Mac's got a new Office

Software Review: Microsoft Office for Mac 2011

by Trevor Tan
05:55 AM Nov 05, 2010

Mac users might hate to admit it but their most frequently used OS X program probably bears the name of Microsoft. Microsoft Office, that is.

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 comes in Home and Student Edition ($188 for one licence, $228 for the three-licence Family Pack), which consists of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Messenger for Mac, and the Home and Business Edition ($298 for one licence, $398 for the two-licence pack) that adds Outlook for Mac 2011.

Each application of the suite starts up faster and feels more responsive. For example, on a Core i7 MacBook Pro, PowerPoint 2008 took around six seconds to start up while PowerPoint 2011 took two seconds.

You will be greeted with a template gallery in Word, PowerPoint and Excel. I'm particularly fond of Word's Publishing Layout, which is reminiscent of Apple's Pages, allowing you to lay out and design newsletters and brochures easily.

In addition, instead of the irksome "Toolbox" in Office for Mac 2008 that took up space outside the document window, the Ribbon is introduced across the suite. The Ribbon is basically a series of toolbars in tab form, where you can go to each tab to access the tools you need. For example, you can switch from the Tables tab in Excel 2011 to the Formulas tab seamlessly to execute an "AutoSum" function. You can also reorder the tabs or hide the Ribbon when you don't need it.

A Media Browser, which looks like it has been fished out from iLife, allows you to add photos, music and videos from your iPhoto and iTunes library.

More importantly, the usage of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Office 2011 means macros can be used interchangeably between Mac and Windows. Thus, your Word document will not get truncated as a result from moving from Windows to Mac. You can even export your Windows Word macros to your Mac.

Speaking of Word for Mac 2011, I love the new full screen feature that transports your document to a black background with the essential tools on top. This allows you to concentrate on your document without the interruption of emails or Internet messages.

PowerPoint for Mac 2011 is also really cool, with transitions and animations that can compare to those of Apple Keynote's. Even Keynote doesn't have the stylish dynamic 3D reordering in PowerPoint 2011. Once you click on "reorder objects", the screen will fade to a 3D layer view, allowing you to change layers easily.

I don't use Excel much, so I can't comment much on Excel for Mac 2011 except that it feels faster and looks better than its predecessor.

And finally, Outlook for Mac 2011 gives you true Exchange support, unified email folders, threaded emails and even allows you to import data from your Outlook for Windows to your Mac. I can effortlessly set up all my emails, from Gmail to MobileMe. This effectively removes the last obstacle for Windows users who resisted the switch to Mac, as their Windows-centric workplaces need Outlook. On the downside, Outlook 2011 for Mac doesn't support Exchange Server 2003 and earlier versions. You can't sync your iCal calendars with Outlook, too.

With its sleek user interface, better performance, VBA implementation and a full working Outlook for Mac, Office for Mac 2011 is the one productivity suite you will need on your Mac

Source: www.todayonline.com

Office Mac Home and Business 2011 - 2 License Pack

Office Mac Home and Student 2011 - Family Pack (3 Licenses)