Outlook for Mac is now available to Office 365 commercial users. The same is true with users of Office 365 Home, Office 365 Personal and Office 365 University. Moreover, the company announced that it is planning to release a new version of Office for Mac next year.
The update, which was announced by the Office 365 team in a blog post, promises to deliver enhanced reliability and performance coupled with a revamped appearance and feel.
The team from Office 365 says that the release features "a more familiar and consistent experience between Outlook on the PC, Outlook on the web and Outlook Web App (OWA) for iPad, iPhone and Android devices."
The Outlook for Mac, with version number 15.3, syncs with the Outlook Windows' latest major version 15.0.4659.1001. It offers support for IMAP accounts, which includes Gmail. Each account in Outlook 2011 gets its own top-level node found in the folders list.
The new release is said to include improvements in performance and reliability as a result of the improved database structure and threading model. Other improvements include Office 365 push email support, searching for online archives, and support for categories.
Commercial customers of Office 365 can start accessing the latest Outlook for Mac by going to their Office 365 Portal or "by visiting the Software page," says the team.
Likewise, consumer subscribers of Office 365 can check out the "My Account" tab in order to get the updated Outlook for Mac.
Microsoft normally rolls out a new Office edition as a complete package, offering all-new, or perhaps mostly new applications instead of releasing them bit by bit. The latest update is somewhat off that track as the company places emphasis on the "rent-not-buy" subscription scheme, which it has strongly supported since January 2013.
Microsoft also revealed its short-term plans for the rest of their Office for Mac products, which they plan to release towards the first half of 2015. These include OneNote, Excel, PowerPoint and Word.
"We will release a public beta for the next version of Office for Mac, and in the second half of 2015, we will make the final release available," says Microsoft in the blog post.
The most obvious difference between the latest update and Outlook 2011 is the complete redesign. Microsoft's goal is to provide users of OS X with a more consistent and familiar experience that is reminiscent of Outlook on the Web, Outlook for Windows, and Outlook Web App for iOS and Android devices.
