Microsoft Office 2021 for Mac Review

The first preview of Microsoft Office 2021 is here, and it's for the Mac! With this preview, the next generation of Microsoft Office was presented to the public for the first time. Office 2021 will contain many changes and improvements for Mac users, which will also be available for other platforms at a later date.

It's clear that Microsoft wants to bring all its products together in a unified Office suite for Mac. If you want to learn more about the new features and improvements, read on!

Why is the public preview important?

The office suite has long been a mainstay of the industry, targeting large companies and selling more than 1.2 billion copies to date.

Today, it is used by organisations around the world as a primary means of collaboration and communication between colleagues. Any change or update can affect the way these organisations work, which can also affect your work.

Version 2021 is no exception. Office 2019 was the last iteration to bring a number of new features, but Office 2021 will bring a whole host of improvements that you should start using right away.

Microsoft's product is a big hit with US companies, which use it to standardise their office work and increase productivity.

The recent shift towards remote working has meant that collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams have become even more popular than before: almost 115 million daily active users now use the service, many even from Apple products.

Pre-release version of Office 2021 for Mac

The full Office 2021 includes many new features as well as a visual overhaul of the entire suite. We already see some of this in the Public Preview for Mac, especially in classic apps like Excel for Mac.

What we know for sure is that the suite will be much more accessible. One of the focal points of the macOS pre-release is the new text-to-speech technology in Word.

The new technology allows artificial voices to sound much more natural, making them easy to understand. The new Line Focus function is related to this. When using Immersive Reader, you can focus on each line individually to make it easier to read.

Excel has received most of the updates in the Mac preview version. Two new functions have been introduced and activated for testing, namely XLOOKUP() and LET(). These functions make sorting data easier, especially when working with large spreadsheets.

365 services, such as OneDrive storage or the embedding of Office Online, will play an even bigger role in this version. The new design is the most obvious change in Office: it is the Microsoft Fluent Design System (also known as Project Neon). The flat appearance with minimalist elements makes room for clearer interfaces that make or break the software.

The design and tools may also undergo some changes at launch based on feedback from testers in this first pre-release version. Microsoft has talked about its plans to make all apps run more smoothly so that even older devices can work seamlessly with Office 2021.

In addition, you can expect full dark mode support from the new suite, as seen in Word's Office LTSC preview.

Office 2021 Public Preview Summary

Here are the key points you need to know about the first preview build of the new Office 2021 suite developed and released for the macOS platform:

Line focus. In Word, you can now focus on the content of each line of the document by dragging it closer to the computer screen. This helps to avoid distractions and gives the user more space to work with less scrolling, which increases productivity.

New XLOOKUP function. With this function it is possible to search for things in a table or a range line by line, which was more difficult before. The new function makes this task much simpler and easier than before.

Improved support for dynamic matrices. A new set of functions in Excel gives you greater flexibility in using dynamic matrices for data structures in your worksheets.

Recording the speaker. With the new PowerPoint function, you can record the spoken text directly from the application and create a convincing slide presentation from it without additional editing.

While a Windows preview version has not yet been announced, you can preview Office 2021 for Mac and Office LTSC today to experience these features first-hand.

Final thoughts

Before the end of the year, Mac and Windows users will finally be able to enjoy the next full version of Microsoft Office.

Some exciting features have already been revealed and are scheduled for release on 5 October along with Windows 11 (a new operating system). There is no better time than now if you want early access.

Not only are we looking forward to what's coming next year, but we're also excited to share more about how things have developed so far. Stay tuned here at Licendi, where we blog regularly about the new Office 2021 and other tech news.

Do you have a question?

Our support team will help you whenever you need it. Remember that you can always find out more about Office 2021 software in our online shop.

Write us a comment or give us a call.

Yours sincerely,

Your Licendi team.