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Microsoft Office for iPad adds monthly subscription option
Microsoft's productivity software finally made the long walk to iPad earlier this year, but if the relatively steep price tag of the Microsoft Office apps has prevented you from giving them a try, Microsoft thinks you might just want to pay monthly instead. The company has now added a monthly payment options of US$6.99 (for the Personal license) and $9.99 (for the Home license) as in-app purchases. The Personal subscription allows you to install the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote apps on your iPad as well as one Mac or PC, while the slightly pricier Home version covers five tablets and five Mac or PC computers. You can currently commit to the monthly plan from within the Excel, Word, and PowerPoint apps. The subscriptions are set to automatically renew every month, so if you're coughing up the small fee just to take them for a spin, be sure to disable your recurring payment before you get charged for a further month. [via ZDNet]
Office for iPad update brings a slew of top-requested features
When Office finally launched on the iPad four months ago it was a blessing for iOS converts with loyalties to Microsoft. Still, like every launch title, the app suite wasn't perfect. Today Microsoft has released an update that they hope will help fill in some of Office for iPad's biggest deficiencies. Up first is the addition of Presenter view for PowerPoint. Now when giving a presentation in PowerPoint on another screen your iPad will show your notes, what slide is coming up next, and other presentation details. In addition users can now embed videos and sound recordings directly from PowerPoint for iPad, or insert video from their Camera Roll. Microsoft has also added a new eraser and pen function to allow for on the go annotations while making presentations. Excel has been enhanced with PivotTables, easier grid navigation, and keyboard short cuts. Thanks to the new update users can now sort, filter, expand or collapse, refresh, and show details of PivotTable data contacted within a workbook. These new PivotTable features also include customization options for visual style and layout. Grid navigation has been simplified with a new flick feature that allows you to grab a selection handle and then flick up or downwards. Your flick will select everything from your selection until the next blank cell, making it easier to manipulate large chunks of data between books quickly. Finally Excel is getting keyboard support complete with Excel's existing keyboard shortcuts. They've even added a new one, CTRL+2, to allow users to quickly switch between modes. There are also additions that have been made across the suite. Export to PDF has now been added to the sharing menu of all Office apps, and is available for everyone to use; even if you don't have a 365 subscription. Image editing within Office apps has also been improved. Now when you tap on an image you are presented with Crop and Reset options, allowing you to quickly scale images or undo your scaling with ease. Finally Office now supports third party fonts, including AnyFont. Simply install the font of your dreams to your iPad and get to writing. You can find Microsoft Office for iPad right now in the App Store.
Volunteer to test a tablet-friendly version of Office for Android
Well looks like a version of Microsoft's Office specifically tailored for Android tablets is on the way. While we still wait for a touch-friendly version of the productivity suite for Windows, word on the street is users will soon be able to beta test a build for Google's tablet OS. According to the Verge's sources both companies and individuals should be able to sign up for access to pre-release versions of Office soon. Obviously we're still waiting for a lot of details, but it's expected that a finger-friendly interface (similar to that found on the iPad) is going to hit Android later this year. But Windows will have to wait until early 2015. While it's slightly surprising to see Microsoft's bread and butter productivity hit a competitors OS first, it highlights Satya Nadella's decision to build Redmond's future on the cloud and cross-platform accessibility. Rather than focusing solely on Windows.
Microsoft Office apps for iPad gain printing abilities and other news from April 29, 2014
Microsoft's Office for iPad apps have received an update that adds the ability to print to an AirPrint printer, PowerPoint smart guides, auto fitting in Excel and more. It's a funny thing, going more into debt in order to raise cash. But that's what Apple is planning to do to prevent having to bring some of its off-shore funds back into the United States. We took a look at the Kinsa smart thermometer a couple months ago, and now it's available for purchase. The Kickstarter for Lunecase went live today. Lunecase uses electromagnetic energy from the iPhone to provide call and text notifications on the back of the case without needing a battery. Re/code's Code Conference has added Apple's Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi to its all-star roster. They will be the keynote of the second night of the May 27–29 conference. While the conference itself is sold out, there is a waitlist.
