Microsoft Office 2016 (for Mac)
Editor Rating: Excellent (4.5)
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$100.00
Pros
Improved performance. Strong OS X integration. Seamless cloud-based sharing with Office for Windows, iOS, and Android. Familiar features and interface for Windows users.Cons
Requires OS X 10.10 or later. A few minor first-release glitches.Bottom Line
Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac is worth the five-year wait it took to get here. It's still by far the most powerful set of productivity apps for Apple computers, fitting more smoothly into OS X than ever, while adding cloud support. And the free preview version is stable enough for most people to use day to day.
Office365 is Microsoft's office software package, which includes programs like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. With this software, you can open and edit all MS Office file types, including TXT, XLSX, and PPT. This is a trial version that is available for one month.
Microsoft Office 2016 for the Mac is the kind of upgrade I hope for but rarely get. It took five years from Office 2011's release to get this latest Mac office suite, but it was well worth the wait. Almost everything is improved, with a bright, spacious interface, yet the learning curve is almost flat. That's because all of the suite's essential features work as they always did, though with added options and conveniences. There's nothing so startlingly new that it will get in the way of being productive. In August 2016, Microsoft released an automatic update that replaced the old 32-bit code of Office for the Mac with 64-bit code. The 64-bit version starts up faster, but otherwise it looks and acts like the earlier code, which was already an Editors' Choice for office suites.
Payment Options
Microsoft managed to make using Office for the Mac easy for anyone familiar with Office for Windows, while also integrating it more closely than ever into the OS X ecosystem. Office 365 subscribers can download Office 2016 for as little as $6.99 per month for one license, or $69.99 per year. If you prefer the traditional buy-once-use-forever model, Office Home and Business will run you $229.99 for one license. A stripped-down Office Home and Student is also available for a $149.99 one-time fee. The main difference in Home and Student is that it does not include Outlook or Access. If you can't afford even the $6.99 per month, you might try the free LibreOffice, but you'll be sacrificing some polish and capabilities by doing so.
Microsoft managed to make using Office for the Mac easy for anyone familiar with Office for Windows, while also integrating it more closely than ever into the OS X ecosystem. Office 365 subscribers can download Office 2016 for as little as $6.99 per month for one license, or $69.99 per year. If you prefer the traditional buy-once-use-forever model, Office Home and Business will run you $229.99 for one license. A stripped-down Office Home and Student is also available for a $149.99 one-time fee. The main difference in Home and Student is that it does not include Outlook or Access. If you can't afford even the $6.99 per month, you might try the free LibreOffice, but you'll be sacrificing some polish and capabilities by doing so.
SEE ALSO: 35 Google Drive Tips You Can't Afford to Miss
Improved Everything
Office 2016 looks and acts better than Office 2011—and it closely resembles Office 2016 for Windows. The ribbon interface is redesigned, with the same flat look as the Windows version and the Office mobile apps. The Mac version features a modern task-pane interface for selecting text styles, building formulas, and similar features. Long-term Windows users will rejoice that Windows key assignments, such as Ctrl-O for Open and Ctrl-F for Find, now also work in the Mac version. There's no need to remember to press Cmd instead of Ctrl.
Office 2016 looks and acts better than Office 2011—and it closely resembles Office 2016 for Windows. The ribbon interface is redesigned, with the same flat look as the Windows version and the Office mobile apps. The Mac version features a modern task-pane interface for selecting text styles, building formulas, and similar features. Long-term Windows users will rejoice that Windows key assignments, such as Ctrl-O for Open and Ctrl-F for Find, now also work in the Mac version. There's no need to remember to press Cmd instead of Ctrl.
Mac-Native
The suite also gets Mac-native features like pinch-to-zoom as well as support for Retina displays, so text and graphics have sharper resolution than ever before. Word and PowerPoint allow simultaneous editing by multiple users. Under the hood, the whole suite has been rewritten with up-to-date code, and it runs only on the most recent versions of OS X, specifically Yosemite and El Capitan.
