Longtime Windows MS Office User...How is MS Office for Mac?

[JoshGartner]

Hoping you guys can advise me. Long time Mac user for casual home stuff, but have always used a PC for work for the last 30 year. I am about to get a new device for work and am thinking of getting the 2021 Macbook Pro as my all-in-one device. The reasoning is since I am a iphone user, I can get a much more integrated experience and not have to save pictures on a Mac and work on a PC. Plus one device and a Macbook sounds very appealing

I use Outlook, Word, Excel, and Powerpoint every day and the reason from staying away from a Mac in the past was due to the lack of functionality. Now, dont get me wrong, I am not doing uber high tech stuff on these applications, maybe I'm just an above average user.

So, would moving to a Mac hinder my use off these apps?
What's the best way to get a PC like experience for MS Office on Mac? Use bootcamp to split (not preferred)?
Use the Office 365 apps from itunes?
Download office for Mac?

I'm really just hoping to keep it simple, and have a seamless experience to Mac as it relates to MS Office. Also, looking for a cost effective way because I have a small business, so that's important

Thank you!

 

[pine man]

For many years I was an Office user on a PC and when I moved to a Mac about 7 years ago I continued using Outlook, Word and Excel. In recent years I took out an Office 365 subscription for £59.99, which allows for 5 devices. I also get 1TB of OneDrive storage. Excellent value and always bang up to date.

I am not aware of any shortcomings comparing Mac and Windows versions.

 

[JoshGartner]

For many years I was an Office user on a PC and when I moved to a Mac about 7 years ago I continued using Outlook, Word and Excel. In recent years I took out an Office 365 subscription for £59.99, which allows for 5 devices. I also get 1TB of OneDrive storage. Excellent value and always bang up to date.

I am not aware of any shortcomings comparing Mac and Windows versions.

So as a user, your experience navigating the menus and features of MS office suite is the same as when using a PC?

So you pay an annual subscription model? Is there a one-time download available instead?

 

[IWT]

A warm welcome to Mac-Forums, Josh and thank you for your post.

I am sort of in the same position as you. I subscribe to Microsoft 365 which works fine on Macs and PCs. It includes the entire lineup which covers all your requirements.

OK, it's subscription, but it is always kept up to date, for ever, as long as you subscribe. In addition, the subscription allows up to 5 Devices to be installed which can include other people such as family or friends; and offers 1TB of cloud storage per person.

So you could have 365 on your PC, your Mac and your iPhone if you wanted. And they would be synced.

BTW I have no connection to Microsoft in any capacity. I only recommend 365 because it has worked flawlessly for me.

For more info:

Buy Microsoft 365 Personal (formerly Office 365) - Subscription Price | Microsoft Store

The Microsoft 365 Personal subscription includes powerful productivity apps, premium features, extra cloud storage, and advanced security. For PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android. Learn about features, pricing and how to buy.

www.microsoft.com

Does that help?

Ian

 

[JoshGartner]

A warm welcome to Mac-Forums, Josh and thank you for your post.

I am sort of in the same position as you. I subscribe to Microsoft 365 which works fine on Macs and PCs. It includes the entire lineup which covers all your requirements.

OK, it's subscription, but it is always kept up to date, for ever, as long as you subscribe. In addition, the subscription allows up to 5 Devices to be installed which can include other people such as family or friends; and offers 1TB of cloud storage per person.

So you could have 365 on your PC, your Mac and your iPhone if you wanted. And they would be synced.

BTW I have no connection to Microsoft in any capacity. I only recommend 365 because it has worked flawlessly for me.

For more info:

Buy Microsoft 365 Personal (formerly Office 365) - Subscription Price | Microsoft Store

The Microsoft 365 Personal subscription includes powerful productivity apps, premium features, extra cloud storage, and advanced security. For PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android. Learn about features, pricing and how to buy.

www.microsoft.com

Does that help?

Ian

Yes, very helpful and thank you! So as a small business owner, could I share the MS license with other employees using PCs? That would be big.

So when you switched to Office on Mac in its current form, you didn't feel lost or anything?

 

[pine man]

So as a user, your experience navigating the menus and features of MS office suite is the same as when using a PC?

So you pay an annual subscription model? Is there a one-time download available instead?

For a while I ran a PC and a Mac together and I never noticed any difference apart from, and it hurts to admit this, Word and Excel seemed to launch faster on the PC!!!!

You can buy a one time download as far as I'm aware.

