The Windows version of Microsoft Office has always been the gold standard for office suites, as far as features are concerned. Office exists on other platforms too, like the Mac—but those versions are missing some products and features. RELATED: Microsoft recently announced a. Check out that link for a detailed list of updates, but the big stuff includes bringing some long overdue features to the macOS version, like collaborative real-time editing, automatic saving of documents stored in the cloud, and Google Calendar and Contacts support in Outlook (finally). That said, there are still features (and entire apps) that you might miss out on if you’re working with the Mac version.
If you’re switching between Windows and Mac (maybe using one at the office and one at home), or maybe thinking of moving from Windows to Mac, it’s worth comparing the available features in the two versions. The big question is do you need to or just so that you can run the Windows version of Office, or can you get by with just buying the Mac version (or, better, using one of the installations that comes with your )? What Products Are Missing from the Microsoft Office Mac Suite? RELATED: Microsoft sells Office for Windows in various editions.
Almost all editions come with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. Depending on the edition you buy, you might also get apps like Outlook, Publisher, and Access.
If you’re using a Mac, though, there are couple of Office apps (and Office-related apps) that you just can’t get:. Publisher: Publisher is an entry-level desktop publishing app, aimed mostly at home users. There’s no Mac version. While you can easily find comparable apps for macOS, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to bring your Publisher files from the Windows version across very well—at least not without having to work them back into shape. Access: Access is a relational database management system that comes with the Professional editions of Office for Windows.
You can’t get Access on the Mac, so if you (or your company) works with Access databases, you’re out of luck. And while we’re on the subject, there are also a couple of higher end “Office-adjacent” apps that aren’t available on macOS:.
Visio: Visio is a diagramming and vector graphics app that lets you visualize complex information in the form of diagrams, graphs, flowcharts, and other forms. There’s no Mac version, so if you need it for work, you’ll need access to Windows. Project: Project is a project management app that hooks into a company’s Outlook and Exchange Server setup. It lets project managers develop project schedules, create and assign tasks and resources, and manage it all with real-time input from people’s calendars.
There’s no Mac version. If you really need any of the specific apps we’ve listed here, you’re going to need run Windows and the Windows version of Office. What Features Are Missing from the Mac Versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote? So what about the core Office apps that are available on the Mac? While there are a number of very small features missing (stuff that affects very few people), most of the features you find in the Windows versions are present in the macOS versions. Here are the main things you’ll miss out on, though. Suite-Wide There are a couple of fairly big features that, while not missing entirely from the Office suite for Mac, are not quite up to their Windows counterparts:.
Visual Basic: Visual Basic integration lets you in your Office documents. While macro support is included in Office on macOS, that support is not quite as fully featured as it is in the Windows version. If you make extensive use of macros, or use complicated macros, you should expect that some won’t work. SharePoint Integration: SharePoint is an intranet product used to share files, distribute news, and streamline collaboration on projects. If you’re using a Mac and connecting to your company’s SharePoint servers, you might find that some aspects of SharePoint are not as well-supported as they are in the Windows version of Office. There are, of course, some other missing suite-wide features, but they really pertain to installations that are part of a company network. For example, roaming (the ability to use Office on different computers and have your configuration follow you) is not available for macOS.
However, if your system is part of a company network, these things have likely been thought out in advance. Word Key features of Word that are missing from the macOS version include:. Open and Repair: While the Mac version of Word can attempt to, it doesn’t have the specific Open and Repair command featured in the Windows version.
This makes it harder to recover files that Word might not recognize as Word documents. Embed Fonts: When you, they are included in the Word file. That way, when someone else opens the file, it displays correctly even if they haven’t installed the fonts you used. You cannot embed fonts in the Mac version of Word.
Digital Ink: This feature provides freestyle drawing tools that you can use to draw, write, or highlight areas on your document. It’s not available on the Mac version. Document Inspector: The Document Inspector scans your Word document and, making it safer to share documents with others.
This feature is missing from the Mac version. Excel Fortunately, the disparity between the Windows and Mac versions of Excel are minimal. Both versions support all the major features. Here are a couple things to note, though:. PivotCharts: While the Mac version of Excel fully supports, its support for PivotCharts (charts derived from PivotTables) has always been lacking. The January 2018 update to Office 2016 for macOS does bring the Mac version’s support of PivotCharts more in line with the Windows versions, but you may still find some charting abilities missing.
