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Microsoft today posted a blog entry talking a bit about its forthcoming Office for Mac 2011 release scheduled for late this year. A brief behind-the-scenes video of Microsoft developers talking about some of the new features included in the release has also been posted.

The team has a short video (above) and here is a quick look at the new feature they discuss:

- Starting off with the new Template Gallery in Office 2011, this feature allows you to quickly and easily pick a template from the built-in designs to the thousands of templates online – giving you a head start to create great looking, professional documents.

- Core features in Outlook for Mac like the Conversation View help you sort emails easily to keep track of what you need to do. Additionally, the new file-based database is faster and provides more stability with Time Machine support.

- Tying all of the new features together is the Office for Mac ribbon, designed as an evolution of the Office 2008 Elements Gallery while also utilizing the classic Mac menu and Standard Toolbar giving you the best of both worlds. We have put the most commonly used controls at your fingertips making it easier for you to find what you need. You can even minimize the ribbon and the Toolbar for more screen space or for the more advanced users who rely on keyboard shortcuts.

Microsoft has issued several beta versions of Office for Mac 2011 so far this year, which each showing an increasing level of refinement and polish as the company moves toward a public release in the last calendar quarter of this year.