Office 2016 for Mac supports more OS X technologies than its 2011 counterpart. One noteworthy improvement is that you can use OS X Multi-Touch gestures in all the productivity suite’s programs. For example, you can pinch to zoom in on a specific part of a Word file or Excel spreadsheet. Get Office 2011 working in Retina Display mode. Despite updating to the latest Office 2011 for Mac, which supports Retina Displays, users are finding the programs still open in low-resolution modes.

Users of Apple’s new MacBook Pro with Retina display have been complaining that the office suite hasn’t been updated with Retina graphics (and therefore looks awful on the new machine). Microsoft initially answered this by updating Outlook with Retina graphics as part of their Mountain Lion update.

Unfortunately, it seems that Microsoft Word, Excel, and the remainder of the Office 2011 apps won’t get the same benefit, and users of the apps will just have to deal with the current blurry, difficult to look at apps, as Microsoft apparently has no plans to update them.

Macworld UKpoints to a response from the Office for Mac Teamto a user’s complaint about the apps being “very blurry and tough on the eyes”:

Outlook for Mac 2011 already supports Retina Display and the remaining apps will have the same viewing quality as on any non-Retina device. Unfortunately at this time, we cannot comment on any future updates regarding supporting Retina on Word, Excel or PowerPoint… Hope that helps!

That’s code for “not anytime soon.” Microsoft has stated that they will issue a significant update of Office for Mac 2011 once the new Microsoft Office 2013 becomes available for PCs, and it’s possible that they may include Retina graphics in that update. As always, though, their plans are unclear.

What Is Macbook Retina

This sucks on Microsoft’s part, but on the other hand, this is just one of the many perils that early adopters often have to face. Being the first to upgrade has its benefits – but it also has downsides…