Hands-on: Office For Mac

The October 26 release of Office 2011 for Mac demonstrates that Microsoft is taking the Mac platform seriously. The new Office release is a strong offering with much to like. This is the fifth in a series (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4) of articles that takes a good look at Office 2011 and the benefits it can bring to the average Mac owner. Microsoft Outlook Outlook has long been a key application for enterprise.

When coupled with an Exchange server it brings serious capabilities to email, contact management and scheduling. Mac users have missed out on Outlook with the decidedly lesser choice of Entourage - a capable email program but it’s collaboration capabilities lagged well behind those of Outlook and it’s use of an incompatible data file format meant more pain and hassles for users. This has often resulted in Mac users resorting to a virtual machine running Windows just so they can access the more robust Outlook along with other Windows-based Office applications. The release of Office 2011 sees the welcome return of Outlook (missing from the Mac version of Office for most of the last decade) and the demise of Entourage.

It brings with it the ability to make use of PST data files created with the Windows version of Outlook. As you would expect, Outlook 2011 also connects with Exchange although this is limited to connections to Exchange 2007 or later due, in part, to it’s reliance on Exchange Web Services for it’s connection to Exchange. This will inevitably bring about some limits on how well Outlook will work in conjunction with an Exchange server.

If you’re using Exchange 2003 or earlier, you’ll have to look at IMAP or POP3 access to your server and accept that you’ll have reduced functionality.

In this case, my screen shot comparison includes 2011 for Mac and 2010 for Windows. An Outlook for Windows power user is no doubt going to find things not to like about the interface. Where the Windows offering can provide a fairly complete single glance view at calendar/schedule and incoming email, this isn’t directly possible in the Mac version where there doesn’t appear to be any way to include a calendar view in the main interface window. You can, however, turn on the “My Day” facility which runs as a separate task in a separate window and has only limited configurability.

The ribbon appears less well executed in Outlook compared to the other applications included as part of the Office suite. There’s a feel that, perhaps, this is very definitely a v1.0 application where Word, Excel and PowerPoint have moved beyond that stage of development. As with the other Office applications, Outlook continues to make strong use of menus which is a significant variation from the Windows version. Use of these menus can be attributed to adhering to Apple design guidelines but it seems to have resulted in some features that might be expected to be in the ribbon are either only in the menu system or implemented quite differently in the ribbon to the Windows alternative. Outlook In Use I don’t have a compatible Exchange server to use for testing purposes so I set up Outlook to access an IMAP account on my server.

I also imported the PST file I was using in Outlook for Windows prior to my change to using Apple’s Mail.app instead. This PST file is approximately 1.7GB in size and includes extensive contacts lists, calendar events and a few thousand emails. The import process was relatively quick considering the size of the data file to be imported. It should be noted that importing was my only option for accessing the PST file - this differs from the Windows version of Outlook where it’s also possible to just directly open a PST file to view it’s contents. It suggests that the Mac version isn’t directly using the PST file but is, instead, converting it for it’s internal use. On the bright side, this still allows you to convert from using the Windows version to the Mac version without the need to purchase additional software to make the change.

Once imported, all of my contacts, calendar events and emails were loaded and accessible without any hitches. Email, be it text or HTML based was viewable precisely as you would expect. As an email program working via IMAP, Outlook functioned exactly as expected.

When it comes to syncing your Outlook data to another device, the application currently has some glaring oversights. While it’s possible to sync contacts, it isn’t yet possible to sync calendar data. Microsoft has confirmed that they are working on including this functionality “in the coming months” (The Download on Sync Services in Office for Mac 2011). It’s worth remembering, though, that if you’re using Exchange then you can sync an iPhone or iPad natively to that server anyway. Leaving PowerPoint as the only application in Office 2011 to have an inconsistent preferences pane, Outlook has also adopted a System Preferences-like interface. Conclusion In spite of a few irritating limitations, Outlook is a welcome return to the Mac platform, particularly for anyone who needs access to an Exchange server for work and needs some of the more advanced features that come along with such connectivity. For a typical home user, there’s less attraction to adopt Outlook as your email/calendar/contact application, especially if you also own an iPhone or iPad and want to sync your data through to that device.

Pros: Built-in support for importing Windows PST files Functionality near that of the Windows version Cons: Only supports Exchange 2007 or later Uses EWS to access Exchange No calendar sync available at release This article is the fifth in a series on Office 2011. The final article will look at collaboration and the included extras with Office. If you have questions or would like particular aspects of Office 2011 explored and covered please add your comments in the forum.

If you plan on purchasing Office 2011 for Mac, buy from the Apple Online Store and support MacTalk! This article is based on a review copy of Office 2011 Home & Business that was provided to MacTalk by Microsoft specifically for review purposes. While it is believed the review copy is based on the final retail release version, there may be minor differences that could result in some of the included screenshots or functionality not being the same as in the retail release. David Freeman is an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician and the proprietor of Outback Queensland Internet (aka Leading Edge Computers Longreach). He has worked as a technician for over fifteen years and been involved in computers and the Internet since 1988 when he purchased his first computer (an Amiga 1000). Thanks David - another great installment.

You mentioned that 'It should be noted that importing was my only option for accessing the PST file – this differs from the Windows version of Outlook where it’s also possible to just directly open a PST file to view it’s contents. It suggests that the Mac version isn’t directly using the PST file but is, instead, converting it for it’s internal use'. That's a worry - I have 10.pst files with all my emails from 1999 onwards - about 10GB. Does that mean I'd have to import them all to view / search them in Outlook 2011? I really only want to keep them in the separate.pst files as an archive - the same way you can in Outlook for Windows.

