From there you can make customizations to your template to make the project your own.

Why Excel Sucks Mac In Several

Though the latest package is still not on par with the Windows version (you get only the four main programs--a big difference when you consider the Windows version has 10), Microsoft made a big leap with this latest version for the Mac in several other ways.

Not only has it nearly reached feature parity (and cross compatibility) with the Mac counterparts to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but it has finally added Outlook, the e-mail and scheduling client Mac business fans have been clamoring for for years.

Once we dug deep into the feature set of Office 2011 for Mac, we saw there were several enhancements that made the whole suite better, and some of the niftier tweaks are even Mac-exclusive.

Certainly many Mac users will look first at Apples iWork for a productivity suite, and it is a great office suite in its own right.

But if you work with primarily Windows users who use Office, its tough to beat the automatic compatibility of using the same programs.

Add the ease of compatibility with a strong feature set across the entire suite and you have a desktop office package thats almost a must-have in both large and small businesses, and even home productivity settings.

One of the major new changes to the suite (on the Windows side, too) is the ability to collaborate and share your work using Web apps.

New Coauthoring requires that you use SharePoint Foundation 2010 for enterprise use, but for personal or small businesses, you can save and access files over SkyDrive (25GB of available online storage) on Windows Live with a free registration.

All of the new tweaks to the interface and each of the apps in the suite make Office 2011 for Mac a great option, but with the rise of cloud-based computing and online office suites like Google Docs, we wonder how long the big desktop apps like Office will remain on top.

This latest Office client for Mac is definitely a solid offering, but how long can Microsoft hold on to its dominance Office 2011 for Mac editions We reviewed Office 2011 Home and Business, which costs 199 for a single install or 279 for three installs if you want to put it on three computers at home or work.

If you dont need a business-level desktop e-mail client, you should opt for the Home and Student version (at 119 for a single install and 149 for three installs), which includes just Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Why Excel Sucks Upgrade Pricing For

Unfortunately, there is no upgrade pricing for Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac because Microsoft found that most people buy Office when they buy a new computer and there was little interest in carrying upgrades at retail outlets.

Setup The installation for Office 2011 for Mac is quite painless.

Just like any other software, youll be asked for permission to make changes to your system, then its only about 10 minutes install time (depending on the speed of your Mac).

Interface The Ribbon has returned as the unifying interface component across all the apps in the suite.

Though Microsoft has met some resistance from users on both platforms for this particular feature, we think once people get used to the flexibility of the Ribbon it will save them an enormous amount of time.

Rather than digging through menus and scrolling through palettes, the Ribbon uses tabs that display commands relevant to a given task.

As an example, clicking on an image in Word, PowerPoint, or Excel will change the tabs in the Ribbon to image-related tasks so you can make changes quickly without having to search through menus.

If you still just cant get used to the Ribbon, in Office 2011 for Mac, you can turn it off and use regular drop-down menus (an option that several Windows users probably wish they had).

Still, we recommend taking the time to learn the Ribbon as an investment that will save you more time in the future.

Office 2011 for Mac features an enormous number of templates in the Template Galleries for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

Choose among great-looking resumes and newsletters, complex photo catalogs, and calendar layouts, which let you fill in your information without the need for extra formatting.

Even if the selection in Office 2011 doesnt have what youre looking for, you can browse more than 10,000 user-generated templates and filter by category or keywords to get exactly what you want.

Why Excel For Mac Sucks