Microsoft Office 2019: Everything You Need to Know
You may have noticed that Microsoft started rolling out a new version of Microsoft Office earlier this week. This means that there are currently three versions of Microsoft Office on sale: Office 2016, Office 365, and the all-new Office 2019.
If you’re curious about this new version of Microsoft Office, we’ve put together this guide to answer the most important questions about Office 2019, such as how it differs from Office 2016 and Office 365, what features are (and are not). included and when you can actually use it.
What is Office 2019?
Microsoft Office 2019 is a standalone on-premises (not cloud-based like Office 365) version of the Microsoft Office software suite. It’s a “perpetual” edition, which is a fancy way of saying that you buy software once and get it forever, instead of paying an annual subscription to access it. In this case, you get a license for only one computer, while a subscription to Office 365 allows you to use it on a PC, tablet and smartphone.
This new release updates and replaces the 2016 versions of Word, Excel, etc., and includes many new features that have been rolled out to Office 365 users over the past three years. We’ll come back to them a little later.
When will Office 2019 be available and how much will it cost?
Office 2019 is already on sale, but only for commercial customers. Loyal customers like you and me will be available in the coming weeks. It also means that we don’t yet know what the price is for individual users, but Microsoft is likely to get that information soon. Expect to potentially pay a little more than you would pay for Office 2016 (currently $ 150 for Home & Student ) as Microsoft has already raised the price of the commercial version by ten percent to account for its “ significant added value. to the product over time . “
What are the system requirements for Office 2019?
This is a big change. On a PC, you’ll need Windows 10 for Office 2019; Microsoft will not support any version of Windows 7 or 8. As always, Microsoft will make 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Office 2019 available.
For the Mac, Microsoft will support the three latest versions of macOS, currently macOS Sierra (10.12), High Sierra (10.13) and Mojave (10.14). As Microsoft points out:
“When a new version of macOS is released, the operating system requirements for Office 2019 for Mac become the last three versions at that time: a new version of macOS and two previous versions. For example, while macOS 10.14 is generally available from Apple, Office for Mac will support macOS 10.12, 10.13 and 10.14. ”
What new features can you expect?
Here’s a rundown of the important updates that Office 2016 users will see after upgrading to Office 2019.
Microsoft Word
Microsoft says Office 2019 is focused on helping you, well … focus better when writing in Word. To do this, Word 2019 will get an aptly named focus mode, which darkens the screen and reduces the displayed UI elements.
Users will also get new “learning tools” including new text-to-speech, text spacing, and translator functionality. Mac users will now also have custom ribbons (also known as drop-down menus) in their version of the Word interface.
Perspectives
Like Word, Outlook also gets a new focus mode called Focused Inbox to simplify workflow and composing emails. Users can now use @ commands to tag people in emails, and contact cards have been redesigned.
In addition, PC users will now have travel and delivery cards, and Mac users will receive new email templates; “Send Later” function for planning delivery time; and read the checks. Both platforms are also getting integration with the Office 365 Group.
Power point
All changes in PowerPoint relate to improved support for multimedia and visual elements in presentations. Notable additions here are support for displaying / processing 3D models and SVG files on slides; new morphing transitions; the ability to export your presentation in 4K UHD video format, and now you can write by hand and move elements with a pencil while editing.
One note
OneNote is arguably the biggest change included in Office 2019 . Technically, this is a completely new release of OneNote that could replace OneNote 2016 (although OneNote 2016 remains available and will be supported by Microsoft until 2025). This new version, dubbed OneNote for Windows 10, includes Ink-to-Text support, which means your handwritten words will be converted to typed text, as well as improved sync across connected devices.
Excel
Finally, Excel gets a host of new features such as new formulas and chart options, as well as support for 2D maps and timelines to better present and organize your data. PC users will also get updates for Power Pivot, Power Query, and the ability to export to Power BI.
Better pencil support and other settings
In addition to these program-specific updates, there are also changes that apply to all Office 2019 software. The most important of these is increased support for Microsoft digital pencils, such as enhanced support for the “moving pencil” that allows users to write by hand and move parts of documents pencil, as well as new support for pressure sensitivity and tilt recognition. … Office 2019 also contains some informal changes, such as monthly security updates and reduced bandwidth usage.
Will Office 2019 replace Office 365?
No. In the announcement of the software release , Microsoft has made sure to point out that Office 2019 is a separate suite of its software, aimed primarily at individuals and businesses that do not have the necessary Internet access required to use the cloud-based Office 365. From Because of this, many of the features present in the versions of these Office 365 apps are not included in their Office 2019 counterparts, especially the cloud and collaboration features.
Additionally, Microsoft is making it clear that while Office 2019 will receive regular security patches, it will not receive extended feature updates, while Office 365 users can still look forward to new and updated features through regular monthly updates, like always.
The bottom line is that Office 2019 is not going to replace Office 365, and it really isn’t intended. Regardless of the specific use case, Office 2019 still serves an important role and serves a portion of Microsoft’s customer base that may have felt a little forgotten since Office 365 came into the spotlight.