Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 Standard Edition (Includes Software Assurance)

• Microsoft Excel 2011, a spreadsheet program
• Microsoft Outlook 2011, an email, time, and information manager
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2011, a presentation program
• Microsoft Word 2011, a full-featured word processor
• Microsoft Communicator for Mac 2011, a communications client that works with Communications Server 2007 R2 or Lync Server 2010

The Standard Edition is available only through Volume Licensing programs, such as the one offered through TechSoup New Zealand.

Office for Mac 2011 was designed for the Mac environment, with many features and interface elements intended specifically for Mac users. The help files, menus, and preferences are formatted and organized according to the most recent Apple design standards.

New in the 2011 version, the Office for Mac ribbon enhances usability by bringing together the most popular formatting and creation tools — previously found in the Formatting Palette and Elements Gallery in Office 2008 — in a single, unified design. The ribbon complements the classic Mac menu and standard toolbar.

Also new, coauthoring allows multiple people to work on the same document simultaneously. In addition, Office Web Apps, online companions to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, let users post, access, and share files from any web browser. Office Web Apps can be hosted on premises with SharePoint 2010, or organizations can use the free Windows Live SkyDrive.

Office for Mac 2011 is fully compatible with Office 2010, and backward compatible with previous versions of Office for both platforms. The Open XML file format allows files to be customized and edited by third-party applications and scripts.