MS Office 2011 or 2016?

[Audit13]

It’s just ****** programming in Excel. Huge heavy Chrome pages with multiple embedded playing videos scroll perfectly fine on my laptop. 100 tabs in Chrome is no problem. Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, Final Cut etc all work fine at the same time.

I don’t want to use a financial file as an example, so let’s say I have a list of around 200 film names. 200 lines or so. Three columns: Name; age rating (U,PG,12,15,18); status (unseen, seen, want to watch again).

Let’s say 1000 words total, file size maybe 500KB.

Apply filtering to remove ‘seen’, and ‘15,18’, leaving maybe 100 lines visible.

Boom, jerky scrolling. For gods sake Excel, you’re just moving a bit of text up and down the screen.

I can't explain it.

Which version of Excel and os are you using? Let me know because I'd like to try this too. Thank you.

 

[flowrider]

Having been a user of both Office 2011 & 2016, I would suggest staying away from 2016. It could not properly print an envelope first created in 2011 and used for years. Tried creating a new template in 2016 and STILL couldn't print out an envelope. A few other old documents didn't print properly either but the envelope example was the most pronounced. Finally tried LibreOffice which worked flawlessly with all the templates and documents I had. Office 2016 is now consigned to the trash can, forever.

Envelopes show and print just fine in Word 2016. But, you must go into word preferences and make sure "Drawings" is checked. If it's not, you'll get a blank envelope. Why is this? I know not

Lou

 

[Martyimac]

Envelopes show and print just fine in Word 2016. But, you must go into word preferences and make sure "Drawings" is checked. If it's not, you'll get a blank envelope. Why is this? I know not

Lou

Thanks but there was no way to know of this change in Word 2016. Especially when a new envelope template was made in Word 2016 and it didn't print correctly. I never got a blank envelope, it was just the addresses were miss-positioned and nothing I tried would correct that. LibreOffice had NO issues printing the word envelopes.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Yes, I agree no way to know. I discovered it while trying to figure out how to print Avery labels. Same issue.

Now, envelopes and labels are displaying and printing fine for me. BTW, the latest Update brings Office to V16.15.

Lou

 

[mpainesyd]

This thread is handy for the pros and cons of "updating" to 2016 - thank you. I am holding off installing it for now but recognise that I will need to take the plunge in a year or so when macOS will no longer run 32 bit apps (so the next version of macOS after Mojave should be called Death Valley!)

 

[Guy Clark]

I would go with Office 2011 as it is considerably lighter on system resources.

 

[Martyimac]

^^^^Yes, I agree no way to know. I discovered it while trying to figure out how to print Avery labels. Same issue.

Now, envelopes and labels are displaying and printing fine for me. BTW, the latest Update brings Office to V16.15.

Lou

It's a long involved story but was unable to sell my copy of Office 2016 so reinstalled it on my desktop. Lo and behold, V16.15 does now print envelopes correctly. There are miracles.

 

[Guy Clark]

This thread is handy for the pros and cons of "updating" to 2016 - thank you. I am holding off installing it for now but recognise that I will need to take the plunge in a year or so when macOS will no longer run 32 bit apps (so the next version of macOS after Mojave should be called Death Valley!)

It makes little difference as Mojave is Death Valley for most 2011 Macs.

 

[RedTomato]

I can't explain it.

Which version of Excel and os are you using? Let me know because I'd like to try this too. Thank you.

Excel 14.7.7 on OSX 10.13.6. Basically the latest fully updated versions of both. This is on a 2013 MBA 13" with 8GB ram, which handles everything else fine.

I was passing an Apple Store last weekend and popped in to try out the latest Excel on their 2018 MBP 15".

My test was:

- Open Activity Monitor.
- Open new Excel worksheet.
- Find some lists of random words via Google.
- Copy lists into a few columns. Say 6 columns of 200 rows each. Each cell containing a single word.
- Set up some filters at the top of each column
- Set filters to hide various cell values. I ended up with roughly 100 rows visible from the original 200 rows.
- Scroll around the worksheet and check values on Activity Monitor.

