The Office 2016 productivity suite received a pretty big update on macOS yesterday. The January 2018 release introduces real-time collaborative editing in Word, Excel and Powerpoint, automatic saves for all documents stored in the cloud as well a version history feature to access earlier versions. Just like with Office 2016 for Windows, real-time collaboration with auto-save requires an Office 365 subscription on the Mac.
For the best experience with 10.15 Catalina, be sure to keep your Office apps up-to-date. If the version of Office installed on your Mac is earlier than 16.16, and you are not being offered updates, you can download the latest Office for Mac suite installer. See What version of Office am I using? Office for Mac that comes with a Microsoft 365 subscription is updated on a regular basis to provide new features, security updates, and non-security updates. The following information is primarily intended for IT professionals who are deploying Office for Mac to the users in their organizations.
This releases delivers several other new features including quicker access to your Sites and Groups, additional charts and functions in Excel and an easy way to research a topic with PowerPoint QuickStarter. Outlook for Mac has also been updated with support for Google Calendar and Contacts and the ability to archive or delete items with just one swipe.
The full release notes for the January 2018 release can be seen on this page. It’s a pretty big release overall, even though there was nothing new for OneNote this month. There is still a feature gap between Windows and macOS, but Office 2016 for Mac remains the best productivity suite available on the Mac, especially if you have an Office 365 subscription.
