Outlook 365 FOR MAC

Last week Microsoft announced the release of a new version of Oultook for the Mac. If you are a Mac Office user, you may have been using Outlook 2011 which came bundled with MacOffice 2011.

I am a sucker for new versions of the software, always looking out for what is coming next and installing as an early adopter. So I have installed Microsoft Outlook for for Mac to test it out.

I have to say that I like it! Yes I like it a lot. I did not like Outlook 2011 so much and found myself working in Apple Mail for my email and using the Calendar for my diary when working on my Mac.

With the Apple products I missed the integration of Email, Calendar, People, Tasks that I have in Outlook 2013 ( and all the previous versions). So I am very pleased to see that in Microsoft Outlook  for Mac I have a familiar looking interface. It is very similar to the Outlook Web App. It looks to me as if Microsoft are working towards a common interface to all their applications no matter which platform you use them on.

Can Microsoft Outlook for Mac do everything Outlook for Windows can?

Well no, not yet. However it does almost everything I would want it to do and I am sure that we will see enhancements as it is updated over time.

So what can it do?

Well, it has Mail, Calendar, People, Tasks and Notes all within the application, as you would expect.  Lets take a bird’s eye overview of each.

The Interface

The interface now looks more like the Windows version – specifically Outlook 2013 and like the Web App for Outlook.

The familiar interface with the folder pane on the left, the list of emails in the middle and the reading pane on the right. I have the reading pane showing this way, however you can turn it off or show it underneath if you prefer.

Note that on the grey bar at the bottom of the screen are the shortcuts to Mail, Calendar, People, Tasks and Notes. You get to these locations by clicking on the names or by using the keyboard shortcuts.

Command +1 – go to Mail
Command +2 – go to Calendar
Command + 3 – go to People
Command + 4 – go to Tasks
Command + 5 – go to Notes

The Ribbon

The Ribbon is fully loaded in Outlook 365 for Mac and had the regular icons that you expect. So you can reply or forward an email right from here without having to open it.

Calendar

The calendar part of Outlook 365 for Mac looks familiar. It has the regular views, Day, Week, Work Week and Month. It also shows more than one calendar in Overlay Mode. This means that you see all appointments from all calendars in one place. If you categorize your appointments, you can choose which categories to display as well.

People

People will show all you contacts. It has some nice new features built in such as launching an IM from the list when you hover over a name.  You can display contacts in different folders too.

Tasks

The task area lists any tasks you have and any items you have flagged for follow up. You can mark them complete here and create  new tasks with space for lots of information.

As I said this is just a bird’s eye view of Outlook 365 for Mac. I am looking forward to the full Office 365 treatment for all the Office programs.

Meanwhile I am happily using Office 2011 for Mac on my Macbook Air and offering training in organizations that use Macs in their offices as well as using and offering training in the Windows versions of Microsoft Office.

Here is some feedback from a recent Excel 2011 for Mac course:

Ben Pozi-Quansah: GREAT! X

Emily Clarke: great teacher with great communication! helped deepen my knowledge and get a greater understanding.

Jessica Price-Cousins: Shelley is a great trainer and made difficult topics easy to understand. She managed to deal well with the differing levels of knowledge in the group and the different ways people learn

Give us a call today, on 020 8203 1774 to find out how we can help you get your staff up to speed.