Is there a list of 365-only features for Office for Mac software?

Question

Hello,

I had been under the impression that Office for Mac 2016 and 2019 were the same software versions as their 365 counterparts, receiving the same monthly updates, until they are "frozen" three years after release (like Office for Mac 2016 was at version 16.16.x).

However, ribbon customization is only available for 365 subscribers; it is disabled for Office for Mac 2016 and 2019 users. There is no pre-purchase mention of this that I can find, other than that the 2019 includes "Classic" versions of the apps. The unavailability of Ribbon customization is only mentioned in this thread or the app itself, as far as I can tell.

Is there any list of other features only available for 365 subscribers, so that I can best inform my clients who are deciding between 365 or one-time purchase?

Thank you,

Ivan.

Answer 1

OK... It appears that Microsoft marketing once again has managed to befuddle :-) Your concern is the distinction between what is considered Premium as opposed to Classic, right? It isn't a matter of what the individual program provides. The distinction is exactly as you interpreted it:

• Classic simply refers to the perpetual [Retail] license product for which no feature enhancements are provided: IOW, what you get when you buy is what you have when you die.
• Premium refers to the subscription bundles & indicates that the software will receive enhancements continuously as they are pushed out.

Stated another way based on the forthcoming major release we'll call Office 2021: On the day it is initially offered by Microsoft the programs in the Retail license package [Classic] will be identical to what is being provided to Microsoft 365 Subscribers [Premium]. However, as time passes Premium customers will receive enhancements to the product which Classic customers will not, even though all will receive security updates & bug fixes. The update nomenclature will be identical for everyone: The difference will be exactly what is installed based on the type of license.

Here is a transcript of a conversation had with Microsoft just a few minutes ago. In particular note the final reply from the agent named Helen:

Hello Bob, how may I assist you today?

June 13, 2021, 9:39 am**Helen

I continuously see reference to Classic as opposed to Premium Office programs yet nowhere can I find anything that clarifies the distinction. What is the specific difference between, e.g., Classic Word & Premium Word?????

June 13, 2021, 9:39 am**Bob

To ensure I understand your query, you want to know the difference between Classic word and Premium word?

June 13, 2021, 9:41 am**Helen

Isn't that what I wrote:?????

June 13, 2021, 9:42 am**Bob

Kindly be informed that there is nothing like classic word, but the premium word is the Microsoft 365 subscription

June 13, 2021, 9:43 am**Helen

The marketing materials published by Microsoft explicitly refer to Classic v. Premium. Take a look at the comparison chart on this page: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products?rtc=1

June 13, 2021, 9:46 am**Bob

However, nowhere that I can find is there anything that quantifies the distinction.

June 13, 2021, 9:46 am**Bob

The premium features is for Microsoft 365 subscription and the classic features is for the one time purchase as it has limited features.

June 13, 2021, 9:49 am**Helen

Here's another link which may be useful to you if you haven't seen it before: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=784850

Answer 2

Is there a list of 365 Only features?

No.

Should there be?

Yes.

Is there a list of feature differences between Windows and Mac?

No.

.

Why not?

.

Because MS is too cheap to create up to date documentation of their products.

It allows them to make vague statements about how 365 is "better" than one-time payment versions without providing concrete proof to back up their statements.

Instead they now depend on independent authors to create the how too books, like Suzanne Barnes who volunteers here.

.

On the Windows side, the Onetime payment versions are locked for features. If you continue to get new features on Mac side you are lucky. Any new features that do show up in one-time payment PC apps are a mistake, like the new 2019 icons showing up in 2016 also.

Yes, MS focuses it's development on the PC side. There are a lot of features that are not translated to Mac. There is a functional reason, some features simply cannot be done on the MAC side because the MAC OS's don't support them.

MS talks big up front, but does as little on the back end as it can. 365 comes with 'free support'. Except when you try to use that support, you can't reach them, they won't tell you how to use the product (they claim to only do trouble shooting, but they don't do that well).

The closest approximation to the list you are looking for from MS are these links. They are monthly list of "updates" and new features. But it is all in monthly entries, everyone have to waste their own time reading all of them to create a full list. And even that list is not complete ... MS doesn't document in public every change they make ... <sigh>

Update History Office 365 Pro Plus / 2016 / 2013 / 2010 / Mac

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-2019 2019 / 2016 CTR history

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office365-proplus-by-date Office 365 History

.

Answer 3

Anything of that nature would be virtually impossible to maintain. With the introduction of Office 2016 Microsoft has been working to close the gap between the Windows & Mac versions. That means that Mac Office is constantly changing... slowly but constantly.

One thing to be aware of in the context of your question is that the one-time purchase [i.e., Retail] packages will not receive any of the revisions. They are being provided to the Subscription edition only & will not be incorporated into the Retail editions until the next major release. n fact, it's likely that some may not be included then. In short, purchasing the Retail means repurchasing further down the road whereas the Subscriptions will be updated automatically as the alterations become available.

Many don't care for the subscription concept but it has become the standard & isn't likely to disappear.

Answer 4

Bob, thank you for your quick response.

Anything of that nature would be virtually impossible to maintain.

I don't see why; a list of functional differences between the subscription version and one-time purchase version doesn't need to be at a highly granular level. It would just be major things that would be helpful to know before (or after) purchase, like "ribbon customization only available to 365 subscribers". It wouldn't be that long a list, since one-time purchase and 365 are the same software. If, on the 365 editions comparison page, Microsoft can make a distinction between "Premium" app features for 365 and "Classic" app features for one-time purchase, surely such a list exists with Microsoft; they can't not know what they're choosing to not provide for the one-time purchase version.

One thing to be aware of in the context of your question is that the one-time purchase [i.e., Retail] packages will not receive any of the revisions. They are being provided to the Subscription edition only & will not be incorporated into the Retail editions until the next major release.

In my experience, this is not true, at least on Mac. Retail packages receive the same monthly revisions for three years after the introduction date of the retail package. So, Office for Mac 2016 received the same monthly revisions from its introduction date in September 2015 (version 15.14) through August 2018 (version 16.16). It then received monthly security updates through October 2020 (version 16.16.27). So it was not until August 2018 that the retail package stopped receiving revisions.

Currently, Office for Mac 2019 has all the same capabilities of a 365 subscription, as they are both version 16.49. (Except of course, for ribbon customization and who knows what other unspecified features specifically reserved for subscribers.) If Microsoft follows the same pattern, then version 16.51 will be the last version of Office for Mac 2019 to receive revisions, and version 16.52 will be the first version of Office 2022, (if they continue to offer a one-time purchase version at all).

Per Release Notes for Office for Mac: "Starting with the 16.17 release in September 2018, these release notes also apply to Office 2019 for Mac, which is a version of Office for Mac that’s available as a one-time purchase from a retail store or through a volume licensing agreement. But, some features listed in the release notes are only available if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription."

So, that seems to say that yes, one-time purchase versions receive revisions and are in fact the same as the 365 versions, but certain features will remain subscriber-only. Great, but why can't those be indicated as subscriber-only, so we consultants can quickly advise why something is missing in a one-time purchase version, rather than having to guess? And for major features, why can't significant subscriber-only features be described pre-purchase, so that someone might be encouraged to subscribe instead if they need them?

In fact, it's likely that some may not be included then.

Well, this was certainly the case here: ribbon customization to was available only to 365 subscribers prior to the introduction of Office for Mac 2019, and that's still true now. The feature was not added to Office for Mac 2019. It would just be nice to know what the meaningful differences are between subscription and one-time purchase.

In short, purchasing the Retail means repurchasing further down the road whereas the Subscriptions will be updated automatically as the alterations become available.

Many don't care for the subscription concept but it has become the standard & isn't likely to disappear.

All true (at least after the "version freeze" for the one-time purchase), and for that reason I steer my clients towards subscription. But this is besides the point -- subscription might well be the better choice, but, as both a consultant and a user, I still would like to know what the functional differences are between the subscription version and the one-time purchase version.

Thanks again for responding.

Answer 5

Feature modifications do not happen in the perpetual license versions.

(Sometimes they have been sent in updates by mistake and then Microsoft has taken them back!)

So, essentially, the feature set when the product is released is what is available for the life of the product.

Updates are security releases and bug fixes.

See this post on Office 2019 vs Office 365. https://www.windowscentral.com/office-2019-or-office-365-which-one-you-should-get

Office 2021 has been announced for release later this year: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-office-2021