Is there word on macbook pro

IF you’re a Mac user there may come a time when you need to install Microsoft Word.
Downloading from Microsoft

  1. Click on your user account at the top right of the website.
  2. Choose My Microsoft Account.
  3. Select Install Microsoft 365 under Subscriptions.
  4. Alternatively, click Install Office.
  5. Click Install in the pop-up box.

Contents

  • 1 How do I add Microsoft Word to my MacBook Pro?
  • 2 Is Microsoft Word free on MacBook Pro?
  • 3 Can I download Microsoft Word on Mac?
  • 4 How do I download Microsoft Office on my MacBook?
  • 5 How do I install Office 365 on my Mac for free?
  • 6 How do I activate Microsoft Office on my Mac for free?
  • 7 How do I download Microsoft Word onto my laptop?
  • 8 Does MacBook come with Microsoft Office?
  • 9 Can you use Microsoft Office on a Mac?
  • 10 How much does Microsoft Office cost for Mac?
  • 11 How do I install Office 365 on my Mac?
  • 12 Can I download Microsoft Word for free on my laptop?
  • 13 Do I need Office 365 to use Word?
  • 14 How do I get Microsoft Word and Excel on my Mac?
  • 15 What is the Mac version of Word?

Launch an Office for Mac app and start the activation process

  1. Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock to display all of your apps.
  2. Click the Microsoft Word icon in the Launchpad.
  3. The What’s New window opens automatically when you launch Word. Click Get Started to start activating.

Is Microsoft Word free on MacBook Pro?

Is Microsoft Word for Mac free? No.All you need is a free Microsoft account. The catch is that the MS Word online version is not as advanced as its desktop counterpart, but it’s still good enough for all the basic work with documents and for writing something on your own.

Can I download Microsoft Word on Mac?

Microsoft Word for Mac is available in the Mac App Store, both as a stand-alone app and as part of the Microsoft 365 bundle, but both options require an Microsoft 365 subscription. The easiest way to install Word on a Mac is to download it from the App Store.

How do I download Microsoft Office on my MacBook?

How to Download Microsoft Office for Mac? To download Microsoft Office for Mac, go to www.office.com and sign in with the account associated with your version of Office. Go to the Office home page and select Install Office → Install.

How do I install Office 365 on my Mac for free?

Simply go to Office.com and sign up for a free Microsoft account to start using Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for free on your Mac. You can also upload files from your Mac into Office.com which will be saved in Microsoft OneDrive.

How do I activate Microsoft Office on my Mac for free?

Activation Step

  1. manual download and install Microsoft_Office_2019_VL_Serializer.pkg. Microsoft_Office_2019_VL_Serializer.pkg in this gist. Microsoft_Office_2019_VL_Serializer.pkg official link.
  2. run Microsoft_Office_2019_VL_Serializer and it will automatic activate Office 2019.
  3. open the office app, completed.

How do I download Microsoft Word onto my laptop?

To grab the app, head to the Microsoft Store and search for Word Mobile. Otherwise, click the link below to open it in a browser tab, and then the Download button to open it in Microsoft Store on your Windows computer. Proceed to download it like any app.

Does MacBook come with Microsoft Office?

You can use Word, Excel, and Powerpoint on a MacBook, just like on any other laptop. You just have to buy this 365 software separately, because it’s not included with a MacBook by default.The most often used applications such as Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, are always included.

Can you use Microsoft Office on a Mac?

Fun fact: There’s a version of Microsoft Office written just for Mac. So you can use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on a Mac just like on a PC. macOS also provides built-in support for the latest version of Microsoft Exchange Server.

How much does Microsoft Office cost for Mac?

Microsoft 365 costs $69.99 per year for individuals, or $6.99 a month. The one-time purchase Office 2021 suite offers an alternative to the subscription model. Customers can buy the Home or Student variants of Office 2021 for a one-time purchase $149.99.

How do I install Office 365 on my Mac?

How to Configure Outlook for Mac for Office 365

  1. Launch Outlook.
  2. On the Outlook menu, click Preferences and then click Accounts.
  3. Select Exchange or Office 365 for the account type.
  4. Enter the following information for your Exchange account:
  5. Click Add Account.

