Office for Mac 2011: Try It, Buy It, Love It.
Office for Mac 2011 has had a great launch. When I look at the results and what we set out to accomplish, I’m very impressed with the improvements and new features the team delivered. I can also say that Office 2011 has gone past our internal sales milestones. But, it’s really what I hear from you that help me see the full picture. A few tweets caught my eye recently:
@thereforesys: Loving Office 2011 for mac experience
@ rocky_t: Dear @Microsoft, this sounds really weird to say, but… Office 2011 rocks! Thanks for the huge improvements in the Mac version.
While I’m fully aware that it’s not all roses for some of our customers, it is good to see the passion coming through whether the feedback is positive or negative. And please, continue to share your thoughts.
If you’re still thinking about Office 2011, I’m happy to announce we now have a full trial available at www.microsoft.com/mac/trial, free to use for 30-days after download. We know it’s important for some of you to be able to test out new features. For those that will be trying the suite for the first time, we hope you enjoy some of the new items – Outlook for Mac, new co-authoring tools, Excel’s Sparklines, Dynamic Reorder in Word & PowerPoint, and more.
This week also marks the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. The show is always a fun time to see old friends and talk about what we love most, creating software for Mac customers. And this year we have a show special tied to the event. If you’re attending the expo check out your badge for details and see this document for official rules:
MACWORLD-INSTANT-WIN-GAME OFFICIAL RULES
In addition, we have a few Office for Mac speaker sessions taking place during the Expo. Below are the details. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more Macworld goodness throughout the week.
Looking forward to a great year in 2011!
-Pat Fox, Senior Director of Product Management, Office for Mac
Office for Mac Sessions at Macworld Expo:
Office for Mac Evangelist, Kurt Schmucker will present:
- MacTech BootCamp Conference Office for Mac 2011 demo; January 26, 2011
- Session US926: Introducing Office 2011; January 27, 2011, 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM
- Podcast/tips and tricks at the Macworld booth; January 29, 2011, 10:30 AM -11:15 AM
Additionally, Outlook PM Richard Kmieciak and Mac MVP William Smith will be giving two sessions at Macworld Expo:
- MacIT® Conference, Session IT832: Deploying and Managing Office:Mac 2011; January 28, 2011, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
- MacIT® Conference, Session IT882: Outlook:Mac for Exchange Administrators; January 29, 2011, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
I’ve always loved Office, and I’ve always preferred Macs. I’ve also depended on Outlook for email for the last 11 years.
I switched back to the Mac permanently when Office 2011 came out with Outlook.
Outlook Mac is *generally* good, almost close enough to the PC functionality. But two problems are driving me crazy!
The inability to bring up spell check automatically when you click Send is infuriating!!!
Junk mail filtering – specifically “Safe Domains” and “Mark as Not Junk” do not work properly, no matter how much manual effort I go through to enter Safe Domains. Surely you folks must know this, yet nowhere can I find a workaround or even acknowledgement of the problem. The closest is this complete non-answer: http://www.officeformac.com/ms/ProductForums/Outlook/408
Fix these two issues and you’ve got a winner – and a happy and eternally grateful customer!
Bought it. Tried it. NOT loving it. The MBU should be drawn & quartered for what they did to Find & Replace alone…. don’t get me started on the rest of Word’s failings.
Would also be nice if the MS support forums didn’t lump all versions of Office into one space. Finding “solutions” is a whole lot harder when you’ve got to sift through irrelevant Q&As.
No sync with Outlook is certainly NOT roses. And it’s not just for SOME customers; it’s for MANY, MANY business and personal use customers.
Enough! We are very disappointed in MSO for Mac 2011. After a spending a few thousands to switch all our employees to 2011, the lack of calendar synching for non-exchange customers and lack if spell check auto prior to sending we’re reloading 2008 with Entourage. Simply a disgrace for a co like MS.
I don’t understand how you can realease OFM Outlook and not have the calendar sync with MobileMe or the iPhone.
I would be buying OFM primarily for Outlook. But why should I buy or even try what amounts to half the functionality of what I have with iCal and Address Book and the ability to sync thru MobileMe to my iPhone and my other Macs?
Get your act together!
Just downloaded Office 2011 myself, and after playing around with it for a bit, and I must say, it is definitely a big improvement over 2008, everything is much more snappier, functional, and it’s great to have the VBA back. I hope to learn more about Outlook though, for the past several years, I have been using the browser based Microsoft Outlook Web Access for my work email. Getting that account imported to the 2011 Outlook app has been a challenge, but I hope to find a solution soon. All in all, well done.
