Microsoft has today announced an updated version of its Outlook for Mac software with an updated design and performance improvements. The new version of email, calendar, and contacts app from Microsoft is available through the company’s Office 365 subscription service, and Microsoft says it offers a more consistent experience with the iPhone and iPad versions.
In addition to releasing the new version of Outlook for Mac, Microsoft has shared that it will ship a new version of Office for Mac in 2015. An overhauled version of Office, which includes Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote, will be available for Mac users as a public beta in the first half of 2015 while Microsoft is targeting the second half of 2015 for the commercial release.
Microsoft says the new version of Office for Mac in 2015 will be available for Office 365 subscribers at no additional cost while a traditional licensed version of the productivity software suite will be available “in the same timeframe.”
The company’s announcement follows a report earlier this week that a new Office for Mac is on the horizon (now confirmed), which itself followed leaked screenshots claiming to show the new version of Office for Mac (which is likely actually today’s Outlook for Mac update).
Mac users have long awaited an overhauled version of Office for the platform as the last big release initially debuted in 2010. Microsoft has since focused its efforts on mobile and cloud apps including the Office for iPad suite released earlier this year and subsequent updates.
Microsoft says the new version of Outlook for Mac delivers:
- Better performance and reliability as a result of a new threading model and database improvements.
- A new modern user interface with improved scrolling and agility when switching between Ribbon tabs.
- Online archive support for searching Exchange (online or on-premises) archived mail.
- Master Category List support and enhancements delivering access to category lists (name and color) and sync between Mac, Windows and OWA clients.
- Office 365 push email support for real-time email delivery.
- Faster first-run and email download experience with improved Exchange Web Services syncing.
Office 365 subscribers can get the new Outlook for Mac through the following channels:
- Office 365 Commercial customers can get the new Outlook for Mac by accessing their Office 365 Portal, (Gear icon > Office 365 Settings > Software > Outlook for Mac icon) or visiting the Software page.
- Office 365 consumer subscribers can get the new Outlook for Mac by going to their My Account page.
For users running Office for Mac 2011 including Outlook 2011, Microsoft has a support guide for setting up the new version of the OS X app.
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wait wait wait.. If I just have Office 2011, I’m out of luck ?!?!?!?!
I don’t get the complaining. You bought Office 2011. You received Office 2011. You were never promised future versions of Office for free. Don’t want a subscription service? Keep using the version you bought or use iWork.
I want Outlook 15. Why can’t I buy it outright and instead i have to rent it ?! This is what I’m complaining about. I don’t want to rent. I want to buy just like I bought Office 2011.
Wow, Microsoft continues to F everything up. After downloading, the app is essentially forcing you to go thru their 365 portal. Not all users/businesses use 365. It’s like MS is begging people to find alternatives.
Hate to tell you but MS ain’t screwing anything up. Stock price is trading at all time highs. They are definitely doing something right.
Not to be picky, but Microsoft is not at its all time high. Check the Dot-Com boom (and bust). It was, at one time, worth well over half a trillion dollars, much like Apple is today.
Right, cause that’s how you judge the success of their product, is the value of their stock.
While they are only making it available to O365 subscribers (which REALLY SUCKS), it at least supports non-O365 systems:
http://officeimg.vo.msecnd.net/en-ca/files/116/888/ZA104377419.png
Microsoft, WTF is wrong with you? Mr. Nadela doesn’t seem to know WTF he’s doing…
It’s a PREVIEW release. They might still end up selling a single, perpetual license version when it’s FINAL, but right now you need the subscription to use the PREVIEW. You can complain about this if it remains subscription only once it’s actually fully finished and released. Not that £70 a year is expensive if you need the software. I’d say it’s worth it alone for the unlimited OneDrive space.
Yep … just like OWA on iPad … every bit as ugly.
Absolutely no motivation for me to start paying inflated prices to rent software off Microsoft’s 365 scam.
If we weren’t on office/exchange at work, it’s very unlikely I would be using Microsoft at all. Their days of dominance/monopoly are over. Unfortunately the arrogance hasn’t gone at the same time.
What are you POEPLE TALKING ABOUT!? It says it’s free for Office 365 subscribers. But another license for non-subscribers is also coming out at the same timeframe. It must be hard to read after the first paragraph.
The other programs I understand people using, but why Outlook if you’re on OSX and have Mail.app?
I don’t understand any of them quite honestly. I don’t like Outlook at all, and Pages Numbers and Keynote are far superior to the office alternatives. Some people have a hard time using Numbers in a mostly Excel world….but I don’t.
About Keynote and Pages I must agree with you, but not about Excel. Excel is still superior. For example the “Goal Seek” tool with no equivalent tool available in Numbers, and I use this tool pretty often. This is just an example, I’m sure a power user has more examples.
There are a lot of issues with the Mac Calendar/Mail apps and enterprise exchange (can’t book rooms, meeting changes often don’t get reflected on other people cal, can’t look up people from the gal, etc…). This is the only reason I use Outlook on the Mac. I was hoping Yosemite would fix some of these issues but no dice.
