Outlook users can now exploit the fullscreen mode in OS X Yosemite and El Capitan, making it possible to see multiple items side-by-side. For business users, makes it easier to locate a free conference room at a specific time.
Word users can save PDF files to flash drives, while OneNote has gained support for the shapes gallery and the ability to add shapes to pages. Both Excel and PowerPoint have new selection panes that keep track of objects and let users rearrange them at will. The update, v15.18.0, can be or else installed through Office's AutoUpdate system. People must have an active Office 365 subscription. Office 2016 first reached the Mac in July, but only attached to Office 365. In September, Microsoft that don't require monthly or annual fees, but aren't updated as frequently.
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Learn how to upgrade to Office 2016 if you have an Office 365 subscription or an older one-time purchase of Office, such as Office Home and Student. Office 2016 for Mac includes versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook that are designed for the Mac, yet are unmistakably Office. The July 28, 2015, update provides bug fixes and feature improvements to the Office 2016 for Mac suite. This update has some prerequisites.
I went Microsoft Free on my macs a few years ago. Haven't missed them. A few years ago, MSOffice for the Mac was absolute shit. That changed completely with Office365. It's on-par with the Windows version and it works really well. I abandoned Pages and Numbers and went back to MSOffice.
It's still the defacto standard in the business world - for now. If you have to deal with business documents, you should reconsider your stance.
Outlook for Mac is sill crippled compared to the Windows version which makes it difficult for Mac users to function in a company where everyone is expected to be able to work with those features. Edited January 2016. A few years ago, MSOffice for the Mac was absolute shit. That changed completely with Office365. It's on-par with the Windows version and it works really well. I abandoned Pages and Numbers and went back to MSOffice.
It's still the defacto standard in the business world - for now. If you have to deal with business documents, you should reconsider your stance. Outlook for Mac is sill crippled compared to the Windows version which makes it difficult for Mac users to function in a company where everyone is expected to be able to work with those features. I've used both Mac and Windows versions of Excel and Word for decades. Aside from some font/formatting issues and the use of macros in prior versions, I've never noticed the lack of any features in the Mac version of Office 2011 Excel. About the worst thing I've noticed are some font/formatting differences.
And the Mac version actually has a few advantages. If you want to sum individual cells and aren't using the SUM function, on the Windows version you have to press '+' in-between each cell selection. On the Mac version, it puts in the '+' automatically. However, if you want to force a linefeed within a cell, it's Alt-Enter in the Windows version and Ctrl-Option-Command-Return on the Mac version. Other than that, I go back and forth on the same documents all the time without thinking much about it. Word does have some differences, mainly relating to how it displays Notes. The Windows version is better in that regard, but it's a relatively minor issue.
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I'll re-buy Office when they get Outlook to properly sync again with the iPhone, etc. Ever since iCloud, it doesn't work. One thing this update did NOT fix is the buggy behavior of the Apple input devices in Excel. There are dozens of reports on various forums of the need to fix this. MS forum responses indicate they are aware and 'working on it' and I was hoping this release would be the fix, but it isn't. Other than that I find MS Office for Mac 2016 to be great. Outlook has nearly 100% functionality of the Windows version, so whoever commented about the frustration of being a Mac user in a Windows-centric organization - that's my world too, and I've had no issues.
If you work for a company that has a Volume Licensing contract for Office you may be able to purchase a single non-subscription based version of Office 2016 Pro Plus for $9.95 USD as part of the Microsoft Home Use Program. It's not a bad deal and it doesn't matter whether you're using the Mac or PC version at work. The HUP deal also extends to Visio Pro 2016 and Project Pro 2016 for $9.95 each (PC Only).
The only thing I found wonky about the deal was the product activation process that requires an online handshake. The older bigass key model was much easier and less failure prone. After using Office 2011 for Mac it's really hard to say whether the new version is worth the upgrade. Excel is great as always but Word always seems a few steps behind.
Even after spending 10 bucks the activation process alone annoyed the hell out of me. Having to call Microsoft technical support can get very dicey depending on your native language.
