Review by David Bradshaw

I have been waiting a long time for an update to Microsoft Office. I primarily use a Mac and really do not like iWork (even now that it is free; I hate ‘exporting’ as DOC). So I always use MS Office. I have been using Office 2011 forever and felt really dated on my machine. Especially when I do use Windows and use Office 2013. I was excited to get Office 2016.

Installation was simple, I was not sure if I needed to, but to ensure a good install I followed the Microsoft KB article on removing all traces of Office 2011 before installing Office 2016. Since the world thinks we all have time to wait for a download I downloaded Office 2016 which took about 20 minutes (it was about 1.2GB). I thought it was not terrible but it took forever to install (1.5 hours) and it said it would only take 6.6GB so I am not sure why it took so long to install (I have a SSD Hybrid so it is not a write speed problem). But anyway, I left it running overnight and when I woke up it was installed.

I just dragged Outlook to the trash since it is not included with this copy and no reason to waste space for something that just prompts to upgrade. I would love it if one day Access, Publisher and Visio would be available for Mac. But for now the only options you have is Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

The new versions are not a great UI change over the Office 2011. I was kind of expecting a more Windows Office 2013 feel, but it is not a giant difference. But it does seem a bit nicer than Office 2011. The menus are all Mac like and dialogs are Mac like, so it feels more at home, but the Office 2013 version has some nice full screen screens when saving and printing which is nice; but it is not Mac like, so I guess I see why they were not brought over.

Word and Excel work as expected and I don’t find much difference between 2011 and 2016. I am experiencing some lag sometimes in Excel. I think it is due to the animated box around the cells. It is not a giant lag, but sometimes it is noticeable and locks the UI (beach ball). I have a 2011 i7 MacBook Pro.

PowerPoint is nice and has some new transitions which are nice and remind me of the Keynote transitions; so I do like the new transitions, but they are not as good as the Office 2013 version; I guess Microsoft loves Windows more :)nnIn total I really like Office 2016, it has a nice look and feels a bit more modern after upgrading from Office 2011. It is not as great as Office 2013, but it is better than Office 2011… I still think there is no choice in Mac other than having Office, iWorks will never be a replacement and I cannot be expected to email .pages files to anyone and expect other than confusion… So Office is a must for me! I am happy with this update and highly recommend the box full version over the 365 for Office especially for Mac (since you lose a lot of the software). And Office for iOS is free now so there is no great benefit over 365 if you are an Apple person.