Numbers has been shown to be extremely slow compared to Excel a few years ago. Maybe Apple changed that, but I wonder how many people actually use it for work.
Numbers is easier for me to use. Excel is clumsy, but it is more powerful for complex spreadsheets which very few people need.
I will agree with you on Pages and Keynote, but numbers can’t touch the true number crunching functionality of Excel
I personally prefer Pages and Numbers, but as Gabriel said…Excel is a far superior product. But even with that said, I have to collaborate too much with people who use MS Office, and quite frankly it’s just too much of a PITA to constantly convert, live with fonts that won’t display one way or the other, etc. Yes, I know I can add the fonts to my Mac, I’ve all ready done that, but every week there’s someone who sends me me a document with yet another different font. Just too much trouble. I’m “all-in” with the Apple ecosystem, but MS Office is just too much of a global deal to ignore…it’s still the overall office king.
I see this all the time from end users in business. They think Apple products are so great because they use them at home and they think Microsoft sucks. Microsoft is far from loosing it’s monopoly where it counts…in business. We in IT make all of these technologies work for users and they never see the big picture. You may love iWork products until you try to use them in an enterprise environment and save them to a file server and next time someone tries to open the file it is corrupt, won’t open, requires you to upgrade your software just to open a document. I have worked in IT for Disney and other major entertainment companies where the creatives think Apple products are the greatest thing ever and then complain endlessly about the problems they experience and never realize the problem is the their super cool Apple products. Most of the people that complain about Microsoft and the way they do things are only capable of looking at it from their own singular point of view. We have worked endlessly to get the Apple products to work reliably but they continue to have problems on a daily bases that I have never even seen occur with Microsoft.
Brian Zabala,
“…Microsoft is far from loosing it’s monopoly…”. That should read, losing, as in lost and loss. Phonetically spelled, lose sounds as it should contain double o, it does not. Your spelling is a common mistake.
My above comment is because there are many that do not know loosing is not a word in English. There is loose (not tight), and loosening.
Cordially
Outlook is not just email if you are on a corporate system.
Mixed platform environments who use Exchange. Calendar sharing & scheduling in this environment is very tough (if possible) without sticking to Outlook.
People tend to think of Outlook as just a mail client. It’s not, it’s also a full contact, calendar and notes application. Microsoft built their Exchange system well enough (proprietary enough) that it makes using it with third party products a nightmare in most environments.
I’m not an über huge fan of Outlook, but in our corporate environment Mail.app is a non-starter. There are also issues with Mail.app when you have scary large mailboxes. The flat file method works for a small to medium sized mailbox, but really starts to fall down on the very, very large mailboxes. It is possible, just not fun.
If you want to do things like book conference rooms (well, book them reliably), have full access to a shared GAL, get updates on event changes, etc. you really can’t use iCal and Mail.app. I wish I could as I prefer them, but they don’t work that well with Exchange, IMO. Which means Outlook does actually have its place.
Personally I prefer using the Gmail web app. The ability to search nearly instantly through e-mail, bulk edit tens of thousands of items at a time, apply multiple tags to a single message and more make it perfect for me. Sadly, also a non-starter in a corporate environment where mail must follow ITAR law.
But that brings me to my main point which is: there is no one right answer. Mail.app will work for some but not others. Outlook will work for some but not others. Gmail will work for some but not others. Use what works and fits your needs.
All of this crap is just making my decision easier for not buying Office 2015 or whatever it will be called.
I have paid over $200 for the business edition of Office 2011 and 2008 and it doesn’t seem that they have done anything to help us in updates.
I feel insulted that Microsoft updates their Office 365 which is a subscription service and dangles us Office 2011 with this wait until a new version comes out. Guess they got our money up front and don’t give a hoot about us anymore, so they can be this way.
My Outlook hasn’t worked right in over a year now, so I am using Apple Mail. It’s not as great as Outlook, but I am getting use to not having Outlook and with each added day that the new version isn’t out, I get more ticked off in which I may not buy Office 2014 or 2015 whenever it comes out.
Also doesn’t help that Office 365 is a better product than my Office 2011.
You listening Microsoft????
All I care about: Do I get Push Email with Exchange in it?
-I do on every iOS device since 2009
-I do in the OWA
-Where the hell is push email for a Mac email client?
Just installed and the answer is…. NO.
Still can’t sync my outlook.com contacts or calendar as the new app does’t support ActiveSync. How MS can be so clueless?
The biggest mind boggle is that Outlook.com email addresses don’t just support the full Exchange protocol. They only implement the mobile side of it which is insane. They make and own the damn thing so why don’t they support it? The Windows version had this problem until Outlook 2013 too because it only supported the desktop frameworks for Exchange, 2013 supports the lot.
Completely mind boggling! I just downloaded the Outlook APP for my iPhone and for my macbook, and the iPhone app is awesome! i’ve spent so much time using outlook at work that it felt comfortable for me, but the desktop app? what were they thinking! it’s just a mail client with no other functionality, I even tried making a UserName@outlook.com email account and I can’t even sync that calendar to the OS X Outlook app. why even bother with it??? I would actually use them both if they were integrated with each other.