Built-In Database Connectivity: Excel for macOS doesn’t support the built-in database connectivity options that the Windows version does. These are some pretty “power user” features, so it’s likely you won’t miss them much. PowerPoint The Windows and Mac versions of PowerPoint are also mostly in parity. That said, there is one feature worth noting that’s missing on the macOS side of things: video and animation triggers. These triggers let you make an animation effect begin playing when you click the object being animated, or automatically at the beginning of an audio or video clip.
Note that the Mac version does feature all the same animations, and does let you. It just doesn’t include the advanced triggers that the Windows version does. Outlook Most of the Outlook features missing from the Mac version have to do with advanced features you see when connected to an Exchange server.
These include things like access to public calendars, distribution lists, retention and compliance features, receipt tracking, and various social features like voting buttons. There are also a few other missing features worth noting:. Save As for Emails: In the Windows version of Outlook, you have access to a Save As command for emails that lets you save them as messages, PDFs, or whatever outside the Outlook message database. You can’t do that in the Mac version. Word as an Email Editor: The Windows version lets you use Word as your email editor, granting full access to Word features like formatting and autocorrect.
The Mac version does not. Side-by-Side Calendars: In Windows, you can view two calendars side by side. In macOS, you can’t. That isn’t a lot of missing features (unless you’re part of an Exchange-based organization), but how important they are depends on you. And, as we mentioned before, the newest update to Office 2016 for macOS now brings support for Google Calendar and Contacts—a pretty big missing feature for lots of people. OneNote The basic functionality of OneNote is present in both the Windows and Mac versions (and, in the mobile versions, for that matter), but there are still a few differences:.
Extensible: The Windows version is extensible, providing an API that allows for add-ins and some advanced features. The Mac version does not include this extensibility. Linking and Embedding: The Windows version of OneNote is stronger when it comes to embedding and linking files.
For example, in the Windows version, you could embed an Excel file. Clicking on that Excel file in OneNote opens a full, editable version of the file in Excel. On the Mac version, you can only open a read-only copy of embedded files. Versioning: The Windows version maintains previous versions of tabs that have changed. The Mac version does not.
More Searchable: The Windows version lets you search handwritten text, as well as audio and video recordings. This feature is not available in the Mac version. If you’re not using any of these features, then you’d be fine using the Mac version of OneNote. As you can see from our lists, the features mostly missing on the Mac side of things are small, rarely-used features or real “power user” features mostly used in office settings. If you don’t need those features, and you don’t need the few apps missing from macOS (and we suspect that applies to over 90% of our readers), you’re probably fine going with the Mac version of Office 2016 or Office 365. And it sure beats jumping through hoops to get the Windows version running on your Mac!
The Cheapest Ways to Get Microsoft Office for Your Mac or PC Today Techinch tech, simplified. The Cheapest Ways to Get Microsoft Office for Your Mac or PC Today Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013 There's two expensive application suites that are almost considered a necessity to have on your computer: Microsoft Office, and Adobe Creative Suite. Many find ways around paying for the latter (alternate apps work, there's the cheaper apps that work for most stuff, and such), but Office is a bit trickier. Especially this year.
After releasing Office 2013 for Windows and the new Office 365 subscription version of Office, traditional Office pricing has gone up. Used to, all editions of Office let one user install Office on up to two computers, which worked great if, say, you had a desktop and a laptop. Then, the Home and Student edition let you install Office on up to 3 computers in the same household, which was a great deal for families.
With Office 2013's release, now all editions of both Office 2013 and Office 2011 for Mac are only licensed to be installed on one computer. At least you're still allowed to if you need to, something Office 2013 oddly didn't allow at first.
The Cheapest Way to Get Office Today So, if you want to purchase Office today, and not get it as part of a subscription, then here's your options: Office Web Apps I know, I know: it's not real Office, but it's close enough for basic use, and it's free. It's the best option if you really need to go cheap on Office. Check out my full review of the at Web.AppStorm, or go try them out for yourself at. You might be surprised. Real Office Ok, so you want real Office to install on your computer?