14.0.2 update has stopped Document Connection working, now unable to open files from Skydrive. Word gives the error Windows Live ID requires JavaScript to sign in. This web browser either does not support JavaScript, or scripts are being blocked.
To find out whether your browser supports JavaScript, or to allow scripts, see the browser’s online help.
PLEASE HELP SOON!!!
To Bruce:
I’ve got my own complaints with Outlook (see above), but re: synching might I suggest you use Microsoft’s on-line hosted Exchange service. Synching my iPhone, iPad and multiple macs works flawlessly there. I have MobileMe, I just don’t use it to synch calendars and don’t need/want it for ontacts.
I couldn’t see any information on the FAQ or this blog post about whether installing the trial will affect previous installations of Office (I’m using 2004). Could you please let me know whether I have to reinstall 2004 once the trial is over and I’ve wiped 2011 from my machine?
@Andy If you’re unable to find a solution on the forum— feel free to start your own thread to see if the MVPs have any solutions for you—you can always send feedback directly to our developers too here: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/product-feedback.
@Nathan Please start a thread on our forum here: http://tinyurl.com/4ve8nma. Check back frequently for help from other users or MVPs to help resolve your issue.
@Joe Find out more info on adding your e-mail account to Outlook for Mac here: http://mac2.microsoft.com/help/office/14/en-us/outlook/item/bf4e9965-e1ec-4b97-8967-eac4eeaead70 and if you still have issues please check our forums for guidance http://tinyurl.com/4ve8nma
Hi,
I cannot download the German version of the Office 2011 Trial (the English version works). For the German version there is an error message “Die Autorisierung der Zahlung ist fehlgeschlagen” (roughly: the payment could not be authorised)
What can I do?
I want my money back! What shall I do with a Word version it doesn’t work with ALL of my files from Word 2004?
Why doesn’t MS Office for Mac 2011 correct the sizing problem of fonts and sync with Outlook and Iphone!
MS you do not rule the world!
@Jasdev The trial won’t affect whatever version of Office you’re running on your computer right now. But if you run into any issues, let us know. We’re happy to help.
@Hanjo Try starting a thread on our forum explaining your problem. That’s the best place to receive tech support for the trial. Please let us know if you have any more questions: http://tinyurl.com/4gf43dp.
Outlook would have twice as much potential if you can just get it to sync correctly with MobileMe. Do that, and you have a new user.
Could anybody tell me why my brand new install Home and Student Office doesn’t work? As soon as i open word, for instance, a big windows appear with “novità di word”, “accedere sempre ai file” and so on, but all the menu are empty.
Thanks
What a rip off.
I have Home & Student 2011. Am happy with it.
Have downloaded Home & Business to try just Outlook.
Now I can’t send from spreadsheets etc when I click on an email address as Outlook attempts to take over even though I deleted it.
I am NOT prepared to buy Home & Business just to get Outlook.
Feeling screwed here guys!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVSzKJ9yTrI
Word 2011 fails to maximize the program window correctly.
If you have a small screen maximizing a window can give you more usable space. Therefore, having the ability to fully maximize a window improves usability.
This problem carries over from 2008. In 2008 Word, Excel, PowerPoint had this problem. Now in 2011 Word continues to have this almost three year old problem and you cannot get Word to remember the Maximized window position. Word 2011 still leaves a small gap of about 5 mm on the left side of the Word window and about a 5 mm gap between the top of the Word window and the OS X menu
I would like this problem and others fixed. I am tired of having to move the Word window up and to the left and then expand the window to the right and downward each time I fire up Word just to have a maximized screen.
I tried for weeks to register for the Tech Guarantee that was supposed to allow me to upgrade my Office 2008 to 2011. Perhaps I had phenomenally bad luck, but I was never able to register–after completing the initial data entry, the thing hung on me over and over again. Now I’m told that that opportunity is passed?! I only bought 2008 (installed on my new computer) because I’d understood that I’d be able to upgrade for free. This isn’t right!
That Microsoft failed to provide basic calendar sync is bad enough.
That Microsoft can’t even offer a roadmap for its delivery other than “the first half of the year” is pathetic.
I’ve heard the arguments about QA and whatnot, but seriously… A small shop of 4 developers can release an application with perfect calendar sync, but Microsoft with tens of thousands cannot?
Mind boggling.
The download link has the wrong file. It points to Office 2008 instead of 2011. Cannot try it…
When are you going to fix the absolutely disappointing outlook 2011?
If you include Business Contact Manager and Publisher in Office for Mac, then I’m willing to buy it.