With iPad app, Microsoft begins to move out of the office
Microsoft finally announced a version of its Office productivity suite for the iPad today, and it's a solid, functional set of apps. As we say in our review, "Office for iPad is elegantly designed, with a robust feature set and intuitive layout." And it's free, as long as you're only interested in reading or viewing docs, that is. Want to edit that spreadsheet, or create your own PowerPoint deck? You'll need an Office 365 subscription, starting at about $10 a month. That may seem steep compared to the price of some other iPad productivity apps, like Apple's iWork suite, which is free for some iPad users. But that price includes the full desktop versions of the Office suite, which you can install on up to five computers.
Watch Satya Nadella's first major appearance as Microsoft CEO live
Rumor has it, Microsoft is getting ready to take the wraps off of Office for iPad. Despite that move potentially signaling a shift away from a Windows-first software strategy, the iOS app won't be the only star of the show. It's going to have to share the limelight with yet another, largely untested asset: CEO Satya Nadella. Given his track record at the company and recent statements, we expect to hear plenty about mobile, the cloud and Microsoft as a devices and services company. Chances are, he won't come out sweating and screaming like his predecessor, but if you're curious to see how Nadella stacks up or, you know, have a thing for Redmond's productivity suite, you can watch it all play out here or at the source link below. And get ready for even more of Nadella and the Microsoft crew when they hit the mean streets of San Francisco for the Build developer conference next week. Watch Satya Nadella Live @ 1PM ET
The Verge reports possible release of Microsoft Office for iPad and other news from March 17, 2014
This one might be for the rumor mill, but considering OneNote for Mac was released today, The Verge is saying that Microsoft Office for iPad might be released later this month, after members of the media received an invitation to an event on March 27 in San Francisco. It just happens to coincide with a big-name Apple event taking place the same day... Other news from Monday afternoon includes: Google has announced a new version of its Google Play Game Services that will enable cross-platform multiplayer support for iOS and Android. If you want to buy a new Mac Pro but still run Windows 7 on it via Boot Camp, you might want to reconsider. Twocanoes blog discovered that the new Mac Pro only supports Windows 8 through Boot Camp. Former Apple Marketing Chief Allison Johnson talked during the Behance 99U conference about what it was like to work with Steve Jobs. To quote from Cult of Mac: One interesting anecdote shared by Johnson was the time she put together an internal memo on how to sell the original iPhone for the AT&T sales team. "Steve asked to see that email, and he edited it so that they would position it correctly. He would dive in at a level of detail that most human beings would never consider. A CEO looking at a sales memo to an internal sales group at AT&T. He cared that much." And kick back with these features: The worst article about the iPhone 6 has already been written Automatic brings the Internet of Things to your car Has iOS 7.1 broken or fixed your iOS device? TUAW wants to know! Haunted Empire: An unflattering and misguided look at the Tim Cook era How Eddy Cue won over Steve Jobs, when Jobs said no to an Apple HDTV, and much more How to create an animated GIF from your existing burst mode photos Rumor Roundup: No TV for you
Office 365 Personal offers cheaper access to Microsoft's productivity suite
Micorosoft's Office is still pretty ubiquitous, but it's facing challenges from a number of cheaper (often free) competitors that have quite a head start in the cloud. Office 365 Personal is an attempt to ward of some of those would be usurpers by delivering 20GB of Skydrive storage and 60 minutes per-month of Skype calls along with the standard Office apps for $70 a year or $7 a month. The Personal package gives you access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access on one desktop computer (be it Windows or Mac) and one tablet as well as their web app counterparts. The Home Premium option, which costs $100 per-year or $10 per-month will remain, though it will be renamed simply Office 365 Home. The more expensive option give you the ability to install the suite on up to five computers as well as access from a smartphone. The Personal subscription will launch sometime this spring, though Microsoft hasn't given an exact date just yet.