Here's the options today:. Office 356 - the subscription version of Office for Mac and PC. Office 2011 for Mac. Office 2013 for PC. Office 2010 for PC Office 365 The first option — and easily the best if you have more than two or three computers — is, Microsoft's new subscription for Office.
For $9.99/month or $99.99/year, you can run Office on up to 5 computers (Macs or PCs), get 20Gb extra Skydrive storage (a $10/yr value, though even that's way cheaper than, say, extra Dropbox storage), and 60 minutes of Skype calls per month (worth around $20/yr). You'll get full Office - Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, as well as Access and Publisher on a PC. If you'd pay for Skype and extra Skydrive storage as well, and have 5 computers in your household, it works out to around $14/computer/year. Students get even cheaper: $79.99 for 4 years of Office 365 for 2 computers.
That'd work out to around $10/computer/year. If you're running a business, makes a fairly compelling choice as well if you do need Office, or even if you just need hosted email. You can get hosted Exchange email for your team starting at $4/month, and can get Office for your employees (and yes, they'll each be able to run it on up to 5 devices) for $12.50/month. You can and see what works for you. I'm actually considering giving the cheaper option a shot for my own domain's email, and have an upcoming AppStorm series about it. Oh, there's one more awesome feature in all versions of Office 365: you can run Office — full Office — from the web if you're away from your computer (though it only works on PCs).
It lets you essentially stream the full-featured app, downloading the features you need as you need them, so you can use full Office anywhere. That's pretty nifty.
So, all of those are decent options if you have a lot of computers to use with Office, and if you want Microsoft's other services anyhow. The only problem is, you don't really own Office, and can't use it forever. It's a subscription. If you'd buy Office upgrades each time they come out, it likely won't work out more expensive, but you have to consider the best for you.
If you want real Office that you own, for good, then there's still options. Office 2011 for Mac Mac users don't have a new version of Office yet, but even still, the existing version of Office got slapped with the same 1 computer per copy of Office restriction. The good thing is, there's still copies of the on Amazon, and it'll still get all of the latest updates. That'll get you Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for up to 3 Macs in the same house for $120.
That's $40/Mac, and if you use it for 4 years without buying an upgrade, that'll cost $10/Mac/year. If you're using Office professionally, you can get a for just under $200, or there's a few copies of the for $299. Now, both of these prices are only for right now; as soon as those copies sell out, then Office 2011 will cost $119 per computer for Home and Student. Also, remember that Office for Mac is due for a refresh perhaps later this year, so if you can, it might make the most sense to hold off on a purchase, or go for so you'll get updates included. Office 2013 for PC If you want Office 2013, even just for one computer, you're likely best to go with. Your cheapest options, otherwise, are for $139.99, and for $219.99.
The former gets you Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote for home use, while the latter adds Publisher and Access and is licensed for business use. Both options only are licensed for one PC, though the good thing is you can use it perpetually.
Why Is Office Suite For Mac Free
If you only need the basics of Office on one PC, then Office 2013 Home and Student will likely work out cheaper over time. Otherwise, though, the subscriptions start looking really attractive price-wise. And Office 2013 is nice, with a much more streamlined UI across the whole suite, web app creation in Access, PDF editing in Word, smart data entry in Excel, and more. It's worth checking out just maybe not as a boxed version, as you would have purchased Office before. Office 2010 or older versions But you know what? Office 2010 or 2007 is still a good option if you've got a copy around, and if you're not feeling like you've got to have the latest features, then your best value would be to stick with what you have. Office 2010 is still quite similar to 2013, and even 2007 is enough up-to-date to keep you from feeling too behind.
Or, if you need to buy Office, you can still get for $169, and it'll still let you install it on 3 computers, which works out to just $56/computer. That's a perpetual license, so you can keep using it forever, making it quite a bit cheaper right now than Office 2013 or Office 365 if that's all you need. Plus, it'll run on XP and newer, while Office 2013 and Office 365 will only run on Windows 7 and 8. There's also still copies of the pro versions of Office 2010 around on Amazon, as well as Office 2007, but none of those would really work out cheaper than their 2013 competitors right now. Though, that's still an option if you need to buy Office for XP or Vista PCs.