Business Contact Manager is a really awesome product especially for small businesses and isn’t promoted much even for the PC. I learned about it from a colleague. Now that you’ve created Outlook for the Mac you really should give us BCM.
Publisher is great for creating all kinds of newsletters and publications. I’ve yet to find a product like it on the Mac.
If these 2 products aren’t in Office for Mac 2011, please get them to us soon.
Bought OFM 2011 mainly for Outlook.
You learn by your mistakes!
Calender will not sync to i phone
Navigation pane folders and titles are so small and get lost on an iMac 27″ screen Eyestrain
When composing e mail, I can’t increase the size of text unless I zoom in, and loose resolution and the dock.
Outlook 2010 in Office far superior
What a waste of money
Hello,
Off-topic, but just want to let you guys know – when you change your blog address, let us all know so we can redirect our feed-readers, yeah? A friend clued me in to the release of Mac Office 2011 (apparently since last year?) and I was puzzled as to why I didn’t know earlier, when I had in fact subscribed to mac-mojo in my feedreader. Turns out, the blog address was changed sometime around August 1st, which is the last post I see in my feedreader. I’m sure I would have found out eventually, but this is basic blogging etiquette to let your readers know when you’ve changed your blog address.
@Oscar Rodriguez Do you mean the trial link? Give this link a try & let us know if you’re still having trouble: http://tinyurl.com/67s6n55.
I received this e-mail today. This is the future since Microsoft can’t get its act together.
Dear Students and Colleagues,
Over the last few years, many faculty, staff and students have expressed a desire for the University to consider other email and calendaring solutions because of storage limitations and compatibility issues with our current system. Based on those recommendations, UDit consulted with many academic, administrative and technical leaders on campus to explore our options for a new email and calendaring system that would sustain us for many years to come.
Google Apps emerged as the most viable and attractive option for the
University given its multiple platform compatibility (Macs!), the “always
available” disaster resistant system design, the huge individual mail
storage capacity (7 gigabytes versus just 200 Mb for students and 250 Mb for faculty and staff), and its excellent integration with mobile devices such as iPhones, Droids and other smart devices. This strategy will also allow us to provide graduates with a UD email for life.
As the University of Dayton extends its global reach, Google Apps will become an even more valuable resource because it has positioned its data centers and related resources strategically around the world. Google’s “cloud-based” technologies extend far beyond just email and calendars. This move will position us well for collaboration, learning and research anywhere and anytime.
Our current plans are to complete the technical requirements for the migration from Lotus Notes to Google Apps by mid to late Fall 2011. The decision to make the final switch-over will be driven by the readiness of all our campus units in terms of training, support and related resources.
The number of universities and institutions that have moved to Google Apps is now in the thousands. I’ve attached a partial list of schools that have adopted Google and I am providing a link to the website we have developed to answer your questions about this move. Please take a look at the “FAQs” section on this website before contacting me or others with questions.
We realize that we have a great deal of work to complete before this move can be implemented. Most importantly, we recognize that we will need to roll out substantial training and support resources so that our campus community can successfully use these new and powerful tools from Google.
there is no Data Analysis add in D:
haha. looks like not having mobile Sync ability is the bane of your life!
When is the next batch of bug fixed due out? The first one (14.0.2) seemed to repair a few items that had been bugging me.
I am thoroughly disappointed about Outlook not supporting calendar sync.
IF YOU ARE BUYING TO USE OUTLOOK, DO NOT BUY THE FULL VERSION OF THIS PRODUCT UNLESS YOU ARE USING MSEXCHANGE BEHIND IT. It is simply not worth it.
WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT ARE GREAT, but OUTLOOK IS NOT WORTH THE MONEY AT THIS TIME. USE THUNDERBIRD.
@Arts K Apologies for the confusion. We did publish a blog post letting readers know that we were making the switch here: http://tinyurl.com/4upxvgu. Sorry to hear you didn’t receive this update via your feedreader.
Good day! On Saturday the 29th of January i went for a course presentation at Academy of Learning IT at Sunny Park Shopping Centre Sunnyside, Pretoria in South Africa. They offered us free computer lessons and low course costs in IT, they even told us that they are your agency and they are helping Microsoft to get new and fresh IT staff. I need to know if this Academy is known by you guys or not as i would like to further my studies in IT Programming because i’ve graduated for a Diploma in 2006?
Its simple. I am staying with MobileMe, and leaving office behind. MobileMe has syncing capability with my iphone, and Office does not. Who actually made the decision not to include syncing ability??????????????