New Microsoft Office for Mac coming
Microsoft has confirmed that the company will release a new version of Microsoft Office for the Mac this year, according to a report published today in Macworld. A representative for Microsoft confirmed that development work for the next version of Office for Mac is ongoing. "The team is hard at work on the next version of Office for Mac," she said in an email. "While I don't have details to share on timing, when it's available, Office 365 subscribers will automatically get the next Office for Mac at no additional cost." This should come as welcome news for Mac users still not content or able to leave behind the juggernaut that is Microsoft Office for competing products and services from the likes of Apple and Google. To say that a new version of Office for the Mac is a long time coming would be an understatement. Note that the last major version of Microsoft Office for the Mac, dubbed Microsoft Office 2011, was released all the way back in October 26, 2010. So when can we expect a new Office for Mac offering to become available? At this point, a firm release date remains unclear, though there have been a few rumblings that the software may drop during the latter half of 2014.
Microsoft Office 2011: Unattended download and installation
I own Microsoft Office 2011 and wanted to make the process of installing it easier, since I own several Macs and have this habit of reinstalling OS X frequently. So I wrote a shell script because that's what I do to solve these sorts of problems. The best part of the script is that it does not require you to have any of the necessary parts. You do not need your installation DVDs or to have downloaded the latest updates. Once you start the script, it will download everything that you need directly from Microsoft's servers and install all of them for you. The entire process can be left completely unattended after it is started. The length of time for the install process depends on your network speed. The total download size is 1.16 GB (aka 1.08 GiB or 1,157,294,708 bytes) as of today. Once the script is finished, the necessary files will be available in ~/Downloads/Office2011/ which you can then copy to any of your other Macs. The script will look for files in ~/Downloads/Office2011/ and if they already exist, it will not download them again. The script will install the following Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 with Service Pack 2 (14.2.0) Office2011-1439Update_EN-US.dmg Microsoft Error Reporting for Mac 2.2.9 Update Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac 2.3.6 Update Once the script finishes, it will run "Microsoft AutoUpdate.app" to make sure that there are not additional updates necessary. How to use this script (The Easy Way) There is an installer available. This is an Automator app which will simply download and run the office2011.sh for you. Please note that because of Gatekeeper settings in OS X, you may have to right click the installer app and choose open in order to get it to launch. Once you confirm that you want to download and install Office, the rest will take place behind the scenes. You will be prompted to enter your administrator password because the installation cannot continue without it. Update 2013-12-29: I have updated the information at GitHub to include a walk-through of using the GUI Installer application. If you tried it before and it did not work, please try again. How to use this script (The Nerdy Way) A better way to use this script requires the Terminal.app which is found in /Applications/Utilities/. Using Terminal is like getting under the hood of your car: it shouldn't scare you, but you shouldn't just go randomly poking around either. Once in Terminal.app, you will need to: 1) download the installer script (this should all be one line): curl --remote-name "https://raw.github.com/tjluoma/office2011/master/office2011.sh" 2) make it executable chmod 700 office2011.sh 3) run the script. sudo ./office2011.sh Note that you will have to enter your administrator password to use sudo. After Installation Once the installation finishes, Microsoft's Auto Update app will be launched. This will make sure that there are no additional updates needed which have been released since this script was written. It is also a good time to set the auto-updater to run as often as you'd like it to run automatically. I recommend once a week. Disclaimer and Final Notes As far as I know, installing Office 2011 this way gives you the same result as if you had installed using OS X's Installer.app on the various pkg files directly. However, there's a chance that I could be wrong. Use at your own risk, etc. The only difference that I am aware of is that installing Microsoft Office using these scripts does not automatically add the apps to your OS X Dock. This is considered a feature, not a bug. Using this installer will not give you free access to Microsoft Office 2011. The first time you run it, you will be asked for your license code or Office 365 subscription information. If you do not have either of those you can use a trial version of Office, but I do not know what kinds of limitations it places on you. Discovering those is left as an exercise to the reader. Upon installation, you may want to read my article on how to Reduce visual clutter in Microsoft Word.