I am surprised that anyone would want to use Microsoft products. If work did not make me use it I would never use it.
Why can I still not choose how far back I wish to sync? Outlook 2013 can do this, IOS can do this.
Mac Outlook? No. And Apple Mail isn’t any better. Drives me insane.
Sticking with OWA by the looks of it.
Im using this now…and its not bad. Way better than 2011. Better than the current PC version.
Outlook looks better on a Mac than on Windows lol
We experienced serious issues with synchronization between iOS and Mac using Outllook 2011 on…I think it was Mountain Lion when the sync functions broke. It was an issue where a com channel used by Microsoft was disabled or removed altogether by Apple. Has that been fixed? Can Outlook 2015 now synchronize to an iOS device without an Exchange Server? Back in the day (2009), Entourage and iOS got along really well. Outlook never did. Would only consider upgrading if Sync is functional now.
I have just spent the last day trying to figure out some kind of workaround… the answer is that there is no direct sync functionality. It will have to be a workaround. I love the idea of using outlook as our customers all use outlook for scheduling. I think the only solution is to have a windows based computer, which does allow for google apps to sync with outlook (I think).
Oh that’s rich, they release this for ALL Office 365 subscriptions, EXCEPT the one my company is on:
Office 365 Small Business
So that means this new Outlook will never work, and if I want it to, I have to fork out DOUBLE my current rate to get this?
Not to offend anyone here but…
FUCK YOU MICROSHAFT!!!
Well there is no “Office 365 Small Business”. Because outlook is not available for you I guess that your company is on “Office 365 Business Essentials” which does not include any downloadable office software.
If you think that it should be included, just look at the biggest competitor that offers a similar service for the same price (5$/month/user): Google Apps. With Office 365, you will have 1tb of storage with onedrive, instead of 30gb of storage on google drive. You will have access to cloud office software that are frankly better than google doc. You will have access to sharepoint online that does not have a direct equivalent on google. You will also have Lync online that is arguably better than Google Hangout with much more business users and integrations.
This is what you are paying for. Now if you want downloadable office, there’s a fee for that.
Is Cal-Dav supported? I NEED synching of mail, contacts and calendars between my Mac and my iPhone, otherwise, what’s the point of this application???
No, it is not. From Outlook 365 Help Menu:
“Outlook for Mac does not currently support CalDAV or CardDAV. This means that it is not possible to synchronize your Outlook.com, iCloud, Gmail calendar or contacts with Outlook for Mac. However, Outlook for Mac does support iCloud Mail. For more information, see Microsoft Outlook for Mac compatibility with Apple iCloud.”
I sure wish it did. I like the new Outlook, and it’s been working fine since I installed it yesterday, but it’s such a pain that even sync services isn’t available so that I can access all of my contact information. That may take me back to “Mail” in fact, unless Microsoft has plans to at least include activesync in the near future.
Ugh! Thanks for letting me know. Very disappointing.
I completely agree with you. I really like the new Outlook for Mac, but if I can’t use it for all my accounts -Exchange for work, gmail for personal and non-profit associations and icloud- it is useless for me and prefer to continue using Apple Mail, Calendar and Contacts which are able to sync all may calendars, etc.
What disappoints me more is that these are features that has ben asked for since Office 2011 was launched in 2010.
Also there are tons of features available in Outlook for Windows that no exist into the Mac version.
I think that my next step would be to cancel our Office 365 subscription in the company and go for Google Apps.
OK, let me get this straight…Outlook for Mac (old version) syncs just fine with my iCloud contacts (they’re on my Mac, also)…but this new version won’t? Somehow i don’t believe this. Has anyone actually tried this? I don’t mean contacts “On My Mac” in the Address Book, but contacts in my Address Book that are listed as “iCloud Contacts”.
All MS did with this release is update the UI. It is still missing basic setting like requesting a read receipt for sent emails or the ability to insert a table into an email to name a few. Its like taking a smart car engine and putting it into a corvette. It looks great but it still runs like shit!
I still don’t understand the lack of support for Dynamic CRM for Mac. Its like “well, we have products that we have designed to work together… but not really, you red headed step child…” After all the work put into making the Mac version like the Windows version. It seems like its still only skin deep. Using a VM to run Office for Windows on my Mac really kind of defeats the purpose.
I hope they do a better job on VBA than they did in the 2011 version.
I just use LibreOffice for everything. It is free and I have not found one thing yet that it can’t do that Word or Excel can. I like its interface much better as well. I am not anti-microsoft, but I really hate the ribbon interface. It is one of their worst ideas so far.
Russell, for those of us who MUST be able to create, view, and edit MS Office Word & Excel documents on an iPad or iPhone…LibreOffice simply won’t work. Other than that, on my Mac LibreOffice is fine.
Sill can’t use iCloud email with it so its still useless screw Microsoft