Can I download Microsoft Word for free on my laptop?

At the new Office.com, you can use basic versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for free in your browser. They’re the same Microsoft Office apps you’re used to, only they run online and are 100% free.

Do I need Office 365 to use Word?

The good news is if you don’t need the full suite of Microsoft 365 tools, you can access a number of its apps online for free — including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Outlook, Calendar and Skype. Here’s how to get them: 1. Go to Office.com.

How do I get Microsoft Word and Excel on my Mac?

You can get any of the Office 365 apps in the Mac App Store and use your current subscription with them. For Apple enthusiasts who want to use Microsoft’s Office software on a Mac, iPad, or iPhone, you can easily download the full Office 365 bundle, or any of its individual apps, from the Mac App Store.

What is the Mac version of Word?

Every Mac comes with Apple’s iWork apps: Pages (word processor), Numbers (spreadsheet), and Keynote (presentations).

  1. Open Pages on your Mac computer.
  2. Click on File in the menu bar and select “Open.”
  3. Find your Word document and click on it.
  4. When you’re done editing the document in Pages, you will have to save it on your desktop if you want to keep a copy of this edited Pages file.

Also, does MacBook Pro comes with Microsoft Word? You can use Word, Excel, and Powerpoint on a MacBook, just like on any other laptop. You just have to buy this 365 software separately, because it’s not included with a MacBook by default. … The most often used applications such as Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, are always included.

Moreover, how do I get word on my MacBook Pro?

  1. Visit the MS Word online page.
  2. Click “Sign up for free”
  3. Create your account.
  4. Choose to start a new document or drag and drop an existing one right onto the web app.

Similarly, do Macs have Word and Excel? Fun fact: There’s a version of Microsoft Office written just for Mac. So you can use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on a Mac just like on a PC. … So you can use all the apps you love on your Mac, and have access to your mail, contacts, and calendar from the office, all at the same time.

People ask also, are Macbooks really worth it? Is It a Good Time to Buy? Yes, for most people. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with M1 are excellent machines for almost everyone. Those who need more power for the most demanding tasks should wait (if possible) until late 2021 when Apple will likely release souped-up M-series chips in the higher-tier MacBook Pros.Use Office Online in a Browser; It’s Free Whether you’re using a Windows 10 PC, Mac, or Chromebook, you can use Microsoft Office for free in a web browser. The web-based versions of Office are simplified and won’t work offline, but they still offer a powerful editing experience.

Contents

  • 1 How can I install Microsoft Office for Mac for free?
  • 2 What is MAC’s version of Word?
  • 3 How much does Microsoft Office for Mac cost?
  • 4 How do you install Word on a Mac?
  • 5 How do I install Office 2019 on a Mac?
  • 6 Why MacBooks are so expensive?
  • 7 Do Macs last longer than PCs?
  • 8 Why Macs are better than laptops?
  • 9 How do I install Office 365 for free?
  • 10 How can I install Microsoft Office for free?
  • 11 How can I get Microsoft Office for free for free?

How can I install Microsoft Office for Mac for free?

  1. Step 1: Download the Install. Once you download the 2.6GB file to your downloads folder, click on the Office Preview Package to get started.
  2. Step 2: Read and Agree to Licensing Agreement.
  3. Step 3: Agree to the License Agreement to Begin Installation.
  4. Step 4: Install Office for Mac.

What is MAC’s version of Word?

Every Mac comes with Apple’s iWork apps: Pages (word processor), Numbers (spreadsheet), and Keynote (presentations).

How much does Microsoft Office for Mac cost?

The latest version of Office for Mac for home users is Office Home & Student 2021 (£119.99/US$149.99). It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint.

How do you install Word on a Mac?

To download Microsoft Office for Mac, go to www.office.com and sign in with the account associated with your version of Office. Go to the Office home page and select Install Office → Install.

How do I install Office 2019 on a Mac?