Tis the season to subscribe: What's on my annual service renewal lists
As November rolls around, it's generally time for me to take stock, look at my current service subscriptions (as opposed to entertainment subscriptions like Netflix and Hulu) and weigh what items I'm going to invest in for the next twelve months. Some of my subscriptions are annual choices. They time out after 12 months. Others are ongoing, so a time to evaluate and choose is especially helpful. Of course, services are a highly personal thing. The ones I subscribe to may or may not meet your needs and vice versa. So I've tried to keep my list of the services I'm considering fairly general and Apple consumer specific. If you have suggestions to add, please drop them in the comments -- and let me know if you run across particular deals that crop up near Black Friday. Offsite Backup. Time Machine, which I swear by, will get you only so far in life. Unless you're backing up offsite, you're exposing your data to enormous risk. Any physical damage to your workspace will probably affect your onsite backups as well as your main system. Offsite means greater peace of mind. Personally, I'm a Crashplan customer due to the unlimited backups and reasonable yearly fees. (Plus Mike Evangelist really sold me on the service.) Regardless of which provider you go with, you really should be thinking about adding an offsite plan to your Black Friday grab bag. Last year, Crashplan offered an insanely sweet deal for new customers (which I missed out on by two freaking weeks) so keep your eyes open for theirs and other deals on the day. VPN Service. If you lean towards the Wi-Fi lifestyle (and I do), when hanging out at Panera, Einsteins, Starbucks, and so forth, you'll probably want to consider picking up a VPN subscription for the year. There's a lot of give and take between Wi-Fi and onboard cellular, but the biggest difference is security. When you grab data directly over cellular, you can generally feel pretty good about privacy. Using shared Wi Fi means compromise -- speed, reliability, transparency. Using VPN enables you to shop, read mail, and perform other personal tasks without worrying about snooping. I've been using Witopia this year and it's been pretty good. I find it much better for light surfing and email when on the go than for privacy when at home, so about 90% of my use has been on my iPad and MacBook Air. Although I had intended to use VPN for day-to-day work, I found that heavy data loads (such as downloading new versions of Xcode) over VPN is just an exercise in frustration. Cloud. I want my data wherever I am. I'm a big fan of Dropbox and not such a big fan of iCloud but that's just me. Your mileage will, of course, vary -- and there are many new providers now out there in the field. This is a really good time of year to hunt for cloud deals for pro level accounts. Just be aware that real life stories like Everpix demonstrate why you need to be very, very careful as to where you trust your data. Online Apps. Unlike last year, this is the year that subscribing to cloud-based applications really took off. You might want to take a peek at Adobe, Microsoft Office, or Apple's iWork to see if their offerings might be what you need for next year. I'm intrigued by iWork in particular, and looking forward to seeing how well it transforms my work flow from desk-based to mobile. What services do you subscribe to? And which ones are you considering testing for the first time this year?
Microsoft releases fixes, critical security update for Office 2011
Microsoft has pushed out an update to Microsoft Office 2011 that fixes numerous issues with the suite as well as addresses a critical security flaw. The Office for Mac 2011 14.3.7 fixes a long list of bugs, most notably several with Outlook: Improves opening and checking out a file from SharePoint in Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac. This update fixes an issue that may sometimes cause Mac Office to crash when you try to open Office documents from a SharePoint site. Improves access to customer's spreadsheets in Microsoft Excel for Mac. This update fixes an issue that causes Excel to randomly crash when a file contains several drop-down macros. Improves message browsing using screen reader software in Outlook for Mac. This update fixes an issue that causes certain information in the navigation pane and message list to not be read by screen reader software. Adds item sort order to the View menu in Outlook for Mac. This update includes functionality that lets you change the sort order of Outlook items in the Outlook item list through the View menu. Menu items are located in the Arrange By submenu. Includes pane navigation functionality in Outlook for Mac. This update includes functionality that lets you move quickly through the navigation pane, the reading pane and the Outlook item list using the View menu, the Previous Pane keyboard shortcut and the Next Pane keyboard shortcut. Improves message and meeting viewing and composing using screen reader in Outlook for Mac. This update fixes an issue that causes certain message and meeting information to not be read by screen reader software. Improves the Contacts Search panel in Outlook for Mac. This update fixes an issue that causes action buttons for search results to not be keyboard-accessible. Adds an Insert Image command to the Format menu in Outlook for Mac. This update includes functionality that lets you insert images into Outlook items through the Format menu. Improves the ability to move through meeting attendee free / busy information using screen reader software in Outlook for Mac. This update fixes an issue that causes free / busy information in the Scheduling Assistant to not be read by screen reader software. Improves the ability to add and edit accounts using screen reader software in Outlook for Mac. This update fixes an issue that causes certain account information to not be read by screen reader software. The Office for Mac 2011 14.3.7 update is recommended for all users and can be downloaded by running Microsoft AutoUpdate on your Mac or via the Microsoft Download Center here.
Microsoft continues anti-iPad offensive with new commercial
Microsoft today continued its anti-iPad offensive with yet another commercial, this one highlighting the many differences between the Microsoft Surface RT and Apple's fourth-generation iPad. Per usual, the differences pointed out by the commercial aren't all that interesting and I sincerely doubt anyone would watch this commercial and feel compelled to abandon plans of an iPad purchase and head on over to the land of the Surface. Somewhat amusing, though not terribly surprising given how the marketing world works, is that Microsoft boasts that a 32 GB Surface RT will cost you $349 while a 16 GB iPad will cost you $499. Funny thing is, the same Surface RT used to cost $499 before Microsoft recently slashed $150 off the price on account of lackluster sales. I also find it curious that Microsoft continues to tout Microsoft Office as an attractive selling point for tablet buyers. The iPad is by and large a mass consumer device and I doubt that many prospective iPad buyers think to themselves, "Man, the iPad is great, but I just wish I could use it to create some Excel spreadsheets." Point blank, Microsoft Office likely doesn't factor into the purchasing decision process for the majority of iPad owners. It's as if Microsoft is advertising the benefits of a sensible briefcase to a group of surfers.
Consumer alternatives to Adobe Creative Cloud: practical software choices
Yesterday, Adobe introduced Creative Cloud, an on-line subscription based suite with $49.99 monthly charges that moves into the Creative Suite subscription space first started back in 2011. Existing customers of CS 3 to CS 5.5 and academics will pay $29.99 per month. Both Adobe and Microsoft are exploring subscription models in place of buy-once-then-use purchases. This has a number of us here at TUAW looking around to see what apps we might want to jump to as we move away from our premium products into the current marketplace. Although I am fond of Adobe Photoshop Elements, the consumer-priced version of Adobe's flagship photo editor, it's an app with walls. I accomplish far more using Photoshop and the other Creative Suite products, items I have spent years upgrading at considerable expense. Like many other Adobe customers, I live in the hazy world that stretches between Pro apps at one and and Consumer grade at the other. I've purchased CS because the consumer products aren't powerful enough for my needs, but I'm certainly not a full time "creative" who thinks of the suite as merely an incidental purchase. As a rule, I have upgraded as infrequently as possible, stretching out my purchases over as many years and operating systems as possible. I live very low on the Adobe consumer hierarchy, trying to eke out whatever time I have left with my CS 4 suite. It's time now to seriously look at alternatives. On the photo editing side of things, we propose three candidates. Acorn ($29.99) is on sale throughout May. Called the "Image Editor for Humans", it comes with great word of mouth and growing buzz. At just $14.99, Pixelmator's price point can't be beat. This "inspiring, easy-to-use, beautifully designed image editor" has somewhat mixed reviews on the Mac App Stores, but those who love it seem to do so passionately. GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, has a lock on price. For years, this free app has been a stepping-stone app for people who didn't yet have the cash for Photoshop but who wanted access to powerful image editing. As for the rest of the suite, we TUAWians mostly use Acrobat, Illustrator, and InDesign: With Acrobat, you need look no further than Preview for an app that offers many similar features. Power users, however, may want to consider PDFPen Pro, a product we've covered in the past, which offers extensive PDF editing features. Illustrator users will find a variety vector drawing solutions for OS X including Vector Designer, Intaglio, Sketch, and EazyDraw. TUAW recently looked at EazyDraw. For page layout, Apple offers both Pages and iBooks Author. Swift Publisher from Belight seems to offer good word of mouth as well. Speaking of pages, both iWork and Apache's OpenOffice provide promising alternatives to Microsoft Office. GigaOM recently posted an excellent list of their take on Adobe Creative Suite alternatives. Got another alternative vendor to suggest for Creative Suite or Office products? Drop a note in the comments with your suggestion. TUAW will be reviewing many of these alternative apps over the coming weeks.