 

[JoshGartner]

For a while I ran a PC and a Mac together and I never noticed any difference apart from, and it hurts to admit this, Word and Excel seemed to launch faster on the PC!!!!

You can buy a one time download as far as I'm aware.

Thank you, great to know.

 

[IWT]

So when you switched to Office on Mac in its current form, you didn't feel lost or anything?

No. It was just as if I was on a PC. I don't own a PC - not for many years - but all the hospitals in the UK depend on PCs and when I give my talks or run Courses, I have to use their PCs.

There has never been any problem creating my PowerPoint presentations on my iMac and delivering them on a PC.

Ditto with Word documents or Excel spreadsheets.

Hope that assists.

Ian

 

[JoshGartner]

No. It was just as if I was on a PC. I don't own a PC - not for many years - but all the hospitals in the UK depend on PCs and when I give my talks or run Courses, I have to use their PCs.

There has never been any problem creating my PowerPoint presentations on my iMac and delivering them on a PC.

Ditto with Word documents or Excel spreadsheets.

Hope that assists.

Ian

Thanks Ian. Not so long ago, it was frightening to use Office on Mac, because Microsoft would release it every 10 years or so, and it was lacking many of the same menus and features.

 

[harryb2448]

Office 2021 For Mac and PC is available from Microsoft for US$149.00 and I find it just fine. Little cheaper here:-

Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 | One time purchase, 1 device | Windows 10/11 PC/Mac Download - Newegg.com

Buy Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 | One time purchase, 1 device | Windows 10/11 PC/Mac Download with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

 

[chscag]

Thanks Ian. Not so long ago, it was frightening to use Office on Mac, because Microsoft would release it every 10 years or so, and it was lacking many of the same menus and features.

Where did you get that from? (every 10 years or so)

Mac Office 2004

Mac Office 2008

Mac Office 2011

Mac Office 2016

Mac Office 2019

and.....

Mac Office 2021

Please get your facts straight.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

What's the best way to get a PC like experience for MS Office on Mac?

Hi Josh!

I have a Web site that lists all of the word processors for the Macintosh, and on it I list links to free-standing (non-subscription) versions of Microsoft Office, as well as to alternatives to Office:

Macintosh Word Processors

Office for the Mac is generally identical to Office for Windows, but a few very advanced things may be missing on the Mac version, or they may be located in slightly different places. Depending on how much of a power user you are, you may not even notice much of a difference once you get used to the layout.

Microsoft REALLY wants to drive you to getting a subscription rather than to purchase the stand-alone version. To this end they withhold some very nice, but non-essential features from the stand-alone version (e.g. multiple customizable toolbars), and they generally don't offer updates as quickly to stand alone users, etc.

There are alternatives to Microsoft Office, that are excellent...and even FREE!

I have Microsoft Office on my desktop computers, but on my fleet of laptops, instead I have installed FreeOffice, which is, you guessed it, FREE!

www.freeoffice.com - FreeOffice for Windows, Mac and Linux

FreeOffice is awesome. Some of my staff can't even tell the difference between it and Microsoft Office. Since it's free, it's worth having a look at to see if it meets your needs.

 

[JoshGartner]

Hi Josh!

I have a Web site that lists all of the word processors for the Macintosh, and on it I list links to free-standing (non-subscription) versions of Microsoft Office, as well as to alternatives to Office:

Macintosh Word Processors

Office for the Mac is generally identical to Office for Windows, but a few very advanced things may be missing on the Mac version, or they may be located in slightly different places. Depending on how much of a power user you are, you may not even notice much of a difference once you get used to the layout.

Microsoft REALLY wants to drive you to getting a subscription rather than to purchase the stand-alone version. To this end they withhold some very nice, but non-essential features from the stand-alone version (e.g. multiple customizable toolbars), and they generally don't offer updates as quickly to stand alone users, etc.

There are alternatives to Microsoft Office, that are excellent...and even FREE!

I have Microsoft Office on my desktop computers, but on my fleet of laptops, instead I have installed FreeOffice, which is, you guessed it, FREE!

www.freeoffice.com - FreeOffice for Windows, Mac and Linux

FreeOffice is awesome. Some of my staff can't even tell the difference between it and Microsoft Office. Since it's free, it's worth having a look at to see if it meets your needs.