  1. Once the download has completed, open Finder, go to Downloads, and double-click Microsoft Office installer.pkg file (the name might vary slightly).
  2. On the first installation screen, select Continue to begin the installation process.
  3. Review the software license agreement, and then click Continue.

Why MacBooks are so expensive?

The case of the MacBook is made with aluminum. This aluminum material is quite expensive, and it is a major reason the price of a MacBook is so high. … The aluminum also makes the MacBook feel more premium. It does not feel like a cheap laptop in any way, and as you can tell from the pricing, it is certainly not cheap.

Do Macs last longer than PCs?

While the life expectancy of a Macbook versus a PC cannot be determined perfectly, MacBooks tend to last longer than PCs. This is because Apple ensures that Mac systems are optimized to work together, making MacBooks run more smoothly for the duration of their lifetime.

Why Macs are better than laptops?

Apple’s biggest strength is that it designs its own hardware and software. This gives the company the power to make an operating system and suite of apps that are tailor-made and optimized for the Mac. … In fact, Apple has designed all of the hardware and software it makes to work seamlessly.

How do I install Office 365 for free?

  1. Go to office.com and sign in.
  2. For step by step instructions for walking through the installation screens please visit the Microsoft Office 365 Installs.
  3. Once Office is installed, launch one of the applications such as Word or Excel and activate the software.

How can I install Microsoft Office for free?

  1. In Windows 10 click the “Start” button and choose “Settings”.
  2. Then, choose “System”.
  3. Next, choose “Apps (just another word for programs) & features”. Scroll down to find Microsoft Office or Get Office.
  4. Once, you’ve uninstalled, restart your computer.

How can I get Microsoft Office for free for free?

  1. Check out Office.com. Microsoft offers Office free to anyone who accesses it directly from Office.com.
  2. Download Microsoft apps. You can download Microsoft’s revamped Office mobile app, available for iPhone or Android devices, for free.
  3. Enroll in Office 365 Education.

Screenshots

This application requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription. Microsoft 365 includes premium Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps, 1 TB cloud storage in OneDrive, advanced security, and more, all in one convenient subscription. With Microsoft 365, you get features as soon as they are released ensuring you’re always working with the latest.

Create, edit, collaborate, and share documents using Word for Mac. Now it’s easier than ever to write, design, and work seamlessly across your devices & with others. Share your files and collaborate in real time within a document or edit Office docs attached to emails. Get smart assistance features as soon as they are released in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint so you’re always working with the latest. Whether you’re a blogger, writer, journalist, columnist, student, or a project manager working on documentation, Word is your go-to app for working with documents.

Kickstart your creativity
• Achieve more and enhance your documents with access to a growing catalog of premium templates for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Rich formatting and layout options produce beautifully pristine documents on any device including laptops, iPads, and iPhones.

Create with confidence
• Receive spelling, grammar, and stylistic feedback on clarity, conciseness, formality, vocabulary, and more with Microsoft Editor.
• Auto Save documents right to Microsoft OneDrive or another cloud provider to access them on any device and at any time you have internet access.

Accomplish more together
• Whether it’s a school project, sales pitch, or newsletter, seamlessly work with others with real-time co-authoring to bring your ideas and plans together faster.
• Safely share your documents with the click of a button to invite others to edit in real time. Easily manage permissions and see who’s currently working in a document.
• Add comments or assign tasks to people in your group for clean editing and organization.

Learn more about Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based subscription service that brings together premium versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneDrive, with the best tools for the way people work today. Please visit: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2015120 for information on Licensing Terms.
Unlock the full Microsoft Office experience with a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription for your phone, tablet, PC, and Mac. 

Microsoft 365 annual subscriptions purchased from the app will be charged to your App Store account and will automatically renew within 24 hours prior to the end of the current subscription period unless auto-renewal is disabled beforehand. You can manage your subscriptions in your App Store account settings.

  This app is provided by either Microsoft or a third-party app publisher and is subject to a separate privacy statement and terms and conditions. Data provided through the use of this store and this app may be accessible to Microsoft or the third-party app publisher, as applicable, and transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States or any other country where Microsoft or the app publisher and their affiliates or service providers maintain facilities.

