Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac Preview Is Cloud-Enabled, Accessible via SharePoint

Microsoft's new preview of Office 2016 for Mac is here, it's "powered by the cloud," and it integrates with SharePoint, as well as OneDrive and OneDrive for Business.

Office for Mac 2016 is unmistakebly Office, but is designed to exploit Mac features, noted Microsoft's Kirk Koenigsbauer in a blog post. This is similar to Microsoft's recent announcements about universal Office Apps for Windows 10 and Office for Android Tablet, added Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president for the Office 365 Client Apps and Services team. 

The new Office 2016 for Mac, which you can try out here, includes updated versions of all those familiar faces--Word, Excel, OneNote and Outlook--but the user experience has been modernized with a focus on making it easier to get things done. 

"The redesigned ribbon intuitively organizes features so you can quickly find what you need quickly," wrote Koenigsbauer. "A refreshed task pane interface makes positioning, resizing, or rotating graphics easy so you can create exactly the layout you want. And new themes and styles help you pull it all together to produce stunning, professional documents."

The new apps offer full retina display support, according to Microsoft, with thousands of retina-optimized graphics and a full-screen view for native immersive experiences. Further, there are no more "dark areas," in terms of Retina support, Eric Wilfrid, general manager of Microsoft’s Macintosh Business Unit, told VentureBeat. 

SuperSite for Windows' Jason Snell did an initial hands-on evaluation of Office, and so far he's a fan: "Mac users have long had a fraught relationship with Office. It's a vital business lifeline, but on the Mac it's often also been a frustration. It's been five years since the last major Office release on the Mac, and that's painful--but these new apps don't just look and feel good. They feel like a first-class citizen in a new Office world where many platforms--not just Windows, but the Web and iOS and Android--are welcome."