This is very useful, thank you for the information. I have to stick to MS Office just due to the nature of my work. All my work is in PPT Word and Excel and I have multiple clients to deal with. I wouldn't call myself a power user, so I think I wont miss any of the advanced things there. Yeah, I think a stand-alone version will probably work for me, but I think the the subscription model allows for multiple users? That may be useful if I want to give another user MS Office in the company. I am assuming that is the case?

Thanks again!

 

[IWT]

That may be useful if I want to give another user MS Office in the company. I am assuming that is the case?

You are correct. The 5 users, including yourself, need not be family, friends etc. They are whom you choose and they do not need to be Mac users - it applies to Windows' PCs as well.

Just remember that 5 Devices means just that. So if you have it on your Mac and iPhone, that's two out of the five.

The 1TB of storage per person might be useful?

I didn't explore the Subscription Business version of 365 as it would never apply to me; but in your case that might turn out to be a better option. I can't say of course.

Good luck with your plan.

Ian

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...I have to stick to MS Office just due to the nature of my work. All my work is in PPT Word and Excel and I have multiple clients to deal with.

I should have pointed out that one of the reasons that I recommend that you take a look at FreeOffice is that it works with all of the native Microsoft file formats and does an excellent job with them. I really do recommend that you check the program out. After all...it's free!

 

[Slydude]

I have to second Randy's recommendation of FreeOffice. I used Word for several years, both at home and at work. I had a series of documents with macros that worked on both the Mac and PC. When I no longer needed those macros and the Mac and PC macro languages started to diverge, I stopped updating the Mac version.

I used NeoOffice, OpenOffice, and LibreOffice, but each successive version seemed slower and slower on my Mac. Someone on the forum suggested FreeOffice, so I tried it. The critical thing for me was that Freeoffice files transferred to Word seamlessly. I eventually upgraded to the paid version (SoftMaker Office) for a handful of features that, as it turns out, I don't often use,

BTW SoftMaker Office is still cheaper than MS Office.

 

[chscag]

The paid version of Softmaker Office is very well done and a bargain for the asking price. However, it's best to try out FreeOffice first to make sure you not only like it, but that it will work well with all your older MS Office documents.

I would like to point out that the latest Apple iWork suite (now separate apps) is free and is very well done. You should try that first before FreeOffice or any other Office suite.

As long as I do not have to exchange documents with others, I prefer Pages to Word. However, I have archives of older Word documents going back to Office 97 that I need to open with Word. The latest version of Word that I use is 16.54 and works fine to open all my older Word documents.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I would like to point out that the latest Apple iWork suite (now separate apps) is free and is very well done. You should try that first before FreeOffice ...

FreeOffice is extremely similar to Microsoft Office, and should be familiar enough that any former MS Office user (Mac or Windows) should be up and productive immediately.

iWork, on the other hand, is quite DISsimilar to MS Office. It will present somewhat of a challenge to former MS Office users, and many will be unhappy having to learn entirely new interface paradigms.

In addition, modernly iWork isn't a power user product as it once was. If a user was previously a power user of MS Office, they may be extremely disappointed with the feature set in iWork. FreeOffice isn't as powerful as MS Office, but it is more designed for power users than iWork is.

Lastly, the translators that iWork has that allows it to work with MS Office file formats aren't nearly as good as those in FreeOfice. iWork's translators are fine for exchanging documents with MS Office users if those documents are simple. However, if those documents are complex, FreeOffice has a HUGE leg up over iWork.

If one is a previous heavy MS Office user, and especially if you were a power user of MS Office, I believe that you will be much happier with FreeOffice.

Both FreeOffice and iWork are FREE. If you can't decide which might be best for you, download both and see which you like better. You can keep the one that you like, and trash the other.

 

[JoshGartner]

Just a quick follow up now that I have purchased and used the Macbook Pro 14 for a couple of weeks now. I dont know why I waited so long!!! The whole MS Office experience is very seamless, if not better on the Mac! I know my concerns were based on year old experience with Office for Mac, but I've brainwashed myself into thinking the work = Windows PC. Apple has come a long way and there really is no reason for hardware to be an issue anymore. The software experience is pretty seamless. Plus, being an Apple user, the added integration and feature of the iPhone/Mac just is awesome!

Thanks all

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I dont know why I waited so long!!! The whole MS Office experience is very seamless, if not better on the Mac!

Welcome to the Macintosh Josh! I think that you will find that computing is now quite a bit more fun!

If you haven't already, have a look at this long list of really nice free software. I think that you will find some of it to be invaluable:

Free Macintosh Software!