  Please refer to the Microsoft Software License Terms for Microsoft Office. See “License Agreement” link under Information. By installing the app, you agree to these terms and conditions.

What’s New

Apr 11, 2023

Version 16.72

Ratings and Reviews



Mac

I’m using Word for Mac. I finally bit the bullet and subscribed, because that’s the only way to get it now. It’s like an old friend. I’m fluent after YEARS of use. HOWEVER, Microsoft tries to WEDGE its cloud service into my work-flow and it’s confusing and annoying. When I want to choose «Autosave» to protect myself from losing in-process documents, it puts pop-ups telling me I need «Microsoft 360» or whatever, and there are other related foils that confuse me and make me think I can’t have a fully functioning Word version, like before, unless I have a Microsoft (MS) account and/or do what Microsoft wants with respect to its cloud service. I would appreciate if MS would lay-off and just provide the software, like before. BEFORE, I could buy it once and get all subsequent updates. Now, in the interest of recurring revenue, I have to «subscribe.» «Subscribing» to MS Word was a hurdle I had to get over. I tried everything, but the others aren’t nearly as familiar and comfortable to me…



Since the new office preimered

Many months ago you gave users a chance to try a new version of Outlook 365. I noted a few issues and oen did not get fixed. There is a clitch when I use this on Mac. When I being a sentence, the capital letter at the start of the sentence gets jumped ahead of the curser, with auot correct changing the secon letter of the sentence from lower case to capitol and them fixing the spelling of the first word.
This means, every time I begin a paragrpah or senetnce, I have to delete the first letter, which is not at the end of a sentence and go back to the begining of teh sentence and fix the first word.
Please fix this crummy coding.
Also, I am using Zoom, as are many people these days. It asked me if I want to merge with Outlook 365. I clicked yes. It generated an outlook app on my tool bar. Ithis is not a Zoom app, it is your outlook app. Now I get a bell ring and pop-up on my screen every time I have something on my calendar. I have something on my sclendar every 15 to 30 minutes. This is driving me nuts. There is a not setting to get ride of it, control the bell ring or stop the pop-up.
Please go through your systems and fix things before taing them live. You guys =used to be the best at this stuff, now you have wacky flaws without solutions.



Wonderful, especially for dictation, but problems with auto-punction

I’m a writer and am very much impressed with how far Word for Mac has come. I usually use other software to write my books (Scrivener, Drafts) but am now making the switch to writing in Word, specifically because I can access my WIP on any of my devices—iphone, ipad, macbook, imac—without paying for multiple licenses or going through mulitple headaches. The experience from one device to the next has the continuity I’ve been missing from every other solution I’ve tried. Syncing isn’t an issue at all—thank God it’s not dependent on iCloud or Dropbox. And the bonus of all bonuses is the dictation feature, which is superb across all devices. My only complaint is that I cannot turn of auto-punctuation in the dictation settings. Tick the box to turn it off and it magically turns back on. Makes for lots of extra editing. Still, it’s great and luckily the issue is only on the desktop app and not on the mobile versions. (A silver lining is that this auto-punctuation bug has gotten me dictating/writing my novels on my phone now, which has made me even more productive.)

5 stars if the auto-punctuation bug is fixed.

App Privacy

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Information

Seller
Microsoft Corporation

Size
1.2 GB

Category

Productivity

Compatibility
Mac
Requires macOS 11.0 or later.
Languages

English, Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokmål, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Turkish

Age Rating
4+

Copyright
© 2023 Microsoft Corporation

Price
Free

In-App Purchases

  1. Microsoft 365 Personal
    $69.99
  2. Microsoft 365 Personal Monthly
    $6.99
  3. Microsoft 365 Family
    $99.99
  4. Microsoft 365 Family
    $9.99
  5. Microsoft 365 Personal
    $119.99
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Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply

ask a new question.

Does MacBook Pro have a document writing program like Microsoft Word and Publisher?

Does Mac Book Pro have a document writing program like Microsoft Word or Publisher? And where is it and what is it called?