![]()
That's a wrap So, that's a lot to consider, but hopefully it'll help you find the best option to buy Office for your PC or Mac in 2013, or get around having to shell out for it. The Office Web Apps on really are a great option, and older versions of Office still are a great value option — especially if you already own them. But Office 2013 is a compelling release if you're on a PC, and the new Office 365 subscriptions are far more interesting than they look at first glance. I'm especially interested in their hosted Exchange/Sharepoint/Office options, and that's surprising for this Mac and web app guy that's almost left Office behind.
Microsoft may have made some missteps with Windows 8 and Windows Phone, but they've also going on. @reply me on.
Free Office Suite For Mac
Unless you spent the past week offline, there’s really no way you could have missed the that Microsoft released iPad versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. There’s also no way you could have missed the uproar over the pricing for the three apps. Outlet kinesis freestyle2 keyboard for mac.
But just in case you did miss the pricing uproar, here’s a bit of background on the issue. The apps are free to download and can be used to view Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files (though installing a 400MB app to view a file seems like overkill).
However, you can’t use the apps to edit existing files or to create new files without buying a subscription to, Microsoft’s online Office-everywhere service. And that subscription will cost you (assuming “you” are a typical home user, and not a business or college student) $100 per year. Suddenly those free apps don’t look so free any more. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the Office for iPad launch event. Should you pay the $100 a year for create/edit access in the iPad Office apps?
The answer to that question really depends on how you use the Office apps on your computer(s) and/or tablets, and how many computers are in your household. Note that I’m not addressing whether software subscriptions are a good or bad thing in general—that’s another subject entirely. I’m also not addressing whether $100 is too much, too little, or just right, because the answer to that will vary according to each person’s economic situation. I’m merely trying to address which types of users should consider paying the annual subscription fee, whatever it might be. So should you sign up for Office 365?
First, let’s cover two easy “yes” and “no” cases. I need access to the full Office suite on an iOS device Somewhat obviously, if you need access to the full Office suite on your iOS device, then you’ll be ponying up the $100 per year charge, as that’s the only way to get full access to Office apps on your iOS device. (Note that Amazon is currently selling a. If you’re in this category, buying now will save nearly 33 percent on your first year’s cost.) Word for iPad Yes, Apple offers alternatives via its suite of iWork for iOS apps (free with new iOS devices, $10 otherwise). But for those who need the highest level of Excel, PowerPoint, and/or Word feature compatibility, the iWorks apps are close, but not close enough, to fill the need.
Microsoft wants users on Office 365, and they’re using Office for iPad as the carrot to get them there. You can grumble about the strategy, you can complain about the cost.but if you absolutely need Office on iPad, you will be signing up for Office 365 at $100 per year. I need access to an “Office-like” suite on iOS If you don’t need 100 percent Office compatibility and only rarely need to create/edit Office-like documents on your iOS device, then there are any number of better options than Microsoft’s subscription plan. The aforementioned iWork for iOS apps may be all you need, given they can output Office-compatible file formats when required. Apple's Keynote for iOS If you don’t need the full suite, there are also individual apps out there for presentations, text editing, and spreadsheets, any one of which may meet your needs.
(If only the App Store had a “try before you buy” plan, you could test them to see which worked the best. But they don’t, which is why I recommend buying apps that also offer traditional free trials via their developer's websites.) So much for the clear-cut buckets; this next one is the most complicated, even though it seems simple at first. I use Office at home, but never on iOS devices Given you have no interest in Office on your iOS devices, you may think there’s no reason to sign up for Office 365. And that may be true—but it may also be false. It really depends on how many computers you have in your household, and how often you refresh your Office installation. I use Office at home on just one Mac If you’re just one person, working on one Mac, then things are pretty simple: there’s no need for Office 365, even if you upgrade Office each time there’s a major release. Is $140, or $220 if you need Outlook.
