Microsoft releases Office 2019 for Windows and Mac

[Zoom7000]

Microsoft launches Office 2019 for Windows and Mac

 

Available to all consumers in the coming weeks

 

Microsoft is releasing Office 2019 for Windows and Mac today. The update is designed for businesses and consumers that haven’t opted into Microsoft’s Office 365 service with monthly feature updates. Office 2019 is essentially a subset of features that have been added to Office 365 over the past three years, and it includes updates to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, Visio, Access, and Publisher.

 

Office 2019 will include a roaming pencil case and ribbon customizations across all Office apps. Microsoft is also bringing focus mode to Word, alongside a new translator, and accessibility improvements. Morph transitions, SVG and 3D model support, play in-click sequence, and 4k video export are all coming to PowerPoint.

 

Alongside these individual feature updates, Exchange Server 2019, Skype for Business Server 2019, SharePoint Server 2019, and Project Server 2019 will also be released for businesses in the coming weeks. Office 2019 itself will be available first to commercial volume license customers today, followed by consumer and other business customers in the next few weeks.

 

Source - The Verge

 

I've just had a look on the VLSC and it's available now, but saw some rather interesting news:

 

Office Professional Plus 2019 will be released with Click-to-Run installation technology only. We are not providing MSI as a deployment methodology for Office Professional Plus 2019.

For more information about deploying Click-to-Run products with the Office Deployment Tool, click here.

 

For more information on OneNote, refer to this article.

 

For information on Office 2019 Professional Key Management Service Host, click here.

 

I guess it's not all that bad as you can stil deploy using XML and ODT, but is this marking the end of MSI deployment as we know it?

[FishCustard]

I haven't deployed Office with an MSI in years, it just gets baked into our core image (just easier than pushing out such a large program over the wire, and every PC needs it anyway!). Easier to just update it when we reimage - which, with Win 10 is more frequently than in, say, the XP days.

 

I guess Office 2019 can go into my Christmas project (1809 image)!

[Wubbalubbadub]

This! I'm looking forward to a new image.

[free780]

Real admins deploy 365 ProPlus. On the monthly channel.

[FishCustard]

Real admins deploy 365 ProPlus. On the monthly channel.

 

What's the benefit of doing it this way? Does it auto-update each month?

[free780]

Controlled via SCCM. You need a test ring. Then a slow ring. It means you stay current and supports all the features of Office 365.

[Arthur]

Some things to bear in mind for the Mac version...

 

https://twitter.com/meck/status/1031651896992456705

 

 

https://macmule.com/2018/09/24/microsoft-office-for-mac-changes-versioning-shenanigans

 

Edited September 24, 2018 by Arthur

[FishCustard]

Controlled via SCCM. You need a test ring. Then a slow ring. It means you stay current and supports all the features of Office 365.

Cool, this goes on the list too. If anyone else is interested, I guess this is a starting point.

[Arthur]

Finally!!!!!

 

Microsoft will finally offer 64-bit Office by default moving forward

 

If you've installed Office lately, you've probably noticed that by default, the 32-bit apps installed, despite the fact that this just seems antiquated in the modern world. 64-bit options have been available for years, but Microsoft has left the 32-bit apps as the recommended option.

 

Today at Ignite 2018, the firm announced that moving forward, 64-bit will be the new default. This will be true for both Office 365 and the new perpetual Office product that was released today, Office 2019.

 

This only goes for new installations though. You're not going to automatically be upgraded to the 64-bit apps. In fact, there isn't a path to go from 32-bit to 64-bit at all, unless you're upgrading a perpetual license to Office 365 or Office 2019. In other words, it has to be a full product installation.

 

This, of course, applies to Windows PCs, as all Macs have been 64-bit for years, and Apple has been warning users of using 32-bit apps in its latest updates. Indeed, 64-bit Office on Macs has been the standard for some time, and Windows is finally catching up to that.

[free780]

It's a shame there's so many Office extensions that are 32bit only.

[Zoom7000]

Well, it's certainly not as easy to install as the MSI. Ironic that they call it click to run, when for enterprise it's hardly click to run! You have to download the ODT and then write an XML file to download the files, then you need to edit the XML again and point it to the downloaded files and then run the ODT again to install the application.

 

All I want to do is install it on my test PC!

[Zoom7000]

In case anyone is interested, here is the XML I created:

 

 

The above installs Office 2019 from the location where you downloaded the Office files to. Doesn't install OneDrive, Lync or Groove, removes all previous versions of Office and doesn't display any installation window.

 

If you want it to automatically activate, add the following line after

 

Edited September 25, 2018 by Zoom7000

[Blue_Cookeh]

Thanks to the magic of SCCM we've now got it deployed to 25% of our staff and increasing... I decided to wrap it in a PSADT script so it would warn users, let them defer 3 times, and make sure everything was saved and closed before continuing.

 

Normally I'd wait a little while but Office 2016 didn't support Office 365 groups and was holding back the migration of some of our internal shares into Office365 - now that can go ahead!

Edited September 25, 2018 by Blue_Cookeh

[FN-GM]

Does anyone know when it will be coming to Office 365 and if you can control what version users install via this please?

[Blue_Cookeh]

Does anyone know when it will be coming to Office 365 and if you can control what version users install via this please?

 

How do you mean coming to Office365?

 

This is a direct replacement for Office ProPlus 2016 - it doesn't receive regular feature updates (only security) and is for your bog standard volume licensing customers. If you're licensing through Office365 then MS are pushing you onto Office365 ProPlus with regular feature updates based on the Monthly/whatever channels.

[FN-GM]

I have just gone to install it via Office 365 and it still has version 2016 with no 2019 options.

[DrCheese]

It won't - The version you get from 365 isn't really "2016" rather it's the ever updating 365 version that already has everything 2019 has.

[FN-GM]

Why does it refer to it as 2016 then?

 

Thanks

[Arthur]

Why does it refer to it as 2016 then?

From @Zoom7000's quote in the first post...

 

Office 2019 itself will be available first to commercial volume license customers today, followed by consumer and other business customers in the next few weeks.

[mullet_man]

I can't see a 2019 KMS key in VLSC?

 

Is it a key we need to request? I can the 2019 MAK key.

[LeMarchand]

I can't see a 2019 KMS key in VLSC?

 

Is it a key we need to request? I can the 2019 MAK key.

 

I thought they'd decided that you had to request any KMS key as MAK was now preferred. Not sure how this makes sense.

[Arthur]

Is it a key we need to request?

Yes. The contact details you need can be found here. I have just done the same.

[CHiLL]

With the move to Click to run, does that mean the version available on VLSC will be the same as the version that will become available via Office 365 downloads? Or will there be differences like there are between Office 365 and 2016 ProPlus?

[Norphy]

There are still going to be two separate branches of Office:

 

Office 2019 - Will only receive bug fixes and security updates

Office ProPlus - Will get feature updates as they're available

 

They're working on a similar model to Windows with the LTSC and SAC.

[jmak]

I hope they release per device activation in the UK at the same time. Cover teachers and students on classroom/shared computers will run out of activations pretty quickly.