What's New in Office 2019

Cross-post from blog post for DCNC, Inc.

If you're not on Office365, you may be curious about the newest release of Office from Microsoft. Here are some highlights:

For starters, you won’t be forced to upgrade. Microsoft Office 2019 is a standalone, one-time purchase that does not receive ongoing feature updates. It is not cloud-based, like Office 365, and it is not meant to replace Office 365. In fact, Office 365 already has many of the new features being rolled out. Office 2019 is geared primarily towards private users and business who do not have internet access required to use Office 365. Office 2019 requires Windows 10 and it comes with some behind-the-scenes changes such as monthly security updates and a reduction to network bandwidth use.

And, as you can see from the screenshots throughout the rest of this article, the general look and feel has not changed much.

What they have done is added broad support for digital pencils throughout the Office Suite, like expanded “roaming pencil case” support, which lets users write by hand and move parts of documents with their pencil, as well as new support for pressure sensitivity and tilt recognition.

That said, there are still some interesting new features including:

WORD:

New “Focus mode,” which darkens the screen and reduces the displayed User Interface (“UI,” for short) elements.

Microsoft Translator built into the Review tab in the ribbon

New “Learning Tools,” including new text-to-speech, text spacing, and translator features.

 OUTLOOK:

New “Focused Inbox,” to help streamline workflow and email drafting.

Users can now use “@” commands for tagging people in emails, and contact cards have been overhauled. 

Schedule meetings across multiple time zones.

EXCEL:

New chart options, and support for 2D maps and timelines.

New Formulas

CONCAT

This new function is like CONCATENATE, but better. First of all, it's shorter and easier to type. But it also supports range references, in addition to cell references. Learn more about CONCAT.

IFS

Tired of typing complicated, nested IF functions? The IFS function is the solution. With this function, conditions are tested in the order that you specify. If passed, the result is returned. You can also specify an else "catch all" if none of the conditions are met. Learn more about IFS.

MAXIFS

This function returns the largest number in a range, that meets a single or multiple criteria. Learn more about MAXIFS.

MINIFS

This function is similar to MAXIFS, but it returns the smallest number in a range, that meets a single or multiple criteria. Learn more about MINIFS.

SWITCH

This function evaluates an expression against a list of values in order, and returns the first matching result. If no results match, the "else" is returned. Learn more about SWITCH.

TEXTJOIN

This function combines text from multiple ranges, and each item is separated by a delimiter that you specify. Learn more about TEXTJOIN.

PC users will also receive updates to Power Pivot, Power Query, and the ability to export to Power BI.

ONENOTE FOR WINDOWS 10:

This is technically a new OneNote release that can replace OneNote 2016 (though OneNote 2016 remains available and will be supported by Microsoft through 2025). This new version includes Ink-to-Text support, meaning your handwritten words will be turned into typed text, plus better syncing between connected devices.

POWERPOINT:

Support for 3D model display/manipulation and SVG files on slides; new morph transitions; the ability to export your presentation in 4K UltraHD video format, and you can now write by hand and move elements with your pencil while editing.