5 at a time. VERY cumbersome!
Pages works fine. Keynote works fine. Numbers is terrible. Email.app is terrible.
Sorry Apple, but MS wins all these for me with their Office products.
Agreed. MS core apps on iPhone > Apple core apps on iPhone.
But that's okay, since iOS is still the premier mobile platform (and if anything, has only been increasing its lead recently, which is why even MS often releases apps to iOS first, ahead of Windows).
I would agree, also being an analyst. As much of a fanboy that I am numbers seems more for presentation tables than actual hardcore analysis. I wish they would beef it up.
If you do any serious work, you cannot rely on Pages, Keynote or Numbers. Besides many missing pro-features, the biggest issue is that one day your files are not readable anymore. I have several files from an older version of Pages and when trying to open them, I get an error stating I need to update those files with Pages 09 first. I don't have that version installed anymore. Backward compatibility is key in a professional environment.
Sorry, hagar, your example holds no water. Microsoft is as guilty as any in deleting features and ignoring old formats. Visual basic as part of MS Word (or is it Excel?), for example. And no modern version of Word can read the several thousands of files I have archived in Word v. 4.0d format. They're not mere archives, they are data documents that years of effort went into formatting, and which now are virtually unreadable, except through third party translators that are imperfect at best.
So no, sir, you cannot rely on ANY software for serious work. You must print hardcopy, on acid-free, archival rag paper. Papyrus has a proven track record....
EXCEL ANALYSIS PACK IS ON OS X!!! IT'S COME TO MACS! IT'S COME TO MACS!
Pretty much me.
Look, I love Pages and Keynote.
But Numbers just can't compare to Excel. And the Data Analysis Pack is something that kept me on the Windows version for far longer than I wanted to be.
This is a wonderful day.
Interesting info. I use MS Office, and I'm close to retiring. I tried out the Office Preview and it's ok. They moved some of the commands around so it slows me down. Can't say that I care for the ribbon. They added some nice features to Word and Excel. For some reasons I've got some issues trying to open docx files, whether I created them with the preview or previous to even loading the preview. I don't know what's with that.
I do wish Apple would build up the features of Numbers and Pages ... I'd like to switch.
You are speaking of the iDevice version of MS Office. The iDevice version of Office has never allowed you to create or edit documents, only view documents made elsewhere. To create or edit you will need a 365 subscription.
For the Mac, MS Office in Preview or otherwise, has always allowed you to create and edit.
Macs are becoming more popular but still close to 90 % of all computers in the world run Windows. Most of those computers have Office installed. What you have at your company is cool but that's definitely not the norm.