MS Office 2011 or 2016?

[aspalmat]

Interested in hearing folks opinions on these 2 versions of MS Office. I just bought a 13" MBP, and want to get Word and Excel. I've read a lot of negative reviews on the new 2016 version. But, it seems a little silly to buy the 2011 version on a brand new MBP running El Capitan.

I do have MS Office 2011 with Word and Excel running on a 2011 iMac with El Capitan with no issues. It seems like going with 2011 would be the safe bet. But, I don't want to buy out of date software either.

Thoughts?

 

[DeltaMac]

The (other) question is:
Do you really need MS Office?

Related to that:
Can you use an office-like software, such as LibreOffice?
You would quickly notice one advantage with LibreOffice... It's free!
Some folks use that, and can do everything that might usually need MS Office.

 

[b0fh666]

I use 2011... it keeps bugging me to update to 2016 on startup, says its free because of 365... but I can't install it because installations are disabled

 

[aspalmat]

Delta, thanks for the feedback. I will check out LibreOffice. I don't use Word and Excel a ton on my personal machine, but enough that I need something. Free might be a good choice.

 

[-BigMac-]

Is it possible to purchase Word individually? would save a lot of people a lot of money

 

[oldmacs]

2016 is annoyingly slow even on an SSD... I just don't get how it could possibly take as long as it does to start up

 

[NoBoMac]

Along the lines of DeltaMac's comment: if going with Office, do you really need 2016? What feature in there that is a must need.

I'm running with 2011. It creates the latest MS formats (ie. docx, xlsx, pptx, introduced in 2007[?]), just like 2016. And plenty of people/services can't handle these formats, so, you are creating files in the old formats, which 2011 handles just fine. Even then, 95% of the time, I'm using LibreOffice, which does a good enough job (for most of my scenarios) in doing these formats as well. Office is there for those situations where there's something "off" with the MS file and can only be handled properly in Office.

Then again, this is coming from a guy that used Office 2003 in an XP virtual-machine for 10 years, until Office 2013 was announced and Amazon dropped the price of 2011 to $70-80, getting me to get a more current version and for Mac.

 

[aspalmat]

Thanks for all the feedback. I went ahead, and ordered MS Office Home & Student 2016, which only includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and One Note. I guess we will see how it works. Hopefully I don't regret it, and wished I would have purchased the 2011 version.

 

[Riwam]

Thanks for all the feedback. I went ahead, and ordered MS Office Home & Student 2016, which only includes Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and One Note. I guess we will see how it works. Hopefully I don't regret it, and wished I would have purchased the 2011 version.

*******
I don't believe you might have problems with your 2016.
I have used many years 2011 and now several monthes 2016 without problems.
Other that the design and colours I did not find significate differences between 2011 and 2016.
However I mostly used Word and Outlook. Maybe users of Excel or Power Point see it differently.
Ed

 

[flowrider]

If your version of Office 2011 is legal, you may have a license for two machines. I know the license I do has.

Lou

 

[skaertus]

I have an Office 365 subscription. It allows me to install Office 2016 for Mac, which is the best version for Mac yet, but miles behind the Windows version. I can also run Office 2016 for Windows on BootCamp/Parallels, which is the real deal. Plus, I have additional installations to use on other computers and I can also install it on smartphones and tablets.

While Office 365 is expensive (US$ 100), it can be found cheaper. It is currently at US$ 85, and the keycard is US$ 82, at Amazon.com, for instance.

 

[anjuna]

I get an Office 365 licence for free from my university and so upgraded to 2016 when it was released. 2011 Excel and Powerpoint were fine, but I found Word to be horribly outdated, laggy when handling larger documents and difficult to navigate using the Mac trackpad. 2016 Word is far superior to navigate and use, and looks much more clean. Meanwhile, I've found Excel and Powerpoint to be just as good as before.

Never had any issues with it being slow, although I have a pretty beefed up 15 inch retina. Not heard any complaints from my class mates either.

 

[Riwam]

I have an Office 365 subscription. It allows me to install Office 2016 for Mac, which is the best version for Mac yet, but miles behind the Windows version. I can also run Office 2016 for Windows on BootCamp/Parallels, which is the real deal. Plus, I have additional installations to use on other computers and I can also install it on smartphones and tablets.

While Office 365 is expensive (US$ 100), it can be found cheaper. It is currently at US$ 85, and the keycard is US$ 82, at Amazon.com, for instance.

********
As far as I am concerned I believe that every user should have the right to buy and own for good any software he/she bought.
I would never lease anything and do not like software which must be payed again and again and again...
If I had to choose, I would prefer any previous version bought to any newer version rented.
Ed

 

[sracer]

2016 is annoyingly slow even on an SSD... I just don't get how it could possibly take as long as it does to start up

Your experience echoes mine. Not only is it slow, but a behemoth in size... each component of Office 2016 is nearly 2GB. Total disk footprint is about 7GB. I ended up removing it from my Macbook Air but kept it on my iMac for those occasions where I need an actual copy MS Office.

For my daily office purposes, LibreOffice + MS_Office_2013 icon set for the interface.

 

[oldmacs]

Your experience echoes mine. Not only is it slow, but a behemoth in size... each component of Office 2016 is nearly 2GB. Total disk footprint is about 7GB. I ended up removing it from my Macbook Air but kept it on my iMac for those occasions where I need an actual copy MS Office.