The suite also gets Mac-native features like pinch-to-zoom as well as support for Retina displays, so text and graphics have sharper resolution than ever before. Word and PowerPoint allow simultaneous editing by multiple users. Under the hood, the whole suite has been rewritten with up-to-date code, and it runs only on the most recent versions of OS X, specifically Yosemite and El Capitan.
Online sharing via Microsoft's SharePoint service or its OneDrive cloud-based service is seamless among all Office platforms. You can stop work on one platform and pick up exactly where you left off on another—I tried it with the Mac, Windows, and iPad versions—and you can easily restore earlier versions of files saved to the cloud. It would be nice to have built-in iCloud integration, but I doubt it's going to happen any time soon.
Components
The Mac version of the suite comprises Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. Microsoft updated Outlook and OneNote prior to this release, so the latest versions of these two components are only a minor, though welcome, upgrade. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are all faster, easier to use, and more elegant. Most features are almost identical those of the Windows versions, but not all. For example, the Mac version can't import PDF files and create editable Office documents from the contents, but the Windows version can. However, PowerPoint for the Mac continues to outclass the Windows version in its Reorder Objects feature. On the Mac, you reorder objects by dragging them forward or back in an animated three-dimensional view, while in Windows you drag objects up and down in a less convenient list format.
The Mac version of the suite comprises Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. Microsoft updated Outlook and OneNote prior to this release, so the latest versions of these two components are only a minor, though welcome, upgrade. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are all faster, easier to use, and more elegant. Most features are almost identical those of the Windows versions, but not all. For example, the Mac version can't import PDF files and create editable Office documents from the contents, but the Windows version can. However, PowerPoint for the Mac continues to outclass the Windows version in its Reorder Objects feature. On the Mac, you reorder objects by dragging them forward or back in an animated three-dimensional view, while in Windows you drag objects up and down in a less convenient list format.
A few features have disappeared from the previous version. For example, the Publishing Layout option in Word that made Word act more like a page-layout app rather than a word processor is gone, as is the ability to rearrange the tab order on the Ribbon.
Apple's Word competitor Pages simply can't compete on power-user features like advanced typography and footnotes and endnotes. Likewise, Numbers trails Excel when it comes to advanced scientific and technical work. Keynote, on the other hand, is better than PowerPoint in many ways. It lacks some of the technical abilities of Microsoft's offering, but it's impressively powerful and creates amazing-looking presentations, winning it the Editors' Choice for OS X. Overall, Apple's suite is quite good. As a whole, however, Office trumps it.
Interface
The Ribbon interface on the Mac closely matches that of the Windows version, with the same tabs and features on both platforms, though with slight differences to match the operating system—for example, the Mac version supplements the Ribbon with a top-line menu, like the menu in all other OS X apps, though the Windows version has only the Ribbon.
The Ribbon interface on the Mac closely matches that of the Windows version, with the same tabs and features on both platforms, though with slight differences to match the operating system—for example, the Mac version supplements the Ribbon with a top-line menu, like the menu in all other OS X apps, though the Windows version has only the Ribbon.
As in the Windows versions of Office, Word gets a Style pane instead of a floating Inspector panel, Excel gets a Formula-building pane, PowerPoint gets an Animation pane. Word and PowerPoint get threaded comments—comments that can be linked to earlier comments to create collapsible discussion threads. Excel gets the strong Recommended Charts feature from the Windows version—and also PivotTable Slicers and improved AutoComplete. Word for the Mac finally gets the one feature I've wanted forever—the ability to click on the blank space between pages and hide the page header and footer, so that text flows from one page to the next with only a thin line between the pages, not an inch or more of blank space.
I noted one first-release glitch when I originally looked at Office for the Mac when it first released in 2015. When I saved a Word document to PDF, the hyperlinks in the saved PDF didn't work, because an extra character somehow got added to the Web address. The problem has been fixed in the latest update, however.
Mac MVP
Overall, Office 2016 for the Mac is a highly successful update, bringing the best of Office to Apple users. If you're choosing an office suite, the choice is clear for anyone who needs advanced features. Word and Excel surpass Apple's Pages and Numbers, and PowerPoint is close enough to Apple's superb Keynote to keep Office users from envying Keynote users. Office for the Mac is the clear winner of the Editors' Choice award for OS X office suites.
