How well does the MS Office suite run on macOS?

[arw]

Regarding the (relatively long) startup times: After each reboot, Microsoft‘s Office apps get re-verified the first time you open them (at least the Intel version and pre-365). I solved it by scripting an automatic open & close of the apps on the first login after a reboot so they open quickly when I actually need them or double-click a document.

 

[svenmany]

Regarding the aesthetics, are you serious? The Windows version feels like a dinosaur in comparison to the macOS version.

As for the startup times, maybe it has to do with Intel?

Microsoft wasn't able to bring ActiveX support to other platforms.

Besides, it's extremely ancient. Nobody should be using ActiveX in 2022...

I am serious about aesthetics, but everyone likes different things. Microsoft puts the most efforts into their own platform. Try typing in Word. The cursor is subtly animated, moving smoothly ahead of the typed characters. The ribbon even animates its reorganization when the window resizes. You might not care about such things, but I find them very pleasing.

Microsoft seems to be doing its utmost to make the Mac versions look just like the Windows versions, so I don't understand how one feels like a dinosaur compared to the other. (I assume we're both talking about the latest and greatest Office 365.)

Excel documents tend to be very old in my line of work. They have ActiveX controls in them. I suppose a new document shouldn't introduce such things if it had to be cross platform. But, say you wanted to put a checkbox on a sheet. You are presented with two options: "Form Controls" and "ActiveX Controls". The ActiveX checkbox just looks nicer; it's so easy to make the wrong call. Excel doesn't help you choose.

You seem to be saying that no one should be using ActiveX in 2022, so don't worry about it. But I still think it's worth mentioning to the OP as a potential stumbling block. Only the OP will know if ActiveX is in use at their organization.

I did a random experiment of putting an Excel spreadsheet inside a Word document. It's a complete triviality and works perfectly on Windows; the Excel document can be edited from right within Word. On the Mac, Excel has to launch separately to work on the contents. No big deal unless the user finds it awkward, and it happens to be a common occurrence on the documents being worked on.

Due diligence before pulling the trigger, unless it's easy to switch back to Windows later if the Mac versions turn out to be problematic or just annoying.

 

[MacGizmo]

I think we've already covered this above, the OP does have a Mac.

Ah, I missed that post. In that case, the trial versions are the way to go.

 

[James_C]

I have been using Microsoft Office / 365 on a Mac in a number of companies from listed companies to smaller SME's for the last 20 years, so I have seen the changes over the years. In the early days, when my Mac was a G4 Powerbook, it was not a great experience, the UI on the Mac version was pretty bad, compatibility was not great and the Apps were slow (Excel in particular ran like a dog). In the early days I used to run the Windows version in a virtual PC as it was quicker than the Mac version. Over the years Microsoft have steadily improved the Mac version, improving compatibility, functionality and speed. The most recent version of Excel runs native on Apple Silicon, has all the same functionality that the majority of users need, and just about as quick as the Windows version. I would regard myself as a Excel Power User and create some very complex financial models with Excel, they run better on an M1 MBA that most of my Windows Colleagues using Windows laptops. Most of the issues with sharing files are mainly due to differences with fonts between the two platforms rather than issues with the Apps themselves.

I am not saying it is perfect as other people have pointed out there are a few advanced features that have not made to the Mac version yet, but I have not found this to be a problem.

 

[SalisburySam]

I currently have a Lenovo PC as my work laptop. 99% of my job is done using MS Office applications like Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, Sharepoint, OneNote etc.

I'm looking to get a new laptop, and I have the option of switching to a MacBook Pro if I want to (or get a new Lenovo). Can I expect the Office applications to run just as stable and well on OS X as they do on a native Windows PC like a Lenovo?

I have a private MacBook Pro, so I am used to OS X. But I don't have much experience with running Microsoft applications on it.

I’m a Mac fan and use Office on it, but as I re-read your post I have to ask: what is your motivation to even consider a Mac? You’ve got a work laptop you’re apparently very comfortable with that performs 99% of your job. A hardware refresh to an upgraded newer laptop should perform even better. What are you expecting to get from a platform change (PC to Mac)?

 

[James_C]

What are you expecting to get from a platform change (PC to Mac)?

