Following yesterday's leak of several screenshots from the next version of Microsoft's Outlook for Mac, Chinese site cnBeta now shares much more information [Google Translate] about the upcoming version of Microsoft's productivity suite for Mac.
The report shares several presentation slides outlining some of the features of the next Office for Mac, as well as a timeline showing a planned release sometime in the first half of 2015. Microsoft team members had previously suggested the suite would launch this year.
The slides point to four key focus areas for Microsoft during the development cycle of the next Office for Mac, including a modernized look with full Retina support to match the OS X aesthetic while still aligning the experience with Office for Windows, improved connectivity with cloud services including Office 365 and SkyDrive (OneDrive), significant improvements to Outlook, and the addition of OneNote, which appeared as a standalone release earlier this year.
(Click for larger)
Taking a quick look at some of the changes to the core Office apps, the slides address the addition of the Quick Access Toolbar from the Windows version throughout the upcoming Mac suite, improved organization of tools and formatting, new support for Excel 2013 functions, Threaded Comments and improved Presenter View for PowerPoint, and enhanced Reply Comments and "Expand and Collapse" paragraph view toggles in Word.
Microsoft Office for Mac has not seen a major update since late 2010, when Office for Mac 2011 was released as a comparable version of Office 2010 for Windows. But while Windows saw the release of Office 2013 early last year, no corresponding version of Office for Mac has yet been released. The next version of Office for Windows is similarly expected in the spring of next year.
Saturday August 16, 2025 6:45 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is developing an all-new operating system codenamed "Charismatic," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Apple smart home hub concept
This is likely Apple's long-rumored "homeOS" operating system.
In a report this week, Gurman said both Apple's rumored smart home hub in 2026 and tabletop robot in 2027 will run the new operating system. He said the software platform will blend...
Last week, Apple released and then pulled a software tool that accidentally contained identifiers for many unreleased devices and chips, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. His findings included new models of the Studio Display, Apple TV, Apple Watches, Apple Vision Pro, iPad mini, HomePod mini, and more.
Here is what was uncovered in the file, according to MacRumors contributor ...
Monday August 18, 2025 11:59 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The seventh developer beta of iOS 26 is now available. While we are now in the later stages of the iOS 26 beta cycle, there are still some changes.
Below, we outline everything new that we have found in iOS 26 beta 7 so far.
Redesigned Blood Oxygen Feature
The seventh developer betas of iOS 26 and watchOS 26 include a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature on Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch ...
Alleged images of the iPhone 17 Pro Max's internal design have surfaced, offering a potential look inside the device before it is announced by Apple next month.
The images were shared by the account "yeux1122" this week, in a blog post on the Korean platform Naver. The account aggregates Apple rumors and leaks, so it is likely not the original source of the images, and it is unclear if they...
Apple is expected to delay the launch of its base iPhone 18 model until spring 2027, marking a major shift in the company's long-established release cycle, according to South Korea's ETNews.
The report claims that Apple has informed some of its suppliers that the iPhone 18 will not be part of the September 2026 iPhone lineup. Instead, the company will unveil only higher-end models in the...
At least one new Apple Watch model launching next year will feature a "significant redesign," according to Taiwanese supply chain publication DigiTimes.
In a paywalled report this week, citing supply chain insiders, DigiTimes claimed that a high-end 2026 Apple Watch model will feature "exterior design" changes, including but not limited to "eight sensors arranged in a ring pattern visible...
As we wait for WWDC to kick off next Monday, Apple today announced the winners of its annual Apple Design Awards, recognizing apps and games for their innovation, ingenuity, and technical achievement.
The 2025 Apple Design Award winners are listed below, with one app and one game selected per category:
Delight and Fun - CapWords (App) and Balatro (Game)
Innovation - Play (App) and PBJ -...
About damn time. Office for Mac was really getting long in the tooth. Unfortunately, no matter how much I love Pages, I just can't rely on it exclusively, because I can never ever be sure that if I finish something in Pages and export it to doc it will look like exactly the same in MS Word... and yeah, there are documents that you are kind of obliged to send in .doc (not in PDF), that is the sad truth... :(
As a Seattleite, I know one of the Microsoft Office for Mac team members. I get the impression that they are Apple devotees, working within Microsoft to bring out the best version of Office for OSX and iOS. Although Office for iPad is not perfect, it's pretty damn good, and it's definitely more an iOS8 app than a "Microsoft app running on an iPad." I expect the same from this team's next version of Office for OSX. Let's cut them some slack, guys, and give them time to do it right.
I just want it to work right. i.e.: work like the Windows version of Office. It doesn't have to look the same. Just work the same.
We have users that move from Windows to OS X. They like Mac OS X, they HATE Office for Mac.
Same with me. I spend most of the day in OS X. It does everything I want it to - except run the real Office. I have to load up a virtual machine or boot into Windows just to run Office.
Office for Mac has been Office in name, only so far.
"Outlook 2011" is just a misnomer for Entourage 14.0. And of course, every version of Entourage/Outlook for Mac never works like the previous version. 2011 doesn't look or work like 2008. 2008 doesn't look or work like 2004. Fonts work differently. Labels and colors work differently. Rules work differently. Nothing is consistent with "Office".
This can't come soon enough! I need Office for work, and this looks like Mac users will finally get what they deserve: a first class Office on Mac.
I'm probably in the minority here, but I think Microsoft is slowly turning in the right direction under Satya Nadella. It's a big ship and there's a lot of Ballmer to undo, but I am hopeful.
I'm very happy to see more concrete evidence of an update! On a side note, did anyone else chuckle when they saw the "support for new Office 2013 features and capabilities."? I guess "new" is completely in the eyes of the beholder....
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