Thank you.

Aunt Claire

iPod nano,

Windows
7

Posted on Feb 28, 2016 1:29 PM

The Mac comes with a program called TextEdit, or you can download Apple’s full-on word processor, Pages, from the App Store.

Posted on Feb 28, 2016 1:39 PM

Does MacBook Pro have a document writing program like Microsoft Word and Publisher?

Question: Q: how do i get word and excel on my mac

I have recently bought a Mac book pro. Till now have been using a acer laptop.

can any one help with the following

I want to transfer all my data( mostly word, excel and photos) to my Mac

what software do i use to in Mac to be able to use the word and excel.

Please help. Iam not computer savy so going nuts now.

Posted on Oct 8, 2012 6:37 AM

All replies

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Apple has «Pages» and «Numbers» which are able to work with, respectively, Word and Excel files. You can purchase and download both from the App Store in your Dock. Both have the ability to export files as Word and Excel if you need to send files to other people who don’t have Macs. Each is $20.

Or, you can purchase Microsoft Office for Mac 2011, which contains both Word and Excel. You can purchase and download it from the Microsoft website. It’s $120 per computer, or $150 for three computers.

Oct 8, 2012 7:27 AM

Oct 8, 2012 10:53 AM

Welcome to the Apple Forum, sujithna!

. a Mac book pro. Till now have been using a acer laptop.

can any one help with the following

I want to transfer all my data( mostly word, excel and photos) to my Mac

Take a look at the options to Transfer data from a PC to a Mac. Consider the first option with Migration Assistant.

Oct 8, 2012 11:36 AM

Once you get all that data transfered over look into ExcelSkin.com

It’s a nice keyboard cover that maps out all the Microsoft Excel shortcuts for you!

Jan 21, 2013 12:49 PM

If you want to stay native with Microsoft products then you’ll have to purchase M/S Office 2011.. there are many prices depending on your personal situation e.g. student price. You might even be able to get a cheaper price thru your company if you work. AustinKinsella1 is correct about openoffice and neooffice. They’re free.. just google to find them download sites. Matt Clifton is correct about Apple Pages and Numbers applications.. they’re about $19US each. But if you need assurances of absolute compatibility then you’ll have to buy Office 2011.

You can transfer the files simply by inserting a thumb drive and drag and drop onto the thumb drive and then attach it to your Mac and trasnfer in a similar way. You cna even email them to yourself.

Jan 21, 2013 12:58 PM

OpenOffice has forked into LibreOffice. Oracle is no longer supporting OpenOffice. LibreOffice is proported to be very compatilbe with MS Office in its feature sets. LibreOffice is free.

If Maverics was installed on your Mac Pro when you bought it then Pages and Numbers are free for you to download from the App Store.

For editing photos one can use PhotoShop (expensive) or one can use Pixelmator ($30 in the App Store). Apurature is $80 in the App Store.

Источник

Поиск слов на Mac

При работе в приложениях и просмотре веб-страниц можно быстро находить определения слов и словосочетаний.

На Mac в приложении, на веб‑странице, на фото или изображении нажмите слово или фразу при нажатой клавише Control (в некоторых приложениях, возможно, сначала потребуется выделить слово или фразу).

Или коснитесь трекпада тремя пальцами (если в настройках трекпада включен этот жест). Если Ваш трекпад поддерживает нажатие с усилием, Вы можете настроить жест «Определение» и использовать его вместо касания.

Выберите «Найти» в контекстном меню.

В окне «Найти» можно сделать следующее.

Просмотр полного определения. Нажмите ссылку дополнительной информации в конце краткого определения.

Просмотр слова в приложении «Словарь». Нажмите «Открыть в Словаре». Подробную информацию о Словаре см. в Руководстве пользователя приложения «Словарь».

Просмотр дополнительной информации. Нажмите одну из категорий, например «Знания Siri», внизу окна «Найти» либо смахните влево или вправо по трекпаду.