I changed my Office/Entourage 2008 for Office/Oulook 2011 and can’t synchronize iCal, that means my iPhone.
It’s a loss of services with a cost of near 400 euros…
Never ever Microsoft products again in my life…
I have been searching to see when an update for Outlook will come out that will allow it to sync with iCal, thus allowing me to use my iPad and iPhone… but can’t find a time frame. Certainly MS knows this is in high demand.
Can someone from MS let me know when to expect this? I love Outlook for the Mac, but not being able to sync with my phone and iPad is a HUGE HUGE oversight. But I do like Outlook much better on the Mac than on the PC.
@Bonnie Cribbs Thanks for your patience. We do not have a specific date yet, but we’re expecting to offer calendar sync support through Sync Services in the first half of this year. You can find out more here: http://tinyurl.com/4qy4u87.
I was disappointed when I bought OFM 2008 to find no VBA support, now OFM 2011 is out and has VBA back, I am now disappointed to find there is no upgrade pricing option – you expect me to buy a full version. Why should I pay full price to upgrade when OFM 2008 was not what I expected in the first place. Microsoft has missed a trick here. I am not convinced I will buy OFM 2011 at full price. Will there ever be an upgrade from OFM 208 option?
Generally I like the look and feel and functionality of Word and Powerpoint. But why oh why is this software so unstable? Working on my first presentation in the new Powerpoint it crashed twice in an hour. Word seems to crash or hang every so often. Today leaving me with 45 minutes of writing lost – one of the two files I was working on was recovered but one not. I’m working remotely so my normal backups didn’t catch it either .
I’d settle for a few less bells and whistles and stable reliable software (reliability was the reason I switched OS to Mac in the first place and OS wise I have not been disappointed) – come one MS you can do better than this.
Definitely an improvement on 2008. But 2008 sucked and was a huge disservice to Mac users. MS has done a good job at training Mac users to expect less and live with it. But no more, I am fed up.
There is still no Data Analysis add-in or support for Pivot Charts in Excel. This is creating A LOT of problems for me at work as a consultant, as most of my clients use Windows. Sure, I could switch to a Windows machine or install Windows with BootCamp on my Mac, but why would I throw away even more money to a company that consistently disenfranchises users to rig the market in its favor? Frankly I’d rather swallow a box of nails.
Can we expect to see any updates or add-ons that fix these two major issues? I hope so. Otherwise, we are through, Microsoft.
My only consolation is that my license was a gift, so I haven’t wasted any of my own money…
@GeoffD The new suite does deliver a lower price per installation for all editions, and OFM 2008 users who purchased the product between August and November 2010 were eligible for an upgrade but that eligibility ended December 31st.
Office 2004 – Ms Query 1.0
Office 2008 – Ms Query 1.0
Office 2011 – Ms Query 1.0
Written in Real Basic….
Microsoft, please update your software.
Office 2011 editing sql query…..no more!
When you make a database as good and versatile as Access for Windows available for the Mac, then I’ll consider it. Until then, I’m sticking with NeoOffice.
I purchased Office 2011 Home & Student, and was greatly disappointed to realize Outlook was not included. The Outlook icon showed up on the desktop but did not function. I realized mistake, I should have purchased Home & Business. I started Outlook in trial version until I could figure out how to get a upgrade license. I called to purchase an upgrade from Microsoft but they did not have anybody working on the weekends. Microsoft continues to offend its customers with its substandard, misleading product and support. I can only dream of a day when Microsoft changes its management practices. I am mad at myself for buying the product knowing full well I have never received good service in the past. Shame on me.
I just find it absolutely breathtaking that some mental giant decided to release Outlook for the Mac 2011 and remove the ability to sync calendars with Itunes, ICal and or Mobil Me.
Worse, failing to declare this step backwards from Entourage and allowing poor innocent Fred Public to walk into a store and buy the software, upgrade from Office 2008 and only to find when adding diary entries that there is no sync services.
Appalling abuse of people’s trust and frankly I am now once bitten !!
@Derek We hear you and appreciate the feedback. Unfortunately, right now we don’t have any updates on support for Pivot Charts or Data Analysis, but assure you that if this changes we’ll post that information here.
Overall I’m happy with Outlook – except for the fact it won’t sync with iphone, etc. I have a small business and would really like to be able to check my calendar on iphone when out of the office. Please fix that asap.
