Office 2019 launches for Windows and Mac

Five months after first entering preview, Microsoft is launching Office 2019 into general availability today. Commercial volume license customers can get their hands on the followup to Office 2016 starting today, and Office 2019 will roll out to all consumer and commercial customers over the next several weeks.

Office 2019 represents the latest perpetual release of Microsoft's productivity suite for those who aren't yet ready to embrace the cloud with Office 365 ProPlus. The latest release essentially brings a number of features that have rolled out to Office 365 ProPlus over the past three years. Those include things like a roaming pencil case and improved inking features, new data analysis features in Excel, along with the ability to use Morph and Zoom effects in PowerPoint.

For Word and Outlook users, you'll see the addition of Learning Tools features like Read Aloud and Text Spacing. A new Focus Mode also lets you stay free of distractions while working on a document or browsing through your inbox.

Office 2019 includes updated versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, Visio, Access, and Publisher. Commercial volume license customers can get started with the new suite today, and all other customers will get access in the coming weeks.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl