Word and Excel for MacBook Pro

[Terry Everall]

I need to buy software for Word and Excel which I use for WSCC stuff on my MacBook Pro

What is the best way to buy and install this and what is the cost please?

[Quinten]

Do you specifically need Microsoft Word and Excel?  If not, I can recommend LibreOffice which is free and offers (almost) everything what Word and Excel can do, but at no cost.

[Terry Everall]

Are they compatible and keep the same format etc?

[Quinten]

Yes, you can open and save in Word/Excel native format, or use Open Document Standards

[Kingster]

I’ll need to double check - but can’t you get a free version that is “web only”?

 

I think you can only use it online, but it’s fully functioning (and is from Microsoft)

 

In the past I’ve used Open Office on my Macs - works well and is free. 
 

But I also think you can get “proper” Office 365 for not a huge amount of money for individual (non- business) use. 

[mikew123]

I use Libre Office on all of my machines and have installed it on the girlfriends machine at home as well. It works well for maybe 99.9% of the time, but, there have been two occasions that it didn't.

First was that someone in her golf club produced a table in "Word" that did not resolve correctly in "Writer" and meant that she had to eye up rows and columns.

Second was when I wrote a formula in a spreadsheet for someone that gave different results in Excel than in Calc, ( good job that I tested that it worked as he wanted to keep track of his medication).

These two problems have occurred in maybe fifteen years of using different versions of Open and Libre Office.

So you can install Libre Office, see if it does what you want it to do, without any costs as opposed to paying Microsoft for a subscription.

You will not have Microsoft's "Ribbon Strip" that in my opinion just dums down software use and will need to use toolbars and drop down menus.

Give it a try, you really have nothing to loose.

 

Mike

[mikew123]

Kingster, if there is a free version that is web only, then you are the product that Microsoft want.

[Blatman]

Just to be clear, Open Office and Libre Office are separate entities. If memory serves, Libre Office was born out of Open Office when Open Office was "acquired" (I think) by Oracle. Open Office now falls under the perview of Apache, the very well known web server software.

I've used both over the years and they're perfectly acceptable alternatives to Microsoft Office. 

 

And don't forget Google docs...

 

There are bound to be reviews/comparisons on Youtube that could help with making an informed choice.

[corsechris]

Apple Pages & Numbers work pretty well with MSOffice docs. Should be included already?  I usually use Libre Office though.

[TAFKARM]

2 hours ago, Kingster said:

I’ll need to double check - but can’t you get a free version that is “web only”?

 

I think you can only use it online, but it’s fully functioning (and is from Microsoft)

 

In the past I’ve used Open Office on my Macs - works well and is free. 
 

But I also think you can get “proper” Office 365 for not a huge amount of money for individual (non- business) use. 

It’s £80 a year. 

[Kingster]

2 hours ago, mikew123 said:

Kingster, if there is a free version that is web only, then you are the product that Microsoft want.

 I’m in demand at last 😁

Also sadly mistaken…

 

[Kingster]

1 hour ago, corsechris said:

Apple Pages & Numbers work pretty well with MSOffice docs. Should be included already?  I usually use Libre Office though.

Yeah I often use the built in options - plus Google Docs. 

[mikew123]

Why am I sadly mistaken.

[Kingster]

15 minutes ago, mikew123 said:

Why am I sadly mistaken.

No it was me that was mistaken - about it being free 🤭