Office on Silicon

[jerryk]

I have the Mac App Store versions and all are resource hogs. Even now I have Excel active with two basic spreadsheets, a couple of SUM formulas each and around 50 rows... 2.8gb RAM.

My workflow is keep everything personal on Numbers and everything business/work related (grudgingly) on Excel.

If there is available memory on your machine, the OS is going to allocate it freely to whatever processes are running. This is by design in almost all modern operating systems. Memory sitting there unallocated is not a good use of memory.

Look at the Memory Pressure diagram to see if you are having issues with memory. https://support.apple.com/guide/activity-monitor/check-if-your-mac-needs-more-ram-actmntr34865/mac

 

[MrGunny94]

How is Teams behaving under the M1? I'm asking because I want to move from the 16" with the next refresh and my workflow works a lot with Teams

 

[Internaut]

How is Teams behaving under the M1? I'm asking because I want to move from the 16" with the next refresh and my workflow works a lot with Teams

Disappointingly still Rosetta but runs perfectly fine on my M1 Air.

 

[badsimian]

Teams runs fine for me. Also in the browser if you aren't getting webcam/microphone to work you will need to ensure that the nrowser in question like Chrome or Edge is allowed access to those in System Preferences as they aren't by default.

Another thing to bear in mind with speed is that Office 365 applications update a *lot* and that will mean a new Rosetta JIT compile of the app on first launch after an update.

 

[xraydoc]

Another thing to bear in mind with speed is that Office 365 applications update a *lot* and that will mean a new Rosetta JIT compile of the app on first launch after an update.

Office is Apple Silicon native.

 

[Manzanito]

In my review (at 07:11) I show how efficient the M1 MacBook Air is opening Office files in Excel, PowerPoint and Word. I also have a 2019 13” i5/16GB MBP where I can tell you it’s not loading this fast or efficient enough to render slide thumbnails in PowerPoint.

Is it possible to get a copy of the 14 million rows excel file? Just curious how much time will take my old mac pro to open it.

 

[MrGunny94]

Teams runs fine for me. Also in the browser if you aren't getting webcam/microphone to work you will need to ensure that the nrowser in question like Chrome or Edge is allowed access to those in System Preferences as they aren't by default.

Another thing to bear in mind with speed is that Office 365 applications update a *lot* and that will mean a new Rosetta JIT compile of the app on first launch after an update.

Thanks for the feedback, I have been looking at the Teams roadmap and there is nothing there regarding the Apple Silicon launch... Sigh.

 

[Nihilvor]

Are you using the Mac App Store version or the direct download from Microsoft? There may be differences there as well, despite the app itself being at the same version number.
I've got the App Store version installed (365 subscription activated) and Word v 16.47. But opening a few test documents doesn't get me anywhere near that level of RAM usage.

It's downloaded from Microsoft (paid for through my academic account). The version # is 16.47 (retail license / Office at Home edition).
For those who say that this is normal app behavior, it truly isn't. I run a lot of software, including Adobe media apps and IMovie. None of these are causing the same memory issues. Four or five 17k Word docs shouldn't run up 3.2gb and push my 16gb M1 into swap. It's not an issue with the M1, it's definitely just Office products on the M1. I get the same issue with Excel, but to a lesser extent than others who have reported issues (maybe my databases are smaller).

Word seems to be using an average of 575 MB per open word document, no matter how small the file. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the next update (along with the occasional temp file/overwrite issues that others have reported) and we'll return to something a bit more sane as far as memory management with the Office non-subscription versions such as mine.

 

[xraydoc]

It's downloaded from Microsoft (paid for through my academic account). The version # is 16.47 (retail license / Office at Home edition).
For those who say that this is normal app behavior, it truly isn't. I run a lot of software, including Adobe media apps and IMovie. None of these are causing the same memory issues. Four or five 17k Word docs shouldn't run up 3.2gb and push my 16gb M1 into swap. It's not an issue with the M1, it's definitely just Office products on the M1. I get the same issue with Excel, but to a lesser extent than others who have reported issues (maybe my databases are smaller).

Word seems to be using an average of 575 MB per open word document, no matter how small the file. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the next update (along with the occasional temp file/overwrite issues that others have reported) and we'll return to something a bit more sane as far as memory management with the Office non-subscription versions such as mine.

The App Store versions were updated today to version 16.48. I don't have outrageous RAM usage, so I can't test if it's any better or worse. But opening one of my average documents on Word uses under 400MB.

 

[Joelist]

Office on my base M1 MBA runs like lightning (Apple Silicon native version).

 

[Nihilvor]

The App Store versions were updated today to version 16.48. I don't have outrageous RAM usage, so I can't test if it's any better or worse. But opening one of my average documents on Word uses under 400MB.

It just arrived this evening. Initial tests have been encouraging. I loaded the same files before and after the update. What took up 3.02 GB is now at 900 mb. Of course, I'll have to leave the program on for some time to verify that it stays lower, but this is better than usual. It's nice to see that Microsoft is already working on the rough edges.

One thing that I did verify from the 16.47 before the update is that it sometimes there are open files that it will indicate are saved to disk (and that I can actually see in in Properties as indicated saved on disk with a location) that actually disappear when I shut down Word. That's a serious issue that I've replicated a couple times now, so watch out for that if it hasn't been fixed with 16.48. I believe that the problem occurs sometimes if you select SaveAs and change a file name. Luckily, I was able to find the deleted file in a Time Machine backup. I probably wouldn't have noticed this but I probably work with thirty plus files on a give day and have been very careful since the first time I noticed the issue.