You really hate to be rude and unsympathetic but if you cannot carry on a conversation with the person on the other side it's not a happy experience for either party. Text based chat would've been better. Maybe it's the luck of the draw but I've never had problems with Apple's support. Amazon seems pretty good too.
This is an area where I wouldn't mind other companies blatantly copying Apple. Edited January 2016.
Well, for the little nonprofit I help with, it cost $25 total. They update their software only when they have to, not just when they can. I suspect that's the case for many people, even those who don't get $5/license installs.
Even at $149 for Office home/student, buyers will be saving money in just the second year. And it will continue to work without the annual protection payoff. And that's great if it's one machine and the needs are minimal. I know quote a few people that still use Office 2000 and Office 2010. They just deal with the issues of running outdated software when it has problems running on more recent versions of Windows, or that they cannot read modern Office documents like.docx &.xlsx that they receive from others. I make quite a decent side-business with folks running on such old hardware/software that they have to call me to deal with the headaches that modern tech introduces when they are so far behind on things. For many, staying in the past just means the money gets spent elsewhere because of it.
When sending email from Mac Outlook, the text always appears smaller when viewed in Windows Outlook even though the Mac is set to the same font size. Mac Outlook can't create tables in email messages. Mac Outlook can't sync contact groups with Exchange server.
Mac Outlook can't accept or assign Tasks to other Exchange users. PST support is too limited: PST files come up frequently when dealing with offline archives of emails, calendar, contact, notes and tasks data from Exchange accounts. Not all PST files can be read by Mac Outlook. Can't access a PST file without first importing the entire contents into a user's Mac Outlook database.
Can't export to PST files that can be accessed in Windows Outlook. Don't dismiss it because you don't personally use it. I often wonder what sort of conditions the Mac developers at Microsoft have to work under. Are they specifically instructed to leave out certain features from Mac versions of Microsoft applications? Does the Office for Windows team deliberately withhold information from the Mac team in order to hinder feature parity?
Edited January 2016. And still no ability to read PST files without having to import them, or to save PST files at all.
The ONE thing that I'd happily throw money at so I can finally stop running a Windows VM just for that feature. It's like they're not even trying. While it may be natural to blame Microsoft for missing functionality, the Mac news media and Mac user community share some of the blame.
When reading reviews of Office for Mac on popular sites like MacWorld, Outlook for Mac constantly receives glowing reviews by journalists who probably have never used Outlook for Windows in a large Exchange environment, or had to support Macs in that environment. The user community is even worse. Look in different Mac forums on the net, and most of the comments from Mac users about Office for Mac revolve around Microsoft's choice of colors, whether the Office application icons are pretty enough, or requesting Mac-only features which have nothing to do with improving Exchange or Sharepoint compatibility.
When the folks at Microsoft see those comments, they are all too happy to release Mac versions of Office with 'improved cuteness of icons' while claiming 'We listened to what Mac users wanted'. If the Mac reviewers and users won't take Office for Mac functionality seriously, why should Microsoft? Edited January 2016.
Last Updated: March 23, 2018 There’s nothing worse than updating and finding that it breaks or causes but it’s actually easy to roll back an Office update on Mac. You need to make sure that you were already using a backup solution prior to the update, preferably Apple’s (which is included by default in OS X) or another backup programs such as or Here’s how to roll back an Office 2016 or Office 2011 update on Mac using Time Machine. Select the Time Machine icon in the Menu Bar and select Browse Other Time Machine Disks. Then select the closest date prior to when you applied the update and Office was working fine. You must then go to your Microsoft Office folder and click on the gear cog at the top of the folder window and select Restore “Microsoft Office 2011” to from the drop down menu.
When prompted, select Applications. Click Replace when prompted The next time you start Microsoft Office, make sure that you don’t update until you’re sure that the update is safe to install!
If you have any problems or questions on how to revert back to a previous Office update on Mac, let us know in the comments below. You might also be interested in reading our guide how to fully.