![]() ![]() With Microsoft 365, customers pay monthly or yearly to always have the most up to date version of the software. However, some of the new features had already been available as part of the Microsoft 365 (previously Office 365) subscription. Office 2021 for Mac was launched in September 2021 (three years after Office 2019 launched). What’s the difference between Microsoft 365 and Office 2021? If you are a PC user there is also Office Professional 2021 for $439/£419, but there is no Mac version of this suite. Microsoft 365 subscribers get updates every month (though organizational subscriptions can choose to upgrade user accounts either semi-annually, every January and July). Details of how to upgrade to that are on Microsoft’s site here. Microsoft also offers Office LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel). Read about Microsoft Office for Mac 2021 in our guide to the latest version of Office. There is also Office Home & Business 2021 ($249.99/ £249.99) which is designed for families and small businesses who want the office apps Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Outlook isn’t included in this version, but since March 2023 Microsoft has started offering Outlook for free, and you can download that on the Mac App Store. The latest version of Office for Mac for home users is Office Home & Student 2021 ($149.99/ £119.99). If you don’t want to sign up for a subscription and would rather own the software outright, you will be glad to hear that Microsoft continues to sell and update the Office 2021 suite. Despite the name change and a bunch of upgrades at that time, the prices remain the same. The service, previously called Office 365, rebranded as Microsoft 365 in April 2020. If you subscribe you benefit from the fact that you always receive the latest updates to the software, continuously, without the need of having to buy the whole program or suite again. This is really a reflection of how much the industry has changed - Microsoft is primarily competing with cloud services like Google Docs, and its priorities have shifted accordingly.The latest version of Office for Mac is available via a Microsoft 365 subscription which costs from $69.99/ £59.99 per year or $6.99/£5.99 per month). It's for companies that can't move their workers to the cloud, or individuals who just want a reasonably current Office suite without committing to a subscription. ![]() However, it's not really meant for early adopters. This release won't thrill you if you're used to the heftier Office updates of years past. If you're an everyday user, you'll have to wait until sometime in the "next few weeks" to get a copy. Only trusted commercial volume customers have a crack at Office 2019 right away. OneNote is still free and available outside of Office, regardless of the platform. Outlook has updated contact cards, support for Office 365 Groups, mentions, a focused inbox and new summaries for deliveries and travel. Excel offers funnel charts, 2D maps, timelines and new functions. PowerPoint has a new roaming pencil case, morph transitions, 4K video export and the ability to insert content like 3D models and SVG images. Word now has a Focus Mode (on Mac) to help you knuckle down on that must-finish report, not to mention a dark theme on Windows, better inking features and accessibility upgrades like Read Aloud. They're not revolutionary, but they could be helpful if you've stuck to Office 2016 or earlier releases. The company is rolling out Office 2019 for Mac and Windows, giving you a "subset" of the upgrades that have come to Office 365 ProPlus in the past three years. Just because Microsoft is bent on moving everyone to cloud-based subscriptions doesn't mean it has forgotten about those who want a one-and-done purchase. ![]()
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