Microsoft has released a new version of the Office suite for customers who do not want to subscribe to Microsoft 365. A separate version of Microsoft Office 2024 is available for both individual consumers and small businesses and includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook for both Mac and PC. Office 2024 includes many of the updates Microsoft has provided to Microsoft 365 subscribers over the past few years.

The previous standalone version of Microsoft Office was released in 2021. Microsoft Office 2024 includes improvements to core applications as well as changes to the user interface. Office 2024 has received a new default design theme in the Fluent Design style, matching the visual style of Windows 11. The biggest changes in Office 2024 affected Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

In addition to new Excel functions for using text and strings in worksheets, Microsoft also added a new Image function that can retrieve images from the Internet. Excel 2024 can now reference dynamic arrays in auto-updating charts. Microsoft claims that the overall speed and stability of Excel 2024 has been improved.

PowerPoint now has the ability to add a video stream from the camera to slides, as well as the ability to record voiced text, animations, transitions, and handwritten input. You can now add captions to videos and audio files in slides.

Search in Outlook 2024 has been significantly redesigned to deliver more relevant results when searching for messages, attachments, contacts, and calendar entries. This version of Outlook also has more tools for organizing meetings, including the ability to automatically shorten meetings. Mac users can now use left and right reset gestures in Outlook.

Easily insert images into Word, Excel and PowerPoint from your Android mobile device. The new version of Microsoft’s office suite provides full support for version 1.4 of the OpenDocument format (ODF), which includes many improvements. Word and PowerPoint allow you to mark and reply to comments in documents.

OneNote 2024 users will have access to new handwriting and drawing features.

Office 2024 will require a Microsoft account and Internet connection. It is not yet clear whether a permanent connection is required or just to install the package, activate it and receive updates. Office 2024 requires Windows 10 or 11 on PC and any of the three latest macOS versions on Mac.

Microsoft Office 2024 suite will be available in two different versions. Office Home 2024, available for $149.99, includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for PC or Mac. To use Outlook, you’ll need the $249.99 version of Office Home and Business 2024, which also provides rights to use the programs for business purposes.