Overall, Office 2016 for the Mac is a highly successful update, bringing the best of Office to Apple users. If you're choosing an office suite, the choice is clear for anyone who needs advanced features. Word and Excel surpass Apple's Pages and Numbers, and PowerPoint is close enough to Apple's superb Keynote to keep Office users from envying Keynote users. Office for the Mac is the clear winner of the Editors' Choice award for OS X office suites.
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Many have derided Microsoft’s decision to offer the subscription-based Office 365An Introduction to Office 365: Should You Buy Into the New Office Business Model?An Introduction to Office 365: Should You Buy Into the New Office Business Model?Office 365 is a subscription based package that offers access to the latest desktop Office suite, Office Online, cloud storage, and premium mobile apps. Does Office 365 provide enough value to be worth the money?Read More next to Microsoft Office 2016, but I think it’s great. Contrary to what most think, Office 365 is not a greed-driven move to wring more cash out of gullible users. The two serve different audiences, and they both provide value.
But which one is the better value?
In this post, we’ll compare Microsoft Office 365 to Office 2016 and help you decide which one is actually more cost-effective for your needs. For the comparisons, we’ll be using the cheaper year-to-year plans instead of the month-to-month plans because there aren’t many situations where you’d only need Microsoft Office for a month.
Key Differences in Office 365 vs. Office 2016
The two varieties of Microsoft Office are fundamentally different in terms of what you’re buying, who can use the apps, and how long you get to keep access.
Office 365 is a per-user subscription5 Office 365 Myths Dispelled5 Office 365 Myths DispelledWhat's stopping you from buying Office 365? If it's not the price alone, maybe it's one of five common misconceptions.Read More. Not only can you install the Microsoft Office apps like you would normally, you can install them on as many devices as you want: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, etc. All installed apps are tied to your account. All apps receive updates while your subscription remains activeHow to Manage Your Office 365 SubscriptionHow to Manage Your Office 365 SubscriptionGetting to grips with Office 365? Make sure you're in complete control of your account and subscription settings with this guide.Read More.
Office 2016 is a per-PC one-time purchase. You purchase a single suite of apps that can only be installed on one machine, but anyone who has access to that machine can use the Microsoft Office apps. The installations are not tied to an account. Future versions of Microsoft Office will still need to be bought as they are released.
Value Comparison for Home Users
As a home user, you have four potential options:
- Office 365 Personal ($70 per year)
- Office 365 Home ($100 per year)
- Office 2016 Home & Student ($150 one-time purchase)
- Office 2016 Home & Business ($230 one-time purchase)
What You Get With Office 365
If you opt for Office 365, the main difference is that the Personal plan is for one user while the Home plan is for five users. They both come with seven Microsoft Office apps in desktop and mobile versions with no limitations or restrictions:
- Word 2016
- Excel 2016
- PowerPoint 2016
- Outlook 2016
- OneNote 2016
- Publisher 2016 (PC only)
- Access 2016 (PC only)
The Office 365 plans also come with OneDrive and Skype. If you’re on the Home plan, these benefits apply to each of the five users:
- 1 TB of OneDrive storage (compared to 5 GB for free users)
- 1 hour of Skype credit per month
What You Get With Microsoft Office 2016
On the other hand, you don’t get nearly as much with either version of Microsoft Office 2016. You get up to five desktop Microsoft Office apps but none of their mobile versions, and you miss out on the extra OneDrive storage and Skype minutes. The five Microsoft Office apps you get:
- Word 2016
- Excel 2016
- PowerPoint 2016
- OneNote 2016
- Outlook 2016 (Home & Business version only)
In essence, Outlook 2016 costs $80.
To equalize Microsoft Office 2016 with Office 365, you’d need to purchase Publisher 2016 ($110) and Access 2016 ($110) separately in the Microsoft Store, as well as a OneDrive plan and Skype credits. Note that OneDrive only offers a 50 GB storage-only plan, so that’s what we’ll use.The previously-available 100 GB and 200 GB plans are gone. The 1 TB plan is only available with Office 365.