(These same prices apply to the Home and Business versions of Office for Windows.) On the Mac side, at least, Office isn’t updated all that often: Office 2011 was released in October of 2010. Assuming a new release comes out in 2014 (and you want to upgrade to the latest version), you could expect to use it for at least the next three years, for all of $140. Compare that to the $300-plus you’d pay for the subscription over those three-ish years, and there’s absolutely no reason to subscribe; just keep using the standalone version.
I use Office at home on multiple Macs Excel for Mac 2011 Things get murkier when you add multiple computers to the mix, because of Microsoft’s licensing: Office is only sold with single-machine licenses. If you have two Macs, your upfront cost is now $280. That makes the three-year $300 subscription cost comparison a lot closer to break even. What if you’re married, and/or have kids, and they have a computer or two? Now you’re up to four computers, and a $560 up front cost. With three or four computers, the decision on whether to subscribe or not is no longer black and white.
If you’re still using Office 2008 (released in January 2008), then the subscription probably doesn’t make economic sense: you run through two or more product cycles between upgrades, so your up front cost is amortized over six or more years. Even with four computers, you’d be only paying $560 after six years’ of use, versus $600 for six years of Office 365. But if you do keep your Office licenses current, the subscription looks more inviting with three or more computers. Consider a family with three Macs, all of which have had Office 2008 and Office 2011 installed. Custom foam inserts for microphones. Assuming the same $140 price for Office 2008 as Office 2011, the total cost would have been $840 (half for Office 2008, half for Office 2011) over the last six years. If the Office 365 subscription option had been available at Office 2008’s launch, the total cost for those same six years would have been $600, or a savings of $240. In addition to saving money, you would’ve been able to install Office on two additional computers, and up to five tablet devices, for no additional money.
You’d also get 60 minutes of free Skype calls each month, and 20GB of SkyDrive cloud storage for each of up to five users. So now, the decision isn’t quite so easy, is it? The subscription offers more features, covers more devices and users, and costs substantially less. Subscribing seems like the obvious choice with three or more computers and regular Office upgrades, right? Office Mac 2011 It does, but there’s one more key question you need to answer first: Do you intend to keep subscribing? If you do, then yes, subscribe. But if you’re not sure if you’ll keep subscribing, then it’s a tougher decision still.
Because, like leasing a car, when you subscribe to your software, you don’t own anything at the end of the subscription term. Let the subscription lapse, and you’ll find yourself unable to edit your Office documents. So if you stop subscribing, at that point you’ll need to purchase “real” copies of the software, which will obviously increase your costs. If you are going to stop subscribing at some point, it’s best to do it when a major release has just come out—that way, when you purchase the “real” apps, you can expect to get three or more years’ use out of them before the next major release. Bottom line Whew.
That's a lot of work to decide if an Office 365 subscription is right for you. Boiling it down to its simplest essence:.
Subscribe if you need Office on your iOS devices, as it's the only way to get it. Do not subscribe if you have no need for Office on iOS, and have only one Mac. Possibly subscribe if you have two or more Macs, depending on how often you upgrade Office and your likelihood of continuing to subscribe. Things were certainly much simpler in the days before software subscriptions, at least in terms of making purchase decisions. For me, the Office 365 subscription makes sense, especially if I can get it for 33 percent off via Amazon each year. For you, well, you'll have to decide for yourself based on your own situation; hopefully this guide makes it a bit clearer.
![]()
Users and business managers alike are increasingly looking at the iPad as a potential laptop replacement. More and more companies are providing employees iPads or letting employees use their own. So, just as companies typically install a suite of desktop productivity apps (nearly always Microsoft Office) on their laptops, what should the iPad equivalent be? The answer can't be Office, because Microsoft has no iPad-compatible suite. But there are still several office suite candidates for the iPad, including Apple's iWork suite— ( ), ( ), and ( )—plus Quickoffice's ( ) and DavaViz's ( ). Quickoffice has a word processor and spreadsheet editor; DocsToGo (as it's labeled on the iPad) has a word processor, a spreadsheet editor, and a tool to edit text and add notes to a presentation. All the programs read and write to the Microsoft Office file formats. After some investigation, I was surprised to find that none of these suites is ideal (though one comes close).
But I stil came up with a list of apps that I think should be the standard installation on corporate iPads—the best individual productivity apps and one recommended suite.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |