Ithaca College

Information Technology Services (ITS) is pleased to announce that Microsoft Office 2011 for the Macintosh will be available as a free upgrade for IC faculty and staff members to install on their college-owned Macintosh computers starting Monday, April 2, 2012.

Office 2011 is a major new release that includes interface changes across all applications, such as the addition of the ribbon and quick icons. What's more, individual applications have been enhanced with new features, such as sparklines in Excel, video embedding in PowerPoint, and the styles panel in Word.

To install the upgrade to Microsoft Office 2011 for Macintosh, please follow the steps in the Office 2011 Installation Guide. Before you install the upgrade, please note the following important points (also covered in the installation guide):

• make sure your computer has been migrated to Active Directory before you install the upgrade
• remove Office 2008 before installing Office 2011 (steps are in the guide)
• use your IC Netpass username and password to access the installer

ITS has verified Office 2011 compatibility with the mainstream software used on campus, but for other specialty applications that interact with Microsoft Office in some way, users should check with the manufacturer of the application to confirm its compatibility with the new version. If you have any concerns about how this upgrade might impact other systems you use (e.g., Parnassus, Oracle Discoverer) please contact the ITS Helpdesk.

Faculty members should be aware that Office 2011 will be installed in labs and eClassrooms during Summer 2012. Faculty should therefore plan to upgrade before the fall semester to allow time to become comfortable with the new interface and features.

Office 2011 is substantially different from the current version. Here are some resources to help you understand what to expect with the new version:

• Register for a What's New in Office 2011 for Mac training session offered by the TLC for an overview of the differences between Office 2008 and 2011
• Review the major new features in the What's New in Microsoft Office 2011 quick guide (pdf)
• Visit the Mactopia web site for online documentation, tutorials, forums and more
• Register for introductory training sessions on Excel 2011, Word 2011, and PowerPoint 2011 using the TLC workshops list or the weekly training schedule

Users who are not ready to upgrade yet will have until December 2012 to do so. After that date, Office 2008 will no longer be supported or installed by ITS, except for cases where the user is unable to upgrade due to a technical issue.

Please visit our Microsoft Office 2011 Support page for more information.

If you have any questions about the upgrade to Microsoft Office 2011, please contact the ITS Helpdesk by calling 607-274-1000 or sending e-mail to helpdesk@ithaca.edu.

--The ITS Microsoft Office Project Team