 

[southerndoc]

Is the App Store version the M1 version?

 

[xraydoc]

Is the App Store version the M1 version?

Yes, the App Store versions are Universal binaries (include both Intel and ARM code).

 

[xraydoc]

It just arrived this evening. Initial tests have been encouraging. I loaded the same files before and after the update. What took up 3.02 GB is now at 900 mb. Of course, I'll have to leave the program on for some time to verify that it stays lower, but this is better than usual. It's nice to see that Microsoft is already working on the rough edges.

One thing that I did verify from the 16.47 before the update is that it sometimes there are open files that it will indicate are saved to disk (and that I can actually see in in Properties as indicated saved on disk with a location) that actually disappear when I shut down Word. That's a serious issue that I've replicated a couple times now, so watch out for that if it hasn't been fixed with 16.48. I believe that the problem occurs sometimes if you select SaveAs and change a file name. Luckily, I was able to find the deleted file in a Time Machine backup. I probably wouldn't have noticed this but I probably work with thirty plus files on a give day and have been very careful since the first time I noticed the issue.

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep an eye out.

 

[Nihilvor]

I've had several good weeks with Microsoft Office. However, today I ran the latest Office update, and now Word is not really usable. This time it's an issue with crashes. I've had seven crashes in Word over the period of two hours.

I searched online, and this is a common issue again. Right now, Microsoft is recommending that people who are experiencing this bug run Word through Rosetta (change that through get info). For those of you who haven't updated, you might want to wait for the next update on this.

Edit: I found a solution to the crashing bug for Word 16.49 that doesn't involve running it in Rosetta; if anyone else is having an issue, I'll pass that along here.

 

[xraydoc]

I've had several good weeks with Microsoft Office. However, today I ran the latest Office update, and now Word is not really usable. This time it's an issue with crashes. I've had seven crashes in Word over the period of two hours.

I searched online, and this is a common issue again. Right now, Microsoft is recommending that people who are experiencing this bug run Word through Rosetta (change that through get info). For those of you who haven't updated, you might want to wait for the next update on this.

Edit: I found a solution to the crashing bug for Word 16.49 that doesn't involve running it in Rosetta; if anyone else is having an issue, I'll pass that along here.

What’s the fix?

 

[Nihilvor]

What’s the fix?

I've linked the official response that I found online. I found that I do not have to keep booting through Rosetta though. I'm back using the Apple silicone version after doing the following.

1.Remove Word/Excel cache:

In Finder, press Command+Shift+g. In the window that opens, enter ~/Library and then click Go. Open the Containers folder and move following folder to your Desktop.

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel [I wasn't having an issue with Excel, so I skipped this step, but feel free to remove this to be thorough.]


Click the back arrow to go back to the Library folder and open Group Containers. Ctrl+click each of these folders if present, and Move to Bin.


Warning: Outlook data will be removed when you move the three folders listed in this step to Trash. You should back up these folders before you delete them. [This was not relevant to me as I don't use Outlook, so just went ahead and deleted them.]


UBF8T346G9.ms
UBF8T346G9.Office
UBF8T346G9.OfficeOsfWebHost
[I deleted all of those.]

I reset my computer to make sure that there weren't any temporary files that could be interfering with the reset of these folders.

I launched Word the first time through Rosetta, but you may not find that necessary. I then switched back to Apple Silicon (use "Get Info" on the file). I haven't had any issue with Word since then.

Word for Mac M1 crashes several times a day

Hi All, I have an issue where word and sometimes excel crashes several times per day, this is a recently bought Mac M1 and shouldn't have any issues. I have office 365 installed.

answers.microsoft.com

 

[xraydoc]

I've linked the official response that I found online. I found that I do not have to keep booting through Rosetta though. I'm back using the Apple silicone version after doing the following.

1.Remove Word/Excel cache:

In Finder, press Command+Shift+g. In the window that opens, enter ~/Library and then click Go. Open the Containers folder and move following folder to your Desktop.

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel [I wasn't having an issue with Excel, so I skipped this step, but feel free to remove this to be thorough.]


Click the back arrow to go back to the Library folder and open Group Containers. Ctrl+click each of these folders if present, and Move to Bin.


Warning: Outlook data will be removed when you move the three folders listed in this step to Trash. You should back up these folders before you delete them. [This was not relevant to me as I don't use Outlook.]


UBF8T346G9.ms
UBF8T346G9.Office
UBF8T346G9.OfficeOsfWebHost
[I deleted all of those.]

I reset my computer to make sure that there weren't any temporary files that could be interfering with the reset of these folder.

I launched Word the first time through Rosetta, but you may not find that necessary. I then switched back to Apple Silicone (use "Get Info" on the file). I haven't had any issue with Word since then.

Word for Mac M1 crashes several times a day

Hi All, I have an issue where word and sometimes excel crashes several times per day, this is a recently bought Mac M1 and shouldn't have any issues. I have office 365 installed.

answers.microsoft.com

Thanks. What did you do with the folders you moved to the desktop? Did you put them back eventually?

 

[ADGrant]

Disappointingly still Rosetta but runs perfectly fine on my M1 Air.

Even more disappointing, it is an Electron app. So it's a memory hog.

 

[Nihilvor]

Thanks. What did you do with the folders you moved to the desktop? Did you put them back eventually?

Since everything was working well, I just deleted them (I could retrieve them from Time Machine if necessary). I assume that they had you save them just in case of an error, but I didn't want the issue to return, so it seemed better to not risk returning the files. Word creates a new folder when you run it. Word will reset many of your settings, but it shouldn't be too much of a hassle.