Thanks David - another great installment. You mentioned that 'It should be noted that importing was my only option for accessing the PST file – this differs from the Windows version of Outlook where it’s also possible to just directly open a PST file to view it’s contents. It suggests that the Mac version isn’t directly using the PST file but is, instead, converting it for it’s internal use'. That's a worry - I have 10.pst files with all my emails from 1999 onwards - about 10GB. Does that mean I'd have to import them all to view / search them in Outlook 2011? I really only want to keep them in the separate.pst files as an archive - the same way you can in Outlook for Windows. Yeah, that's what it means - I have a similar collection of PST files build up over time and the inability to just load one to refer to an email or something is a hassle.

It was one of the first features I went looking for when I loaded up Outlook for the first time. From my research thus far it appears that in order to get all the Outlook data available to Spotlight, Microsoft has gone to a 'file per message' approach to mail storage and while this offers some advantages, particularly for heavy Spotlight users, it means that they aren't directly using a PST file - just making it possible to easily convert from them. Only major issue I noticed with Outlook 2011 that they haven't fixed up from Entourage is the fact that it takes ages to send/receive because it goes through and checks for updates in every single folder. Mail is still way quicker for that. I'd contend that unless you're in an Exchange server environment and NEED the more advanced features offered by an Exchange/Outlook interaction, there's no real value in using Outlook over the Mail/iCal/Address Book combo.

If Outlook had supported Exchange 2003 that would have been reason enough alone to adopt it but it's got the same limitation as Mail.app and needs 2007 or later. Integration is the value, no fragmentation of products. That aside, Outlook works great for Exchange 2007, I'm loving it.

But I'm only using a trial to see what it's like - I'm happy to keep using Mail/iCal/etc myself. I'd like the integration more if, as in Outlook for Windows, you had a single window view of all key features (mail, calendar/to-do, contacts). I couldn't find a way to view calendar information as a column on the side of my email. That kind of integration would suit me well. The 'My Day' add-on is fine but has very limited configurability from what I could see - certainly I couldn't find a way to get it to give me a month overview as well as up-coming events.

It insisted on just showing the current day. I guess that's why I feel that, absent an Exchange server, there's few real benefits to it's use. Of course, that opinion is coloured both by my own particular needs so, as usual, YMMV. I'd contend that unless you're in an Exchange server environment and NEED the more advanced features offered by an Exchange/Outlook interaction, there's no real value in using Outlook over the Mail/iCal/Address Book combo. If Outlook had supported Exchange 2003 that would have been reason enough alone to adopt it but it's got the same limitation as Mail.app and needs 2007 or later. Many people are stuck with Exchange Server 2003 through no choice of their own, and if MS can't address compatibility in their own products, then there's no advantage in using Office / Outlook over using Apple's offerings.

Wondering if I'm the only one experiencing weirdness between Outlook 2011 and Outlook 2007 when it comes to how the handle font sizes. I'm one of the communications officers at work - I handle all the outage notifications and advisories. If I'm composing an email that's to go to all users in MacOutlook the font size I send with does not relate to the Outlook2007 size.

Font 14 on 11 turns up as 10.5 on 07 11 on 11 is 8.5 on 07 and 9 on 11 turns out to be 7 on 07 This is messy. I find the same problem occurs if I use Mail.app.

Office Hand Download

I have recently upgraded to Office 2011 from Office 2008 for the MAC where I am an exchange (much to my dismay) user with Entourage. With very few exceptions (example: The Ribbon, the ability to import.pst files, and the side panel ) this version is nothing more than Entourage 2008. For the most part nothing has changed. The rules section is identical, the number of To-Do flags is the same (only one color option, no capability for stationary, no ability to create additional.pst files ( or.olm files) for that matter. No ability to archive messages, raising the question is there a limit on the over all size of the.olm file? I have no idea because the Help section is all but useless. In short this looks, feels and functions very little like Outlook for Windows and and exactly like Entourage 2008.

Hands-on: Office For Mac Download

The help menus are terrible, to the point of being completely useless. I have yet to have a help question answered by Help or even get close. All help does is do a search on words in the search bar and bring back anything that contains those words, of which none address the question at hand. Outlook 2011 has been installed on my MacBook Pro i7 with 8 gb of RAM for the past three days and every night after midnight sometime, the application has crashed and has to reload. No explanation, and the OS was doing nothing not even a backup, just sitting there? In short I am not impressed with Outlook 2011 and am very seriously considering going back to Entourage (which was at least stable) or maybe back to using Apple Mail App and iCal instead (which by the way works just as well on Exchange server for far less money (free to be exact).

In my opinion this was just another example of Microsoft's typical hype with lots of promise and no delivery. This is why I left Windows machines and their OS three years ago. For what it is worth if you are considering moving from Entourage or to Outlook and Exchange is not needed I would not waist the money, it is not worth it. I have been using Office 2010 through Parallels, but thought I would try the Mac version as I get it cheap through work. The main gains I was looking for was better integration with OSX (ie links in emails opening in Safari rather than Win IE8, better use of iPhoto and iTunes libraries etc), but the loss of the 'To-Do/calendar' view in the main interface and instead having to struggle with the 'My Day' app seems a very backward step. Add the fact of lack of syncing with iDevices ATM and this will be removed from the dock for now, until MS make some improvements.