Microsoft has released its latest version of Office for Mac, available as of today. The new software includes many of the same features from the Windows version, along with some features completely new to Office.
The biggest change in Office 2004 is the new view for Word – the Notebook Layout. The new view was developed based on the many lessons learned from Microsoft’s OneNote for Windows, providing users a convenient way take hierarchical bulleted notes and a feature that allows voice note recording through the internal microphone on Mac notebooks.
Updated versions of Excel and Powerpoint have been included with the software as well as a new Entourage which is basically the Mac version of Outlook.
In Excel, the biggest change is a "print layout" view that shows a user exactly how a spreadsheet will print and allows the spreadsheet to snap to a single page.
The graphics engine has been upgraded in PowerPoint to allow better transitions and transparency in the slides, and a new “presenter view” allows the presenter screen to include notes invisible to the viewers and the ability to maneuver through slides.
Entourage has adopted the vertical inbox layout found in Outlook, which displays more information than the horizontal layout implemented in previous Mac versions.
Commenting on the software Mircosoft said that it “helps Mac customers get in touch with their inner business suit to take care of business more efficiently, leaving more time for the pursuit of passions."
Microsoft Office 2004 is currently available for $400 in Standard, Student and Teacher versions, however the Professional versions of the suite won’t be released until the second half of the year.
