A closer look at Office 2016 for the Mac

The start screen for the core Office apps is this variation on the Backstage view from Office on Windows. Note that documents created or edited on other devices and saved to the cloud roam to the Recent tab.

The exact contents of each ribbon tab might be different, but the order and name of every tab is consistent across platforms. (The File tab on Windows machines is available on the OS X menu bar.)

It's a killer feature for some, and one that Windows doesn't have. Use this option to show messages from multiple accounts in a single unified view: Inbox, Sent Items, Junk E-mail, and more.

Outlook 2016 for the Mac automatically configured my Gmail account, although I had to use an app password because there's no built-in support for Google's authentication.

This feature, which applies consistent formatting across a document, is almost identical to its Windows counterpart.

If you collaborate with other people on Office documents, you can now keep track of the conversation. Use the Reply button to add a new comment that indents itself in these neat threads.

When you select some data in an Excel spreadsheet, you can choose from these recommended options to create a quick chart. In general, the suggestions for chart type are spot on.

In another feature that appeared first in Office for Windows, these large galleries let you preview and apply formatting to Excel objects with one click.

Try not to make your audience seasick.

It's not as feature-rich as its Office for Windows counterpart, but the new OneNote for Mac does an excellent job at capturing information from multiple sources and sharing it across every platform large and small.