In fact, you need a Windows Live ID to co-author, period, since the files are stored in Microsoft's cloud storage site, Skydrive. Of course, you'll need a Windows Live account to log into these tools, and you can't log in using another service, such as Google Talk. If someone else is actively working on the doc, you can communicate with them using IM, voice, or video chat, so long as you have Messenger for Mac 8 (free) or Communicator for Mac 2011 (free to business customers buying licenses at a volume discount). If you've shared a document with someone (say, through e-mail by going to File > Share), you can see who else is editing the document, and you can both edit in real time. One feature Microsoft added across the board is the ability to communicate with others from within whatever document you're working on. Likewise, embedding movies in your next presentation is easier than it had been. The addition of artistic filters is also a welcome touch. When users add photos, they can now make simple edits, such as crop or even auto-format to make sure the image fits the given space properly. It begins with a pruned and unified interface across all the apps: Regardless of whether you're adding music, photos, or videos, you'll go to the same media browser, which has neat tabs for each of these categories. Taking a similar approach as it did with Office 2010 for Windows, about which Microsoft said that photos and videos would become 'first-class citizens' in documents, the company has made it easier to add and then edit multimedia in Office docs on Macs. This reminds us of the search bar that Firefox has in the same location. Additionally, there's a convenient bar in the upper right-hand corner of every Office program that allows you to search the document. You can also go to the View tab at the very top of the screen to customize whether other onscreen items, such as a Ruler, appear.

If this abundance of icons gets visually overwhelming-and it can, for those used to Apple's cleaner interfaces-you can double click a tab to hide them. As with Office on our Windows machine, getting used to the Ribbon was a bit of an adjustment, but we quickly figured out how to locate the features we use most often. Unlike the PC version, however, you can't customize which icons appear or in what order. There's also a row of commonly used icons, which sits above the Ribbon tabs. This is mostly a smart way of helping users be aware of the suite's growing list of features, and finding them in a hurry. The idea is that rather than navigate through a menu tree, you can see all of your relevant choices, and just click on the one you want. When you click on one of these tabs, you'll see a kitchen sink of icons.

Microsoft office 2011 for mac