Thanks
Word 2011 has some good new features. But apparently, a few older important features have been made worse. For example, as a writer, I work with large documents that have many headings (nearly 1000 in the current document). The Document Map feature is hugely helpful. In older Word versions, when you save a document, then reopen it, the Document Map opens the way it was saved. In Word 2011, the document map always reopens with all the headings showing. That creates an extra 5 to 10 clicks to have the Document Map appears as it was when the document was closed. Also, it resizes the document map to 1/4 of the document width. It seems obvious that the Document Map should reopen as it was saved. Or at least users should have to option to select this.
In addition, I insert many endnotes. In old Word versions, after closing the endnote screen, the document goes back to the format it was in before inserting the endnote. For example, if the Document Map was open, it remains open when the Endnote screen is closed. Now, after closing the endnote screen, the document map is closed. This means that every time an endnote is inserted, Document Map must be reopened and adjusted. This can create hundreds of extra clicks for someone inserting many endnotes.
I can’t see any logical reason why the new version would create so much extra work for Word users. This vastly lowers productivity and greatly increases annoyance, mainly because it seems like such an obvious mistake.
Also, the Document Map used to be in the drop down View menu. This made sense since it is an important, probably widely used feature in larger documents. Now Document is harder to access in the drop down menu.
Print Preview was taken out of the drop down File menu. I use this feature much more than the actual print command to make sure documents print out correctly. Now print Preview can only be access from the Printer screen. After looking at the Preview, you cannot return to the print command box. It must be relaunched. This creates a lot of additional work and frustration.
A lesser issue involves inserting blue lines (page breaks) in Draft mode. This didn’t occur in older Word versions. In writing longer documents, users probably often are not thinking about printing appearance. That’s why they are using draft mode. The blue lines are an annoying, irrelevant distraction. Users should have the option of not having the blue lines appear in draft mode.
I hope that Microsoft fixes these problems quickly, especially the Document Map issue, with a software update.
Word 2011 creates so much extra, unnecessary work for writers, that I’m using my older Word software until Word 2011 is fixed.
Improving functionality is great. But new software versions should not remove functionality from important features, such as document map. New software should improve productivity, not reduce it, as Word 2011 does in several ways.
It seems that Microsoft should have experienced users of their software review new versions before they are released. The Document Map annoyance is an obvious mistake that anyone who uses that function would have noticed right away.
What is the opposite of pure genius?
Office for Mac 2011 Home and Business!
What were you thinking? I know, a presumption on my part.
Business people use contacts and calendars. People who use Mac products might even use an iPhone 4 – which was introduced in 2010.
I bet you know where this is going . . . but, just in case you are part of the Office for Mac 2011 development team, I will continue . . .
The Outlook calendar in Office for Mac 2011 cannot sync with a 2010 iPhone 4.
Your packaging does not indicate this nifty little fact.
You have my $200 and I am again reminded why I stopped buying PC’s.
I do not blame you . . . I am the one who should have known better.
Our school district is switching to Outllook as our business email client. Mac owners are expected to use OWA. The district is abandoning Mac as they purchased hundreds of POJ (piece of junk) net books relegating our Macs to second class citizens. My question is will Outlook for Mac 2011 work with the business email client? Also does the education version contain a full version of Outlook or do I need the regular home edition?
No Onenote 2011 for mac….
i thought it was come with office for mac 2011… but its not… well i miss Onenote 2011 for mac…
@Frank D. Thank you so much for all your thoughtful feedback. We don’t have any specific information to share about these features being changed or included, but please record these issues for our developers on our product feedback page to request that your changes having to do with Document Maps, Print Preview, and endnote formatting be included in a future update. Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/4bcz9yp.
Can’t sync my blackberry calendar, notes and tasks with Outlook in office:mac 2011. I purchased office:mac so I could complete the transition from my PC to the Mac. Now I see that even if I changed to an iPhone I still couldn’t sync these items. What were you thinking? What is the point of using Outlook if you can’t take it with you? I feel frustrated and ripped off.
@ddriver11 Yes Outlook for Mac 2011 will work with Windows Outlook 2010 as long as you’re running Exchange Server 2007 or later. Please contact your school district’s IT administrator who can find out more from your Microsoft Office volume licensing manager about Outlook for Mac.
I am really ANGRY.
In order to solve the Calendar Sync problem, I decided to BUY One licence of Exchange Hosted Service from Microsoft.
The system forces me to buy 5 Licences minimum.
“Enter a quantity greater than the minimum quantity for your purchase. Minimum quantity for offer Exchange Online Standard is 5.“
PLEASE THINK ABOUT SOHO USERS THAT DO NOT RELY ON AN IT DEPARTMENT TO PERFORM COMMON TASKS..