For my daily office purposes, LibreOffice + MS_Office_2013 icon set for the interface.

Its massive!!!

I use iWork for the majority of my work, but like you I keep it on my Mac for occasions where I might need it. I actually find Office 2016 and 2013 on Windows quite nice, they're fast even on slow mechanical hard drives, its a shame the Mac version is so poor.

 

[sracer]

Its massive!!!

I use iWork for the majority of my work, but like you I keep it on my Mac for occasions where I might need it. I actually find Office 2016 and 2013 on Windows quite nice, they're fast even on slow mechanical hard drives, its a shame the Mac version is so poor.

Since buying an iPad Air 2 last Fall, I've been giving the new version of iWork another chance... primarily because of the solid file compatibility between the iOS and OSX versions. I do miss some of the more advanced features of iWork '09 (but keep THAT around too, LOL)

I'm quite impressed with the ease of working on files on the iMac/Macbook and then switching to the iPad. And with splitwindow support in iOS 9, the Air 2 is becoming a viable option.

I've been a bit frustrated with attempting to use MS Office across devices and platforms... primarily due to the tighter integration with OneDrive. I have found OneDrive to be highly unreliable when syncing the OneDrive cloud with more than one device. Another limitation is in the iOS version of MS Office.

 

[Riwam]

Its massive!!!

I use iWork for the majority of my work, but like you I keep it on my Mac for occasions where I might need it. I actually find Office 2016 and 2013 on Windows quite nice, they're fast even on slow mechanical hard drives, its a shame the Mac version is so poor.

****
I don't use giant Word files but for normal use I found Office 2011 for mac and the newer Office 2016 for mac perfectly acceptable.
Maybe testing speed and so on with a stop watch or similar way might show advantages of the Windows counterparts, which, coming from Microsoft would not surprise me but for daily use I had never problems on the mac side.
As to LibreOffice and similar free office programs it's always nice to find things made to help other people instead of snatching their money.
Ed

 

[skaertus]

********
As far as I am concerned I believe that every user sould have the right to buy and own for good any software he bought.
I would never lease anything and do not like software which must be payed again and again and again...
If I had to chose, I would prefer any previous version bought to any newer version rented.
Ed

I used to think like this. But then I found Office 365 to be very convenient, and not really that expensive. I prefer to have the newest software available, whenever released, and I think Office 365 is the best way to achieve that. I won't use outdated or unsupported software, no matter if I actually own it or not.

 

[oldmacs]

Since buying an iPad Air 2 last Fall, I've been giving the new version of iWork another chance... primarily because of the solid file compatibility between the iOS and OSX versions. I do miss some of the more advanced features of iWork '09 (but keep THAT around too, LOL)

I'm quite impressed with the ease of working on files on the iMac/Macbook and then switching to the iPad. And with splitwindow support in iOS 9, the Air 2 is becoming a viable option.

I first switched to iWork years ago when Mountain Lion got the ability to sync with the iPad version because of the convenience of always having my stuff. I also miss iWork 09, but all my stuff was converted to the new version so I've never gone back.

I don't use giant Word files but for normal use I found Office 2011 for mac and the newer Office 2016 for mac perfectly acceptable.

Office 2011 was ok (slow on a normal HD though), but I just find it annoying how many jumps all the office 2016 apps must do to launch on a Mac with a fast SSD installed - I am never opening giant office files, just very light occasional usage.

 

[chscag]

I'll stick with Office 2011 since I have the 3 X install version. I also have Office 2016 and agree with the previous replies that it's bloatware. Also in 2016 there is no way (yet) to make changes to the Ribbon or to the Quick menu. Office 2011 is still fully configurable and continues to work with all Office documents and with the latest update of El Capitan.

Since Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are now free with a new Mac, and unless you absolutely need Office for document exchange with other users, the iWork apps should suffice for most folks.

 

[MLinneer]

I use iWork a lot for personal stuff but Office is a necessary evil for work. Office 2016 apps are slow to launch but once up seem ok speed wise. There’s a few bugs still, like in Excel when using Arial and BOLD displays as italicized bold, but prints just fine. The best feature is actually the OneDrive integration. It’s very convenient to have instant access to files on my iMac, MBA, iPhone, work Android, and a Windows PC I also run.

 

[chscag]

The best feature is actually the OneDrive integration. It’s very convenient to have instant access to files on my iMac, MBA, iPhone, work Android, and a Windows PC I also run.

Note that the OneDrive feature and sync works just as well with Office 2011. I use it quite often when I'm away from my home office.

 

[dianeoforegon]

Office 2011 versions of Word and Excel have more features than the 2016 versions. All the Office users I know that use advanced features are sticking with 2011.

I expect we'll see the missing features added back and marketed as buy Office xxx, for all these new improvements.

Recently Microsoft extended security support for Office 2011 for two additional years.

 

[takeshi74]

Don't overlook the prior discussions as well. I've had no problems with 2016 and I'm using an early 2011 MBP (with SSD).

How is 2011 outdated? What does it not do for you that 2016 does? Don't just assume that the older version is outdated because it is older.

 

[senseless]

OH, I'm running 2008. I didn't realize there was a new version for Mac. I guess it's time to upgrade.