Microsoft rolled out the preview version of Office 2019 to commercial customers on Windows in April this year and on macOS in June after announcing it at its Ignite conference last year. Today, Office 2019 for Windows and macOS is exiting the preview stage.
The software giant announced the wider availability of Office 2019 for both platforms, introducing a plethora of features that are already available on Office 365 ProPlus. Office 2019 succeeds Office 2016 and it is comprised of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, Visio, Access, and Publisher. Keep in mind, though, that Project, Visio, Access, and Publisher can be accessed via Windows only while OneNote will be available to all Office 2019 users.
Since Office 2019 is a one-time release, Microsoft won’t be rolling out feature updates to the software in the future. Nevertheless, Office 365 ProPlus will continue to get new features in the future on a monthly basis with a focus on collaboration, artificial intelligence (AI), and security.
Office 2019 provides features across on-premises apps including Morph and Zoom for PowerPoint, new data analysis tools and updates to PowerPivot for Excel, and Focused Inbox for Outlook. Word users will also get new learning tools called Read Aloud and Text Spacing for engaging with content.
Microsoft notes that the latest release is meant for customers who aren't ready to transition to the cloud, which is the focus of Office 365 ProPlus. Office 2019 is immediately available to commercial volume license customers beginning today, while all other customers - both commercial and consumers - will be able to obtain it "in the next few weeks" . Since it also brings updates to Microsoft's servers, the company will be launching Exchange Server 2019, Skype for Business Server 2019, SharePoint Server 2019, and Project Server 2019 in the coming weeks.
Keep in mind that on the Windows side, Office 2019 only works on Windows 10, as was announced back in February.
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