@Gustav – Thanks for checking in and thanks for your patience while we looked for the right information for you! A full list of our accredited Training Partners in South Africa is available here: http://tinyurl.com/4fqldzn. Academy of Learning IT isn’t on our list – however we think it’s great you want to continue your studies, and encourage you to do so!
Can you PLEASE get your stupid Microsoft User Data folder OUT of my Documents folder?! That folder is for my personal use, not for you to dump stuff in. Be a sensible Mac application and store them somewhere in the Library folder!
The floating contact window in Outlook is very annoying. You cannot select and copy text. Drag and drop drops only the email address, and worst of all THE CONTACT WINDOW VANISHES WHEN OUTLOOK IS NOT IN THE FOREGROUND.
I doubt I am the only person who wants makes a phone call while looking a document in another application (such as, ahem, Word). This is a very poor design. It is necessary to right click -> copy -> phone number just to transfer the information.
Also Outlook crashes constantly (for me, 10-15 times per day), typically when closing windows. They seem to be harmless crashes that don’t result in any data loss but it makes me wonder about the quality process.
@Rob Calhoun Please let our developers know about the contact window issue here: http://tinyurl.com/4bcz9yp. Also please make sure you’ve downloaded the most recent software updates (here: http://tinyurl.com/2gouzb). And please submit your crash report to our Outlook for Mac forum and one of our MVPs will be happy to help you. Here’s the link to the forum: http://tinyurl.com/4ve8nma.
I’m sorry but I don’t love office for MAC 2011. I used a lot of time today just trying to insert number of pages – no problem in 2008, now hard to find – AND I did not find help on this site at all.
I am using Excel 2011, and I cannot find the add-in of Analysis Toolpack which I happened to need right now. I really hope that you can help me on this one or at least help me do a great linear regresion analysis for my project next week… This really suck, why you let that out!!
When will ‘edit message’ be available???
Its a key feature missing that is in the Windows version I used DAILY, and frustrating its not in the Mac version.
Calendar sync (outside exchange) is another HUGE omission…
@Mart Tiemensma Thanks for letting us know. We recommend visiting our Help & How-To page here to help you with page numbers: http://tinyurl.com/4s494wj. It goes over adding and removing page numbers, starting page numbering over in new sections, and much more. Let us know if you find this helpful.
I have to say that I have regretted upgrading to Office 2011 from 2008.
It looks a bit better but in term of function, it is just weak, especially outlook.
Microsoft should not release such a product with such significant handicapped. I rely on calendar a lot to remind me everything and now I cannot synchronized. I also cannot just move diary items around between two different accounts. the junk filtering is also far from being good. Other than having the same name as “outlook”. I dont think it is the same product and even close to comparison. There are also a lot of user “unfriendliness” in word and excel. I believe these are purposely done in such a way to make user dislike the office on MAC although I don’t know why it is.
I wish I could go back is the last wish that I have (I have over 10G of emails which I have imported into Outlook and now going back to Entourage seems impossible.)
I am amongst the earliest buyer of the pack and have been waiting and waiting and waiting for an update patch but remain…….speechless
@Ian Baker Can you be more specific? Are you trying to edit a message after it’s been sent with Outlook 2011? When is it not able to be edited?
A few Outlook Bugs RE Attachments.
Multiple Attachment Dragging
Current Behavior: Click on the first of multiple attachments. Hit Command-A to select All, click and hold on the first attachment to begin to drag to the desktop: all the other attachments are deselected and only the first one drags.
Proper Behavior: All selected attachments are dragged.
Dragging From the Finder
Current Behavior: Open new mail message, open folder in Finder to locate file to attach, drag file to message window- FAIL. Outlook doesn’t accept the dragged file since it is no longer the front-most application.
Proper Behavior: Any window open in Outlook should accept dragged items from the Finder if that open window can accept that type of file.
I am working on MS Office 2010 at my day job. I just pent $200 on the Office for Mac 2011. at both places I depend greatly on Outlook.
I have been using Outlook for Office 2010 on my PC for a couple of weeks and it’s amazing. So I was really excited about getting Outlook for my MAC. I spend about an hour tonight in Outlook on my MAC basically in shock when I saw that this program seems to be an immature, watered down weak version that bears very little resemblance to Outlook 2010 for the PC.
I just don’t get it. You’re a computer software company supplying software for different types of computers. You don’t manufacture or sell the hardware that your programs run on so I don’t see that there’s a vested interest in creating better programs for one type of computer over the other… but maybe there is.
I’m trying to figure out why Outlook for the MAC would be a totally different program than Outlook for the PC. So much so that I feel ripped off by Microsoft. The other Office suite products seem to be very similar in functionality but a lot less attractive and not as well organized.
