Microsoft has released the first Service Pack for Office for Mac 2011. SP1 updates Office to version 14.1.0 and it fixes a number of security problems and includes enhancements for the various applications in the office suite. The overall stability of Office for Mac 2011 is improved and refinements to performance and reliability help to make the suite more enjoyable to use.

Across the suite a bug that allowed attackers to inject malicious code into memory has been patched, and the ability to add alt text to shapes, images, movies and other objects has also been added. Excel users can benefit from the Solver analysis tools which can be used to run ‘what if’ scenarios with data, and various problems with pasting, conditional formatting, printing and page settings have been fixed.

In PowerPoint, problems that caused narration to stop during playback, and prevented slides from advancing in rehearsal mode have been eliminated, and the option of password protecting presentations is now available. There are also enhancements to Print Preview and the saving of slides as images,

Outlook users have a number of improvements to look forward to. The main enhancement here is to be found in the area of synchronization and it is now possible to sync calendar, notes and tasks. Anyone who relies on rules in Microsoft’s email client will find that service-side rules in Exchange are now available, and the resending and redirecting of emails has been improved. Meeting scheduling has been improved, thanks to the inclusion of recently used location when composing and invitation.

For Word, there are stability improvements when opening and saving files, as well as an improved draft view. Find and Replace has been refined and a problem that caused custom toolbars, menus and keyboard shortcuts to be lost has been fixed.

The free download weighs in at 246.2MB and you can grab yourself a copy by visiting  the Service Pack 1 download page.