Based on my experience to get out of Hell and work in Heaven

 

[SalisburySam]

Based on my experience to get out of Hell and work in Heaven

Fair enough…for you. But the OP wasn’t anywhere near hell and by their statement things are working well. So again, why entertain a platform shift? What is the gain?

 

[icanhazmac]

It works but one of the things that I look forward to in retirement is never using, or paying for, Office again. Too bad retirement is still a long way off. I hope that Mac gaming is a thing by then and I can abandon Microsloth completely.

 

[James_C]

Fair enough…for you. But the OP wasn’t anywhere near hell and by their statement things are working well. So again, why entertain a platform shift? What is the gain?

Well the OP already has a MBP for home use, so presumably he prefers Mac OS, so not really a platform shift for him. He just wanted to know if there was a problem (stability specifically) on running the Mac version of Office 365.

 

[JayAgostino]

I am serious about aesthetics, but everyone likes different things. Microsoft puts the most efforts into their own platform.

That's true, but I wouldn't call this archaic.

Try typing in Word. The cursor is subtly animated, moving smoothly ahead of the typed characters.

I remember how much I hated that. The only way you could disable it was through a registry hack.

The ribbon even animates its reorganization when the window resizes. You might not care about such things, but I find them very pleasing.

Is that not a thing in Microsoft Office for Mac? I couldn't sworn it was, but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Sagnet]

I’m a Mac fan and use Office on it, but as I re-read your post I have to ask: what is your motivation to even consider a Mac? You’ve got a work laptop you’re apparently very comfortable with that performs 99% of your job. A hardware refresh to an upgraded newer laptop should perform even better. What are you expecting to get from a platform change (PC to Mac)?

Fair question. I have a Lenovo Yoga laptop as my work laptop. It only has 8GB of memory, and the performance is being limited by this. I can see it is writing memory to disc, and this is slowing it down. So I need to upgrade it.

I asked my employer for a memory upgrade to 16GB, but they would rather just give me a new laptop. So I can choose between a Lenovo Carbon X1 G9, or a similarly priced MacBook Pro. When comparing these two options, the Mac seems to be the better hardware for the money. And I also do appreciate the MacBooks, I have a highly specced 2014 17' MacBook Pro as a private laptop.

But, again, at work I live entirely in the Office 365 ecosystem. And I don't want to compromise on performance, stability or user experience by running Microsoft products on a Mac. That was the question.

As many here have pointed out, I could try the apps on my private Mac, and I will be doing that soon.

 

[Isamilis]

I have tried Office in Mac for my work during early Covid - for few months (word, excel, outlook, ppt, teams). It did work comparably with Windows version, except for excel with large rows and formula.

 

[svenmany]

The Mac versions are getting better and better. There's a feature I use on Windows called "Name Manager". That didn't exist on the Mac version until very recently (this year I think). The Mac version had a non-resizable "Define Name" dialog; it was truly painful when there were a lot of defined names.

Here is someone complaining about the Mac's lack of this feature in 2020.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...he-excel/bb07e680-3947-4697-8b08-50525c7bed3c

-- edit --

Here's the announcement from when it was introduced on the Mac

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com...ed-name-manager-in-excel-for-mac/ba-p/3179498

 

[svenmany]

Because of this thread, I've started trying to do my work in Excel on my Mac. Right away I had a problem. Next to the "Name Manager" ribbon button there is a "Use in Formula" dropdown. My spreadsheet has a few hundred names. That dropdown works perfectly on Windows. It just hangs on the Mac and I have to force close the program. I'm using the very same spreadsheet on both.

This might be a consequence of the fact that Name Manager was only recently introduced on the Mac and might still have bugs.

 

[spatlese44]

I found track changes to be problematic when interacting with others using the windows version. Might be fixed now as haven’t done that for almost two years now. If that’s something you do regularly, you might want to check. Other than that, I’m quite happy with it and have used both extensively.

 

[JayAgostino]

Because of this thread, I've started trying to do my work in Excel on my Mac. Right away I had a problem. Next to the "Name Manager" ribbon button there is a "Use in Formula" dropdown. My spreadsheet has a few hundred names. That dropdown works perfectly on Windows. It just hangs on the Mac and I have to force close the program. I'm using the very same spreadsheet on both.

