Microsoft has announced that a perpetual licence version of Office for Mac will be released later this year.
Office 2019 for Mac will come out alongside Office 2019 for Windows. Both are for non-subscriber / perpetual licence customers only. Anyone with Office 365 ‘subscription’ doesn’t need to bother with these ‘2019’ releases.
Source: Microsoft
The naming of both as ‘2019’ will continue the confusion about versions of Office for Windows and Mac we’ve had with the ‘2016’ releases. Even Microsoft can’t reliably say ‘Office 2016 for Windows’ instead of just ‘Office 2016’.
What’s missing
I’m sure Office for Mac users could make up long wish lists of their own.
Just two ‘must haves’ for the next Office for Mac off the top of our heads:
- Font embedding in Word documents. Vital to make good on Microsoft’s long-standing promise of document compatibility.
- Get and Transform / PowerQuery in Excel.
You won’t find any of these things in Microsoft’s list of ‘new’ features. None are truly new, of course, they are mainly things that Office for Windows users are already accustomed to.
When is Office 2019?
Commercial customers only can get the preview of Office 2019 now. The public release will be in the second half of 2018.
Which Products?
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote for Mac.
Which Mac OS?
According to Microsoft, Office 2019 for Mac will work on two most recent versions of macOS. After that, When a new version of macOS is released, Office 2019 for Mac is supported on the new MacOS version and the previous version
Support
Office 2019 for Mac will get mainstream support on the same basis as Office 2016 for Mac – five years of mainstream support. At least that’s better than Office 2019 for Windows where Microsoft has cut three years off their standard support policy.
Office for Mac 2019 new features
Word
“Get work done easier”
- Focus Mode in Word
- Word Translator
- Improved inking functionality
- Customizable Office ribbons
- Accessibility improvements
Excel
“Perform better data analysis”
- Funnel charts and 2D maps
- New Excel functions (CONCAT, TEXTJOIN, IFS, SWITCH)
PowerPoint
“Create more impactful content”
- Morph transition feature
- Insert and manage Icons, SVG, and 3D models
- Improved roaming pencil case
- 4K video export
- Play in-click sequence in PowerPoint
Outlook
“Manage email more efficiently”
- @mentions
- Focused inbox
- Office 365 Groups in Outlook*
- Travel and delivery summary cards
- Send Later to delay or schedule delivery of emails
- Read and delivery receipts
- Email templates