It makes me wonder if it’s simply a personal vendetta against Apple and MAC users. I just don’t understand how this would happen.
If you’re thinking of getting Outlook for the Mac, don’t expect much- actually don’t waste your money.
I am also very much missing the “Edit message” feature in Outlook for Mac 2011 (that Ian Baker has been referring to above).
What I (and probably Ian) mean is the possibility to edit received messages. You’d be able to change the message format or make an extra note within. The respective commands, from memory, are “Edit” -> “Edit Message” (in Outlook for Windows), and “Message” -> “Edit Message” in Entourage 2008.
Any plans to bring this back?
I purchased Office 2008 in September. I understood that I could upgrade to Office 2011 for free. How do I do this?
@Susie Thanks for clarifying. We don’t have any current plans to bring this back, but suggest you let our developers know that you’re missing this feature and that you’d like to see it included in a future update: http://tinyurl.com/4bcz9yp.
@MelissaL Users who purchased Office for Mac 2008 between August 1 and November 30, 2010 were eligible to upgrade to 2011 for free, but unfortunately the upgrade period ended on December 31, 2010. You can buy the suite here: http://tinyurl.com/3yyktb4.
No support for the trial version. I have Office suite 2010 loaded onto my PC and all seems well.
Now I wish to try the recomeded 2011 version on my Mac. After downloading the Trial version, It will not run. None of the features are not active, most likely needs a key. I will not purchase this for the Mac until I can confirm it is compatable.
Any ideas how to activate this trial copy?
@Gary Office for Mac 2011 is compatible on Macs that meet the system requirements. You can find those here: http://tinyurl.com/3yyktb4 (click “System Requirements”.) If your computer meets the requirements and you’re still having trouble activating your trial, take a look at our Trial FAQs: http://tinyurl.com/4d89ke4. Let us know if that helps!
It took how many years to make this new version?
Outlook 2011 doesn’t have:
- ability to edit list members on exchange
- ability to see WHY a person is unavailable (just shows tentative/out of office, etc)
Maybe Office 2020 will bring parity on the mac to PC versions from 5 years ago. I doubt it.
I’m very angry to have been sold this product that STILL doesn’t sync tasks or calendar items with sync services.
When will there be the promised update to provide this FUNDAMENTAL functionality?
used the suite for a while, love it.
BUT outlook as too many limitations, especially it cannot sync calendar and task but only contacts!
Calendar management is one of he best features of outlook, but how can we use t if it does not sync with blackberry, iphone or even windows mobile/phone ?
Permit me to gush. You guys have added two features in the “read my mind” category that were exactly what I wanted!
^A and ^E move cursor to the beginning and end of line, respectively. Great for users who want to keep their hands on the keyboard.
Filing mail in a particular folder is done by typing the folder name after Apple-Shift-M. Hands on the keyboard again! Extremely efficient.
What else can I say? Thanks for an outstanding upgrade.
Sorry, but not sure why people would be in love with Microsoft 2011 for Mac if they’ve ever used Microsoft 2010 for PC. I was so hopeful that 2011 for Mac would allow you to save PowerPoint presentations as a video with animations intact, yet of course Microsoft leaves that feature for only PC users. As a designer with clients who need things built in PowerPoint, you’ve yet to win me over with your halfhearted Mac versions. I get it, we’re not your prime customers. However, if you actually created an amazing Microsoft application for Mac, just maybe you’d build credibility and convince some of us to switch platforms…
I think this is a great upgrade and I use it daily for both graduate work and business. Unfortunately, today, I’ve run into a problem saving a file. I receive the following:
“This is not a valid file name. Try one or more of the following:
* Check the file path to make sure it is typed correctly.
* Select a file from the list of files and folders.
Path name seems OK and option #2 doesn’t work. I’ve tried several work-arounds but still receive the same message.
Thanks
Please let users know when the sync capability will be available. I am now being forced to go back to the Mac applications. I share other users disappointment in Microsoft.
This version could have been nice if Outlook would just stop hanging, pretty please, we need a real fix…
Should we expect OneNote for Mac?
SPELL CHECK STINKS! Bring the old back!!! PLEASE??????
I am trying to Sync our Calendars.
We are on an Exchanged Server and I can view all the Shared Calendar that are on Windows 7, but one PC is a mac running Office 2011 and we have attempted to Share, but no dice.
I go through the “Share Calendar” procedures, but I get a error message telling us “Calendar sharing is not available with the following entries because of permissions settings on your network”.