Note that mainstream support for Office 2016 ends in October 2020 (i.e. stops receiving feature and performance updates) and extended support for Microsoft Office 2016 ends in October 2025 (i.e. stops receiving security and reliability patches). Keep this in mind as you’ll probably want to upgrade to the next version of Microsoft Office around then.
Over 1 Year
Office 365 Personal costs $70 for one user.
Office 365 Home costs $100 for five users.
Microsoft Office 2016 Home & Student costs $150 for one PC. OneDrive 50 GB costs $24 for one year. Skype costs about $17 for 12 hours. Total cost is $191 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (or $411 with Publisher and Access).
Microsoft Office 2016 Home & Business costs $230 for one PC. Same annual costs for OneDrive and Skype. Total cost is $271 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook (or $491 with Publisher and Access).
Over 5 Years
Office 365 Personal costs $350 for one user.
Office 365 Home costs $500 for five users.
Microsoft Office 2016 Home & Student costs $150 for one PC. OneDrive 50 GB costs $120 for five years. Skype costs about $85 for 60 hours. Total cost is $355 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (or $575 with Publisher and Access).
Microsoft Office 2016 Home & Business costs $230 for one PC. Same annual costs for OneDrive and Skype. Total cost is $435 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook (or $655 with Publisher and Access).
Over 10 Years
Office 365 Personal costs $700 for one user.
Office 365 Home costs $1,000 for five users.
Microsoft Office 2016 Home & Student costs $150 for one PC. OneDrive 50 GB costs $240 for 10 years. Skype costs about $170 for 120 hours. Total cost is $560 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (or $780 with Publisher and Access). Want to upgrade after five years? Add another $150.
Microsoft Office 2016 Home & Business costs $230 for one PC. Same annual costs for OneDrive and Skype. Total cost is $640 for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook (or $860 with Publisher and Access). Want to upgrade after five years? Add another $230.
Final Verdicts on Office 365 vs. Office 2016
If you only need Word, Excel, and/or PowerPoint:
- Office 365 is best value for one year.
- Microsoft Office 2016 Home & Student is best value for five or 10 years.
If you only need Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook:
- Office 365 is best value for one year.
- Microsoft Office 2016 Home & Business is best value for five or 10 years.
If you also need Publisher and Access without OneDrive or Skype:
- Office 365 is best value for one year.
- Both are about the same for five years.
- Microsoft Office 2016 is best value for 10 years.
If you also need OneDrive or Skype without Publisher or Access:
- Office 365 is best value for one year.
- Without Outlook, both are about the same for five years. With Outlook, Office 365 is best value for five years.
- Microsoft Office 2016 is best value for 10 years. Unless you upgrade at the five year mark, in which case Microsoft Office 2016 is only better value without Outlook.
If you need all of the above:
- Office 365 always offers the best value.4 Free Alternatives to Microsoft Office 3654 Free Alternatives to Microsoft Office 365Microsoft Office 365 offers the perfect integration of a desktop office suite with its web-based counterpart. Can any of its free alternatives compete? We look at four office suites with both offline and online features.Read More
Did this article help you decide between Office 365 and Office 2016Don't Buy Office 2016! Here's Why You Don't Need ItDon't Buy Office 2016! Here's Why You Don't Need ItShould you buy the standalone package version of Office 2016? We present our case why we think you shouldn't and show you what you can do instead.Read More? Which one are you going to use? Are there any other factors we missed? Share with us in the comments below!
Image Credit: Nor Gal via Shutterstock.com
Explore more about: Microsoft Office 2016, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Office Tips, Price Comparison, Subscriptions.
- This article is useful for me as I choose the Office 365 for Education ecosystem over that of Google's. I'd like to point out that not everyone has continuous access to the internet, so that leaves Office 365 out. I'd recommend buying an Office Suite like Office 2016 if that person wants full compatibility with the Office Online apps which are deployed when he or she works on files shared on OneDrive or Sharepoint.
- Thanks for making the comparison. One thing you might want to add is: which is the best value if you're going to be using the product for two years? Or three years? Or four years? Or six years? etc.
- Plus you get office 2016 for as low as 50 as oem build