[1] Office 365 is compatible with Windows 7 or later, and Mac OS X 10.10. Application availability and features that come with Office 365 vary by platform and device; current Office application versions for Office 365 are Office 2016 for Windows and Office 2016 for Mac. Visit www.office.com/information for full system requirements, including compatible tablets and smartphones for Office 365. [2] Available on PC only.

[3] Skype available only in select countries; see FAQ for details. Calling to select countries only. Excludes calling to special, premium and non-geographic numbers.

Microsoft Office 2016 (codenamed Office 16) is a version of the Microsoft Office productivity suite, succeeding both Office 2013 and Office for Mac 2011, and preceding Office 2019 for both platforms. It was released on macOS on July 9, 2015 and on Microsoft Windows on September 22, 2015 for Office 365 subscribers.

It used to be that the one productivity suite every Mac user needed was without a doubt Microsoft Office for Mac. But over the last five years the most recent version of Office for Mac – the 2011 version, introduced in 2010 – has slowly been pushed from the “must have” category to the “nice but not necessary” category thanks to improvements to Apple’s productivity suite iWork (which is now free for all Mac owners). Microsoft’s Office software is essentially the benchmark by which all over productivity suites are judged. It is also the most popular option with businesses and professionals the globe over, despite Google and Apple both making major inroads in the space.

Microsoft’s Office software is the complete package, however, offering enterprise-grade solutions to users that demand the best of the best. Indeed, if you are a Mac user you can’t help but feel like Microsoft was letting Office for Mac 2011 languish behind both the PC version and the newer technologies supported by OS X. I mean, it had been almost 5 YEARS since Office for Mac last received a major update.

That’s why when earlier this year it breathed renewed hope into the legions of Office devotees on the Mac. After five long years we were getting a new version. But would it live up to the hype, and would it be as good as its Windows counterpart? I’ve been playing around with Office for Mac 2016 for about a month now –– here’s what I’ve found. Office for Mac 2016: New Design and User Interface. Let’s not beat around the bush: every app included in Office for Mac 2016 (that’s Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote) looks absolutely stunning.

This is not only the most gorgeous Office for Mac ever, it’s the most gorgeous office productivity suite on the Mac ever. Apple could learn a lot from Office for Mac 2016’s design when it comes to iWork. Each app in Office for Mac 2016 has a unique colorful Office theme along an open documents top header–blue for Word, green for Excel, etc. And though it's easy to dismiss this as eye candy, it’s actually incredibly helpful when you have multiple Office for Mac 2016 apps open. It makes distinguishing between them–and their open documents a breeze. Thanks to full Retina display support throughout the apps, all the buttons and menus in Office for Mac 2016 look as crisp and clear as any I’ve seen on a Mac.

The clean lines, muted colors, and glyphs used in the icons–everything screams “attention to detail” like I’ve never seen in a productivity suite before. And now let’s get to that new improved Ribbon interface. The Ribbon is the toolbar that runs along the top of every open document’s window. It’s where you find your commands and tools grouped into different categories (Home, Insert, Design, Layout, etc).

The Ribbon interface, which is borrowed from the Windows and iPad version of Office, gives you quick, easy, and most importantly, uncluttered access to all the tools you’ll want to use. Matter of fact, the entire new design of the Office apps could be described as “uncluttered”. I’ve never found an Office suite that was more easy to navigate and made accessing tools as easy as Office for Mac 2016.

Speaking of uncluttered, Office for Mac 2016 ditches any floating toolbar windows and pallets. All task panes now appear inline on the right hand side of a document’s window when you need them. For me, the best part of the new Office for Mac 2016 is its refined design. Office for Mac 2016: New Technologies. Word 2008 for mac must upgrade. Design isn’t the only thing the new Office for Mac 2016 has going for it, however.

It also builds in support for a lot of OS X technologies. Now users can use multitouch gestures that are available in OS X on a system wide level in Office for Mac 2016. For example, you can pinch to zoom in or out on a specific part of your document. I’ve already stated that Office for Mac 2016 fully supports Retina displays now.