Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 2

Today Microsoft released Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 2 (v14.2.0). As with all service packs, this free update is recommended for all users and includes a long list of bug fixes and enhancements.

Although none of the new features are particularly exciting, Microsoft have optimised Outlook, with improved performance for Exchange and IMAP accounts. This should be great news for businesses looking to embrace the Mac, as up to this point I have found Outlook for Mac to be slower than its Windows counterpart, resulting in regular "beachballing". Microsoft have also finally included a few Lion specific features, for example Full-Screen Apps.

If you're an Office for Mac user then I suggest you head over to the Microsoft Download Center now and grab the 110MB update. For more details be sure to check out the official release notes.

Update on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 6:47AM by Matt (LifeinTECH)

It looks like Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 2 is having a few teething issues, specifically a nasty Outlook database bug. As a result Microsoft have pulled the service pack from Auto Update, but it is still available as a direct download.

If you are a heavy user of Outlook it might be worth waiting a few weeks for Microsoft to release an updated version or patch.

Office for Mac 2011 SP1 Released

Although this update will likely be shadowed by the announcements coming out of MIX11, today Microsoft officially released Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1.

The download comes in at 246MB with a version number of 14.1.0. It is compatible with all versions of Office for Mac 2011.

As with all Microsoft updates, Service Pack 1 comes with hundreds of bug fixes and optimisations, as well as including a new feature to better synchronise Outlook data with iOS devices. One thing I hope it fixes is the "wkresources" recovered file bug that plagues my Snow Leopard install (see image below).

Although this bug doesn't impact the operating system or Office itself, it is annoying to have recovered files in the Trash each time I restart my Mac.

Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1 is available now from the Microsoft download centre.

Update on Friday, April 15, 2011 at 5:07AM by Matt (LifeinTECH)

Confirmed: After installing Office for Mac 2011 SP1 and running a "Repair Disk Permissions", I can confirm that the "wkresources" recovered file bug appears to be resolved. 

Office for Mac available on TechNet & MSDN

Previous versions of Office for Mac have not been made available to Microsoft TechNet or MSDN subscribers. I have queried this on multiple occasions with Microsoft and have always received the same response:

"The Mac Business Unit are a separate entity within Microsoft, who do not currently distribute, or have any plans to distribute, Mac software via the Microsoft developer/evaluation subscriptions."

This response is not strictly true, as Virtual PC for Mac has been on TechNet for many years, however we can now forgive them for this oversight as I can confirm that Office for Mac 2011 Home & Business Edition is now available for download.

The download has been made available as an ISO, which can be extracted to reveal a standard DMG. It is 890MB and TechNet subscribers get five licences. To find out how you can become a member head over to Microsoft TechNet Subscriptions.

Office for Mac 2011 Released

The wait is over. Microsoft have officially released Office 2011 for Mac to volume licence customers, with the general public release set for 26th October.

As stated in my previous article, Office for Mac 2011 will be available in three versions (now with official UK pricing): 

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student 2011
Single License: £89.99
Family License (Three Macs): £103.99

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business 2011
Single License: £176.99
Multi-Pack License (Two Macs): £204.99

Microsoft Office for Mac Academic 2011
Single License: No UK pricing available ($99 US)
Note: Proof of identity may be required to purchase the discounted suite.

If you don't have access to a Microsoft volume licence then you can pre-order now from Amazon. While you wait, check out the first review from MacWorld which seems to backup my thoughts that this release is set to be the best Office version for Mac since 2004 and brings the suite one step closer to it's Windows counterpart. 

"After years of lamenting what Word for Mac lacks, I find myself in the odd yet enviable position of announcing that Word 2011 is great. It is a solid word processing application that is powerful and well designed, and makes it easy to find all the features you need. But what’s most important is that it’s designed to move your Mac into your office with no regrets, no compromises, and no excuses for why your Mac can’t play well with the Windows version of the same application." - MacWorld Verdict.

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011

The wait is nearly over, after months of leaked screenshots and five "private" beta builds, Microsoft have officially announced that Office for Mac 2011 will be available at the end of October. In my opinion the biggest two changes coming (for the average user) are the new "Mac Ribbon" user interface (bringing it closer to it's Windows counterpart) and Entourage finally being replaced by Outlook (bringing true mail compatibility between Windows and Mac).

To help hype the release Microsoft have posted a set of promo videos which help detail some of the new features. The first two can be seen below: (Update - Added an additional two videos).

On release, Office for Mac will be made available is three versions, although there is still a little uncertainty as to what applications/features are included in each. Also there is no UK pricing available at this time.

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student 2011
Single License: $119
Family License (Three Macs): $149

Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Business 2011
Single License: $199
Family License (Two Macs): $279

Microsoft Office for Mac Academic 2011
Single License: $99
Note: Proof of identity may be required to purchase the discounted suite.

Personally I will probably go for the "Home and Student" family licence (normally £150 UK) as it gives you the Office core functionality (Word, Excel and Powerpoint) and allows you to install it across three Macs. For more information head over to Office for Mac.