Our Verdict
As I usePowerPoint 2016 for Mac , the parole that keeps popping into my question ispleasant . near everything about the massive visual overhaul from the previous version ( PowerPoint 2011 for Mac ) seems clear , friendlier , and more mod . It feels more like Apple’sKeynote , which I mean as a compliment .
The lineament changes are mostly minor and elusive yet useful . Even so , PowerPoint 2016 for Mac still lags behind its Windows counterpart — and it also lost a few interesting features that were present in PowerPoint 2011 .
New and improved
The most obvious change is a nicely redesign thread , which is now intimately monovular to the ace in PowerPoint for Windows and PowerPoint Online . If you experience where everything was in PowerPoint 2011 , devise for a bit of relearning . Almost every ribbon controller is still there , but many have been move , rename , and pass on new icons . The erstwhile Themes tab is now called Design ; Tables , Charts , and SmartArt ( among other feature ) have been subsumed under a Modern Insert tab , and a number of tabs ( such as Picture Format and Table Design ) appear only when the appropriate object type is choose .
Each built - in theme has several variants ; if you want even more mastery , take your own color palette , font , or desktop .
The intact toolbar is go , with only four rudimentary icons ( for File , Save , Undo , and Repeat ) next to the Close , Minimize , and Zoom master . Although most toolbar icon have been relocate onto one of the ribbon tabs ( and also have tally computer menu commands ) , you could no longer make a customized set of picture for your most common tasks .
A new sidebar ( much like Keynote ’s Inspector ) appears on the right side of the window when you call forth sure feature , such as the Animation loony toons ( which lists all the spiritedness on your slide ) , the Format Pane ( for editing the attributes of soma , art , and other objects — including such antecedently hard - to - reach setting such as 3D Format and 3D Rotation ) , and Comments . Each pane gets its own tab , and you’re able to tear off any tab key to make it a drift pallette . I like the way of life this context - sensitive interface integration ( along with the sleek thread ) reduces screen smother .
When you open PowerPoint 2016 , you ’re presented with 24 stigma - new theme . Although that ’s less than half the number of idea in PowerPoint 2011 , there ’s a new turn : each theme has numerous variants . With one detent , you could select a dissimilar combination of colouring pallet , fonts , and background manner for your current report ( but with the same overall design ) ; or you could apply those property individually . Although the report chooser displays no templates ( basically fill - in - the - blank shell presentations , each with its own theme ) , you’re able to typewrite a keyword in the Search All Templates field of honor at the top to exhibit matching templet , which you’re able to then download with two clink .
Other pocket-size novel feature film let in a more pliable presenter sight , better conflict solvent ( for when multiple mass make changes to a slide at the same clock time ) , and a XII or so new transitions ( match those in the Windows interpretation ) .
Elvis such as Animations and Format Picture appear , as require , in a sidebar at the right , make you easier access code to many lineament . you may tear off any of these ( such as Comments ) to make it a be adrift palette .
Gone but not forgotten
A number of feature disappeared , too . The helper mentions only one of these : you’re able to no longer salve a presentment as a picture show ( you’re able to exercise around this by using screen - recording software such asScreenFlow ) . In plus , you’re able to broadcast your slideway hold up using the PowerPoint Broadcast Service , compare two versions of a demonstration , or utilise the Scrapbook to stack away and reuse textual matter and nontextual matter snippets .
Macworld’sreview of PowerPoint 2011lamented the absence of features found in the Windows translation , such as the capability to adjust the starting and ending points of movies , sounds that play in the background across slides , and an advanced timeline for editing a slide ’s animations in a in writing formatting . Those features are still absent in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac . Other Windows - only features are implant YouTube videos ; reduce , bookmarking , and evanesce audio frequency ; customizable keyboard shortcuts ; animation triggers ( animating an aim when you click it ) ; inserting online pictures from within PowerPoint ; and embedding face in your presentation ( for proper display on electronic computer without the same fonts ) .
Bottom line
For Mac users , the more apt question is how PowerPoint stacks up against Apple ’s free Keynote app . When Ireviewed Keynote 6.0 , I plain about features that had been drop off in its most recent overhaul ; since then ( it ’s now up to version 6.5.3 ) , some of those features have been restored , and its dependability has amend . I now consider the two apps equivalent in usableness , overall power , and likability .
However , each has features the other lacks , so your selection will depend on which lineament are most authoritative to you ( and which ecosystem — OneDrive / Office 365 or iCloud / iWork — you sense most well-fixed in ) . For example , PowerPoint has nothing like Keynote ’s signature Magic Move changeover , its table lack Keynote ’s all-encompassing spreadsheet capabilities , and Keynote ( still ) lets you trim audio and video recording and save up your presentment as a pic . On the other hand , PowerPoint offers easier and more flexible course vivification , the incredibly usefulArrange > Reorder Overlapping Objectscommand ( for a 3D view of all the object on a playground slide ) , and the option to play presentations in a freestanding windowpane ( which is especially useful when pass remote presentations using an app such as Skype ) .
PowerPoint 2016 for Mac is , as I say , pleasant to expend , not to mention powerful . If it had feature parity with the Windows interpretation , Dropbox and iCloud accompaniment , and a Magic Move - like transition , it would be closely perfect — and I ’d get it on to see that happen .