Изменение источников в приложении «Словарь». Нажмите «Настроить словари», чтобы открыть окно настройки Словаря. Выбор или отмена выбора источников. Для выбранного источника можно задавать различные параметры — например, можно выбрать, как отображать произношение или на каком языке искать информацию в Википедии.

Совет. Когда в разделе Системных настроек «Spotlight» включены Предложения Siri, некоторые приложения — например, Почта, Сообщения и Заметки — могут подчеркивать объект (например, имя артиста, название места или фильма) в тексте или превращать его в ссылку, чтобы показать, что доступна дополнительная информация. Просто нажмите стрелку или ссылку, чтобы прочитать информацию в окне определения. (Ваши сообщения, электронные письма и другие данные не отправляются в Apple; могут отправляться только объекты, отмеченные как подсказки поиска в словаре, и связанные с ними данные об использовании.)

Источник

Question: Q: Recovering unsaved word doc on OSX

Hi, Can anyone advise how I recover an unsaved word document on OSX 10.8.4 using office 2011? Thanks

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7), Netgear DGND3700 modem router

Posted on Jul 1, 2013 6:48 AM

Helpful answers

Two links worth a shot:

Jul 1, 2013 8:23 AM

I looked everywhere online and have FINALLY found the answer to retrieving your lost document EVEN if AutoRecovery did not save it. This is free with no external software needed, you just need to follow these quick couple steps.

So If you did as everyone else said and found the folder «Office 2008/09/11 AutoRecovery» and your file is still NOT there, that means it is being stored in your computers Temporary or «-Tmp-» folder.

The «-Tmp-» folder is very hard to find, even if you have made hidden folders visible, so what you need to do is go to «Applications»- «Utilities»- «Terminal»

Once you are in the terminal copy this phrase: «open $TMPDIR» and press ENTER. That will open your Temporary files folder where you will see another folder named «Temporaryitems»

Open up the «Temporaryitems» folder and you will find your lost file, that even AutoRecovery could not find. However when you do find your file, make sure you open up the document with «TextEdit» because a .tmp file will not work with Word.

An example name of your lost document will be «WordWorkfile D-57238.tmp»

I spent hours on the internet looking for a solution and this is the only way I have actually been able to find the lost or unsaved file. I hope this helps and I can save everyone some extra hours of time.

Источник

Should I use Microsoft Word on a Mac or a cheaper alternative?

Ed doesn’t want to pay an annual subscription for Office 365 and he’s looking for a compatible rival

Is there a cheaper way of using Microsoft’s Word on a Mac, or a better alternative? Photograph: Microsoft

Is there a cheaper way of using Microsoft’s Word on a Mac, or a better alternative? Photograph: Microsoft

Last modified on Thu 28 Mar 2019 08.02 GMT

I chose Microsoft Word for Mac when I switched to a MacBook Pro some years ago. As a writer, I have a very large number of Word files, but with Microsoft moving to an annual subscription model, the cost of remaining with Word is looking prohibitive.

Is there is a cheaper way of carrying on with Word, or, failing that, an alternative word processor with which I’ll still be able to open and edit my existing Word documents? Ed

Microsoft would prefer both Mac and Windows users of Office to move to the online version, Office 365, but it’s still entirely up to you. In fact, you can already use some Microsoft Office programs online, including Word, without paying Microsoft a penny. All you have to do is create a Microsoft Account using any working email address – it doesn’t have to be a Microsoft email address – and you can use online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint with free online storage in OneDrive. This is exactly the same as Google’s online suite. The main difference is that Microsoft’s programs are better, except for multiuser simultaneous editing.

Microsoft’s free suite also includes OneNote, Skype, Calendar, People, Tasks, Photos, Sway, Flow and Forms. I expect this list will continue to grow in the future.

So, if you want to use Word, you have three choices: the online version (free), the desktop program (one-off payment), and Office 365 (annual subscription). Office 365 includes online, desktop, tablet and smartphone versions for both PCs and Macs, Android and Apple’s iOS.

Why use Word?

Word is powerful and flexible, but you pay for that utility. Photograph: Microsoft

There are many reasons for using Word. The best is that you like using it, because of its power, rich feature list, ease of use or whatever. That’s why I’ve used it for a couple of decades.