This was done on a 2018 MBP 15" with a 6-core i7 processor (12 threads) and 16GB RAM.

Activity monitor showed around 2% use when I wasn't scrolling, and when I scrolled Excel, use spiked up to over 30% on all 6 cores, for a total of around 180% - 200% CPU. There was some visible stuttering, though I had to scroll quickly for this to happen.

Frankly, I find this quite shocking. Shouldn't need all 6 cores working away just to scroll 600 words on a white background.

 

[Bedford1]

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.

[doublepost=1548163580][/doublepost]I've been using Excel since 1992, Excel 4.0. Along the way it's had some bumps, but nothing quite like 2016.


I purchased 365 which includes the entire MS Office suite, licensed for up to 5 machines, this was back in winter of 2018. I didn’t trash my 2011, just in case.


I had built a workbook to suit needs with 2011, it worked fantastically. Porting it to 2016 however was not seamless, struggling through compatibility issues and not having the time to switch back, thinking I would address the issues when work slowed.


Cursor jumping several columns/rows when hitting enter, laggy when moving from one sheet to another, laggy in general, almost as if it’s confused. Contacted MS tech support, level 1 couldn’t help, basically only there to tell you to reboot your computer, level 2, the same as level 1, then the final tier, level 3, at the end of the line. Was instructed to toss some preferences, logged into my mac he played around for an hour +, and basically said I need to recreate the workbook in a native 2016 file, so I did, no change.


If you’re using Excel 2016 for basic, very basic usage, grocery lists, some household accounting, and on a mac, that’s fine. Microsoft has not put effort into adjusting Excel to suit the mac platform. I’m resurrecting 2011, so much cleaner.


I have 3 macs running 365, the main go to is a 2015 Macbook Pro, SSD, 2.8 GHz i7 4 core, 16GB Ram, 1TB, OS 10.14.

 

[sracer]

[doublepost=1548163580][/doublepost]I've been using Excel since 1992, Excel 4.0. Along the way it's had some bumps, but nothing quite like 2016.


I purchased 365 which includes the entire MS Office suite, licensed for up to 5 machines, this was back in winter of 2018. I didn’t trash my 2011, just in case.


I had built a workbook to suit needs with 2011, it worked fantastically. Porting it to 2016 however was not seamless, struggling through compatibility issues and not having the time to switch back, thinking I would address the issues when work slowed.


Cursor jumping several columns/rows when hitting enter, laggy when moving from one sheet to another, laggy in general, almost as if it’s confused. Contacted MS tech support, level 1 couldn’t help, basically only there to tell you to reboot your computer, level 2, the same as level 1, then the final tier, level 3, at the end of the line. Was instructed to toss some preferences, logged into my mac he played around for an hour +, and basically said I need to recreate the workbook in a native 2016 file, so I did, no change.


If you’re using Excel 2016 for basic, very basic usage, grocery lists, some household accounting, and on a mac, that’s fine. Microsoft has not put effort into adjusting Excel to suit the mac platform. I’m resurrecting 2011, so much cleaner.


I have 3 macs running 365, the main go to is a 2015 Macbook Pro, SSD, 2.8 GHz i7 4 core, 16GB Ram, 1TB, OS 10.14.

That sounds par for the course. I have a 365 subscription and was running Office 2016 and experienced similar things as you did. 2016 is a large, bloated mess IMO. I then removed 2016 and reinstalled the O365 version of 2011. Things went back to a much better performance and experience.

The entire 2011 suite is smaller in size than Word 2016 alone. I have reason to believe that they have some virtualization going on within Office 2016 that accounts for the significantly larger size and slower performance.

Eventually, Office 2011 will no longer perform on a future version of macOS, but I'll deal with that issue when it happens... if I'm still on macOS at that time.

 

[Bedford1]

That sounds par for the course. I have a 365 subscription and was running Office 2016 and experienced similar things as you did. 2016 is a large, bloated mess IMO. I then removed 2016 and reinstalled the O365 version of 2011. Things went back to a much better performance and experience.