All the other accounts work fine and the account we are adding is setup identical to this one.
PLEASE HELP!
@Brian This sounds like a job for our MVPs. Please head over to our forum and start a thread explaining the issue you’re having and one of the MVPs will be able to assist you: http://tinyurl.com/4ve8nma.
Office for Mac 2011 SP1 Coming Next Week | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
“Microsoft will release Office for Mac 2011 service pack 1 (SP1) next week, the company announced Wednesday.
Microsoft promised “increased stability, security, and some new features to the suite—including improved Outlook syncing support—as well as some performance enhancements.”
Specifically, SP1 will enable calendar synching between Outlook for Mac and Apple’s Sync Services, which Microsoft said was much-requested.
“This will let you sync your Outlook calendar as well as contacts, notes and tasks with any service or device that supports Sync Services, including your iPhone and iPad,” Microsoft said in a blog post.
Microsoft stressed, however, that Apple’s new version of MobileMe will not sync with MacOS Sync Services starting May 5; it’s live now for people who have already moved to the new version of MobileMe calendar. “As a result, Outlook 2011 SP1 calendars that sync with Sync Services on the Mac, will NOT be synced with MobileMe calendars,” the company said.
So, if you sync your iPhone or iPad calendar with Sync Services via iTunes over a cable, you can sync with Outlook 2011 SP1. But if you sync via MobileMe, it won’t sync with Outlook 2011 SP1.”
I am a recent (two week) convert to the MAC and i am really disappointed at OFM 2011. Let me explain some of the brain dead features in the products:
* Outlook – There is nowhere that I can turn on the three line preview of email messages that has been in Outlook for years. I use this as a visual queue for unread messages.
* Word – Document Map sidebar – Under Windows you can edit your document by moving lines in the Document Map. Not under Word for Mac.
* PowerPoint – Where is Right Click – Slide Layout. Actually, where is Slide Layout
Need I go on?
Darryl Smith – VK2TDS
hi. is there any chance of adding the resend option in outlook 2011 for mac? this option has always been there in sent messages but now its missing. Thanks for the assistance
I was a big fan of Eudora, but then was told it was becoming obsolete. After switching to Entourage because my boss used it, and finding some problems, our network admin had me try Outlook 2011 for Mac. I’m sticking with it because I’ve really done a lot to customize it already, and don’t want to have to go through yet another change, but I am NOT happy and have started a list (Hey, I like the Notes feature!) called, “What s*cks about Outlook for Mac 2011″. Some of these may be glitches, some may be my fault because I can’t figure it out or find support online, or I’m too picky, but here it is (so far):
CONTACTS
- can only type in first letter for quicksearch which doesn’t always work (“K” goes to “J”) unless your speed is just right?
- can’t use nicknames in new email message
- BCC faulty: inconsistent in being bcc, can’t see bcc sent to, errors (ISP? Disagrees.)
CALENDAR
- can’t type in GoTo (View) Date
- no links to email/docs
- sometimes new events, and notes, go to other calendar even though default account calendar is open
- barred entries take up too much space on monthly blocks; can’t change format (to colored text perhaps)
- whole color list opens up when selecting a calendar. Annoying.
EMAIL
- glitches with copy/paste/enter; won’t place where you want it to sometimes
- you have to know the name of the folder you want to move a msg. to because you have to type it in; no search
- can’t control frequency of (auto)email checks?
- glitches in text formatting; sizes don’t change, etc.
- Text is pretty small (for standard 12)
- defaults back to Inbox (when you’ve sent an email or something from another folder). what if I’m not done with that folder yet?
- What is wrong with the dates?! (Importing issue, perhaps)
- I think there’s a problem with Rules; Outlook tends to crash when a rule is to be executed. It’s a pretty simple rule (if email is from___ then label it category___, then Delete).
I’ve just switched to using a mac and have installed Office 2011. Having worked on the older office on a microsoft computer, I am still getting used to the new system. I used to be able to add page numbers with different styles, but at the moment, on the Office 2011, I can only add plain numbers. Any ideas? I miss having the different accent bars!!!
I’m disconcerted, I’ve been looking on the “Outlook Help” and over the net for the spell check and language tools, and there’s nothing !!!
I use to write emails in english, french, portuguese and spanish, but there’s no way to “set” the language while you’re composing, unlike Word where you can chose the language of the text you’re writing (Main Menu -> Tools -> Language).
In this version of Outlook there’s no ruler (at least I could find it) so it’s impossible to manage tabs correctly.
On Calendar there’s no way to show the week numbers.