MacTech, Microsoft team up to offer Office for Mac support credential
Got Macs? Got Office? For support personnel who want to show the world that they know which end of a pivot table goes into a stylesheet and how to upgrade PowerPoint for full compatibility with Exchange Server 2013*, your opportunity has arrived. MacTech's upcoming seven-city BootCamp II tour, which provides a full day of seminars for people supporting the Mac in small to medium size business and other contexts, now has a frontloaded (and free) certification option for Microsoft's new Office for Mac Accredited Support Professional credential. For a half-day ahead of the BootCamp, attendees can learn all about Office installation, deployment, troubleshooting and much more. While the Office credential program, including the final evaluation and certificate, is free, MacTech BootCamp II itself is $299 for early-bird registrants, $499 for regular registration. The tour kicks off in Seattle in early March, so check to see when it's coming to your neck of the woods. If you do sign up, be sure to use our TUAW reader affinity link to make sure you get your special benefit! *Yes, those are nonsensical support challenges. Congratulations, you passed the first quiz.
The Weekly Roundup for 01.28.2013
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 7 days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Microsoft CEO talks about Office, won't comment on Office for iPad
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked with Businessweek about the recent Office 2013 launch. Most of the interview focused on the desktop version of the productivity suite, but Ballmer dodged a question right at the end about the development of the iPad version of Office. When asked how the iPad version was coming along, Ballmer declined to comment and said the following: I have nothing to say on that topic. We're very glad with the product, very happy with the product that we're putting in market. It makes sense on the devices like the Mac and the PC. We have a product that we think makes a lot of sense. We do have a way for people always to get to Office through the browser, which is very important. And we'll see what we see in the future. This response doesn't kill off the idea of Office for the iPad, but it does suggest the product is not a high priority for the Microsoft CEO. Office for iPad has been rumored since T3 claimed Microsoft may be working on an iPad version of Office and The Daily broke the story open with screenshots of the app in 2012. A Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge late last year that "Office will work across Windows Phone, iOS and Android."
The Daily Roundup for 01.29.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Microsoft site references iOS versions of Office, Excel, PowerPoint
Microsoft was quick to deny a report from October that its Office suite is headed to iOS devices, but some information posted to the company's own website indicates otherwise. French Apple news blog Mac4Ever has found references to Office for iPhone, Excel for iPad and PowerPoint for iPad on official Microsoft product support pages. On the French support pages for certain Office issues, the knowledge base articles are listed as being applicable to the aforementioned iOS apps. In other countries, however, they're correctly attributed to the proper desktop applications. So, while it appears that the posting of the references is a mistake, the very presence of these app names in Microsoft's product database lends more weight to reports that they are, in fact, on the way -- possibly as soon as next spring. [Via MacRumors]
Daily Update for November 7, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