This might be a consequence of the fact that Name Manager was only recently introduced on the Mac and might still have bugs.

Yeah, give it some time. I’m sure they’ll eventually smooth out the bugs.

I found track changes to be problematic when interacting with others using the windows version. Might be fixed now as haven’t done that for almost two years now. If that’s something you do regularly, you might want to check. Other than that, I’m quite happy with it and have used both extensively.

Track changes seem to work fine nowadays. I use Microsoft Office for macOS on a daily basis.

 

[ssmed]

Be aware that the only version of Outlook being actively developed for the Mac DOES NOT work with in house exchange servers on MacOS. A feature we have been waiting for, for over 2 years.

 

[Feek]

I bought O365 specifically to use Outlook, Excel and Word. I don’t care about anything else in the package.

I tried Outlook but it’s very different to the Windows version. I really wanted to be able to use rules in the same way I do on my work PC running Windows but it’s very limited on the Mac with an iCloud email account. I ended up removing it.

 

[JayAgostino]

Be aware that the only version of Outlook being actively developed for the Mac DOES NOT work with in house exchange servers on MacOS. A feature we have been waiting for, for over 2 years.

Which version is that?

I tried Outlook but it’s very different to the Windows version. I really wanted to be able to use rules in the same way I do on my work PC running Windows but it’s very limited on the Mac with an iCloud email account. I ended up removing it.

Were you using the redesigned version of Microsoft Outlook?

 

[ssmed]

Which version is that?

I am using 16.65 on MacOS. There are two options 'traditional' for which there appears to have been no development for a couple of years which includes a number of options that are unavailable in the 'New Outlook' including local Exchange server. The older version uses Apple's spotlight for searching and the link between MS Outlook and Spotlight has been problematic for many forcing the change to the new version. Not being able to search you emails makes the application useless. As a heavy 365 user the new version is good for most things and fits my needs for work well.

 

[Feek]

Were you using the redesigned version of Microsoft Outlook?

It was only a couple of months ago so whatever the most recent version was then.

 

[Mousse]

And by the way, there are a ton of missing features and capabilities when running Office on the Mac (particularly PowerPoint and Excel), which you can Google search for more info.

Yarp. Unless you're a Grand Poobah of power users (the 0.001%), you'll not miss most of those missing features. The Mac version of Excel does not have power pivot. Most people have never heard of this feature, let alone use it. But if you need it, you will not be able to live without it. For this reason I will even consider any version of Excel except the Windows version.

 

[Silencio]

If you're a real power user of Excel or Outlook, you may want to stick with Windows. For 98% of users out there, however, Office for Mac is totally fine. Microsoft has done a very good job of improving things on the macOS side in recent years.

Both the "old" and "new" versions of Outlook use Spotlight for their search engines. If search in Outlook stops working, simply kick off a rebuild of your Spotlight database, and that should fix it. I had to stick with "old" Outlook for a long time due to some legacy shared folders I was using, but I finally abandoned that and haven't looked back.

OneDrive works about the same on the macOS side as it does on Windows. It's more tightly integrated with Windows Explorer, but both platforms have a similar amount of issues syncing with OneDrive or Sharepoint in my experience. Thankfully I don't have to rely on it much anymore.

 

[ssmed]

Both the "old" and "new" versions of Outlook use Spotlight for their search engines.

Are you sure about that? You can put your whole hard disk into SPOTLIGHT privacy and search in New Outlook still works, which certainly was not true with the older version.

 

[svenmany]

I think it's hard to draw conclusions like 2% or .001% of users will have issues. Well, it's easy to draw the conclusions, but it's hard to draw the right ones.

I believe that every Mac user will occasionally have some Mac-related problem - some bug that is not yet fixed on the Mac version. Or there will be some new feature that coworkers start using that is not yet available on the Mac. I encountered a bug doing basic stuff working with Name Manager.

If all your coworkers are on the Mac, then so what. If your work is not mission critical or time sensitive, then so what. On the other hand, if your coworkers are using Windows and you really are spending 99% of your time in Office applications and sharing documents with those coworkers, then you really should not be comforted by statistical assertions.