Microsoft Mac Office 2001

While PC users enjoy a much larger selection of software than their Mac-owning cousins, an increasing number of major titles are starting to appear on both platforms simultaneously. Microsoft's Mac division has recently leapfrogged its colleagues by getting out Macintosh Office 2001.

This isn't the first time they've played the numbers game - Mac Office 98 overtook 97 on the PC - but it makes you wonder what the next Windows release will be.

Office 2001 includes updated versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You also get Entourage, a new application best described as a cross between a full-blown personal information manager (PIM) and Outlook Express. Microsoft claims this latest Office is "the most Mac-like yet", with support for key Apple technologies and an enhanced user interface. There's only one edition, in a snazzy plastic clamshell case that doubles as a holder for several CDs.

Launching any of the three main applications presents users with the first major change: the Project Gallery. A beefed-up version of the New Document options box found in Office 2000 for Windows, this offers hundreds of templates for everything from newsletters to web pages. Pick one, and wizards appear offering step-by-step guidance.

The applications proper reveal more enhancements. On the cosmetic front, Microsoft has adopted the chrome look, from Apple's iMac and Mac OS X, for its windows and pop-up boxes. Far more noticeable, though, is that the basic options for formatting, such as fonts, style and justification, are in an expandable floating palette on the right-hand side.

Mac users have long been at home with floating palettes, and the move is sure to please Quark and Photoshop veterans. The tools available in the palette also change to suit the job at hand - start editing an image in Word, for example, and they become drawing and manipulation tools.

Create a table and they change again. The floating tool palette has been adopted across the big three and works superbly.

Mac Word users also get extra tools for automated proofing and editing, such as AutoCorrect to correct spelling mistakes as you type, and AutoComplete to help automate repetitive work.

All files can now be saved in HTML format ready for the web, and there's tighter integration with the internet overall. Web pages can be previewed and Office will automatically manage companion files, such as graphics, repairing links if necessary and storing items together. Sadly, you still need another application to publish online.

Each of the main applications boasts specific enhancements, but notable in PowerPoint are enhanced graphics support and the ability to save presentations as QuickTime movies. Meanwhile, Excel has improved charts and pivot tables, and the new List Manager, which lets you analyse, search and sort data more effectively.

Perhaps the biggest change for Mac users is Entourage. Similar to Outlook, this combines email facilities with information-management features that can be tied into Office documents. For example, you can flag things to be followed up in an Excel sheet and Entourage will automatically remind you. A calendar and an address book are also provided.

Entourage can import data from Outlook Express and other programs, and it supports multiple users. In general it's a handy application, but sadly most users are likely to use it just for simple email and never explore it fully.

Microsoft has made good on its promise and this is the most Mac-like Office yet, with some welcome additions coming over from Office 2000 for Windows.

Contact
Microsoft: 0345 002000, www.microsoft.com/uk/office/macoffice

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!