The entire 2011 suite is smaller in size than Word 2016 alone. I have reason to believe that they have some virtualization going on within Office 2016 that accounts for the significantly larger size and slower performance.

Eventually, Office 2011 will no longer perform on a future version of macOS, but I'll deal with that issue when it happens... if I'm still on macOS at that time.

2016 truly is a mess on mac, I can't speak for it on a windows platform. Have you tried using Numbers from Apple, I've note even opened the app.

 

[sracer]

2016 truly is a mess on mac, I can't speak for it on a windows platform. Have you tried using Numbers from Apple, I've note even opened the app.

I agree. Office isn't AS bad on Windows but it has it's fair share of quirks.

Regarding Numbers, I'm a huge fan of the iWork suite. I work every day with MS Office, LibreOffice, Google docs, and iWork (Pages/Numbers/Keynote), but iWork is my preferred productivity suite. Much of the frustration that people have with iWork has to do with trying to apply their MS Office mindset to iWork. iWork uses a different approach and if one can "think different" about WHAT needs to get done rather than HOW they did it with MS Office, they'd be surprised just how flexible iWork really is.

The latest version of the iWork suite is still functionally inferior to the iWork '09 version. Apple traded functionality in for cross-platform consistency. The macOS, iOS, and web versions are very, very similar. Apple is slowly adding that functionality back in, but it is still not to the level of '09.

I say all of that because out of the 3 components of iWork, Numbers is the one that has lagged the furthest behind in getting upgrades to bring it to the '09 level of functionality. Numbers '09 had (contrary to popular belief) pivot tables (Apple called it something different) and other things that set it apart. The latest version is lacking all of those things.

I don't recommend using Numbers for anything more complicated than simple "table" math and using it to generate charts and graphs. "Thinking different" can only go so far and cannot overcome serious deficiencies.

I have both the '09 and latest versions of iWork installed on my iMac. I'm pleasantly surprised that '09 works perfectly after all of these years and OS upgrades. When I need to get a one-off thing done quickly, I'll fire up '09 Numbers and get it done.

 

[flowrider]

Why are you guys still referring to Office 2016 Office 2019 has been out for some time now, now on it's 5th or 6th update.

If you have Office 365, you should have it. Personally, I don't believe in the rental fee business model. I own both Office 2016 (use on my MB Air), and 2019 (Use on my Mac Pro). I find it much cheaper. I pay around $60 bux for the full versions, which I update every month.

Lou

 

[sracer]

View attachment 816914 Why are you guys still referring to Office 2016View attachment 816915 Office 2019 has been out for some time now, now on it's 5th or 6th update.

If you have Office 365, you should have it. Personally, I don't believe in the rental fee business model. I own both Office 2016 (use on my MB Air), and 2019 (Use on my Mac Pro). I find it much cheaper. I pay around $60 bux for the full versions, which I update every month.

Lou

I too don't believe in renting software, but at $40 a year for 5 computers and tablets over 10" with 1TB of OneDrive space per user, I can easily justify it.

(For family members who need perpetual licenses, I'll just buy the license for them, $20 for the full version)

 

[Love Divine]

How is 2019? Would it be worth upgrading from 2016 for about $15? I use office daily but not super intensely.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Not really, very much like Office 2016. BUT, Microsoft will cease all support in October 2020. AND, not sure if they will be adding new features to Office 2019 in the interim. But. for now I don't really detect any differences.

How can you update for $15?

Lou

 

[Love Divine]

^^^^Not really, very much like Office 2016. BUT, Microsoft will cease all support in October 2020. AND, not sure if they will be adding new features to Office 2019 in the interim. But. for now I don't really detect any differences.

How can you update for $15?

Lou

Work

It sounds like even for $15, it's probably not worth it

2019 over 365 sounds like a no brainer for me given how little I use office, despite 365 sounding way better feature and support wise. $15 one time payment >>> 70 yearly

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Office 365 and 2019 offer the exact same feature set. You upgrade monthly from the same site.

Lou