It may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s pertinent.
At its Ignite event in Orlando, Microsoft announced the availability of Office 2019 for Windows and Mac, alongside a test version of Files on Demand which allows users to see all their OneDrive files on the Mac desktop, and only download what needs to be used.
Per Microsoft Office 2019 will include a number of features that had been added to Office 365 ProPlus, its cloud-connected version, over the course of the last three years.
Users with commercial volume licensing can access Office 2019 immediately, while the suite will be available to all customers in the coming weeks.
Microsoft’s Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Office and Windows Marketing, offered the following description:
“For customers who aren’t ready for the cloud, Office 2019 provides new features and updates to the on-premises apps for both users and IT professionals. Like Windows Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) releases, Office 2019 provides a set of valuable enhancements for customers who can’t be cloud-connected or receive regular updates.”
The Office suite, as usual, includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, Visio, Access, and Publisher. New features include the addition of “Morph” and “Zoom” to PowerPoint, new data analysis features on Excel, and the new addition of Read Aloud and Text Spacing to Word and Outlook. A standalone preview for Office 2019 arrived in June.
Microsoft also announced the availability of its Files On-Demand for Mac service on Monday, which allows Mac users to “access all your files in OneDrive without having to download all of them and use storage space on your device.”
Files On-Demand allows users to see all files in the Finder on a APFS-formatted volume in macOS Mojave, and allows access to them if the computer is connected to the Internet. Microsoft offers instructions for configuring Files On-Demand for Mac users.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider and Microsoft