The second reason is that you need it to read old files, which is one of your problems. This depends on the complexity of your files. If your documents include multiple columns, embedded images, custom fonts, footnotes and similar features, you can more or less forget about using anything else. But if your documents are simple text files, then a lot of programs will load them.

I tried to avoid this problem by saving all my files in Microsoft’s .rtf (rich text) file format, which almost any word processor can read. Being text based, it’s hopeless for storing images, but it’s perfect for texts with simple formatting. But I found I still needed Word to compare files, and to cope with the publishing industry’s use of styles, comments and “track changes”.

The third reason is that we live in a world where Microsoft Office is the de facto standard for business documents, and you absolutely have to be able to read them accurately. This applies in spades to files that use VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) and macros, and to Excel spreadsheets where errors can have career-ending financial consequences.

This isn’t going to change in a hurry because Microsoft Office is also a platform with hundreds of add-ons and plug-ins, it’s supported by thousands of books, video tutorials, websites and consultants, and it’s what most office workers already know how to use.

And when time is money, the cost of sorting out incompatibilities and usability issues is far higher than the cost of Office. If you’re paying staff, say, £20,000 to £60,000 a year, and can’t afford £100 a year for Office 365 – less for a boxed version – then you have bigger problems.

Decide where you are on the spectrum from “I like it” to “can’t live without it”. If you are not a business, you can certainly live without it or use the free online version. But even if you switch to a free alternative, you’ll spend time learning a new interface and handling your old documents.

Boxed Office

The traditional advantages of buying boxed copies of Office were that you could use it on two PCs (a desktop and a laptop, but not at the same time) and that you could transfer it to a new PC. Boxed copies have more or less disappeared, but if you own one, you need to keep the code marked on the box to reinstall it. If you lose the DVDs, you can download the software. If you lose the activation code, you can’t get a new one without giving Microsoft proof of purchase.

Cheaper versions of Office are locked to the PC on which they were originally installed. That means you’re unlikely to get the full 10 years we used to get by moving Office to new PCs, and perhaps explains Microsoft’s attempts to reduce its 10-year support lifecycle.

In fact, Microsoft has only announced mainstream support for Office Home & Student 2019 for the five years up to 10 October 2023, with extended support marked “Not Applicable”. I suspect Microsoft will support it until 14 October 2025, which is the end of support date for Office 2016, and that Office 2022 (yes, there will be one) will only get five years.

A further complication is that Microsoft only supports the last three versions of MacOS.

Office Home & Student 2019 looks like a bargain at £119.99 or less, but that’s a single-installation version. You can divide the price by the number of years you expect your 2012 MacBook Pro to last. It will be more than the usual £12 a year.

Office 365

Office 365 includes online access and cloud storage. Photograph: Microsoft

Office 365, launched in 2013, is the cloud-based version of Office, but usually provides access to the full desktop programs as well. Extra features over the Home & Student edition include Outlook, the desktop email and organisation program, 60 minutes of Skype calls, apps for Android and Apple iOS smartphones and tablets, and 1TB of online storage instead of 15GB. Windows users also get Microsoft Publisher and the Access database.

It’s not a bad deal for £59.99 a year – or £49.75 if you get the activation code by email – if you use the storage. (Google charges £57 a year for 1TB, and £24.99 a year for 200GB of Gdrive.)

However, the family version, Office 365 Home, is far better value. This costs £79.99 a year for up to six users, including friends. Everyone gets their own terabyte of storage, up to 6TB in all. For a family of four, it’s only £20 per year each. If you can share the cost, it’s terrific value, because each user can install the full Office on multiple PCs and Macs. There’s no need to buy three or more single-machine copies to install them on a desktop, laptop, 2-in-1 tablet and so on.

Also, Microsoft claims that Office 365 is better than Office 2019. First, the 365 programs have more and better features, because they are continuously updated. The Office 2019 versions are fixed. Second, Office 365 has various collaborative and AI-based cloud features. It’s not clear how useful most of these are to solitary users, apart from instant translation.

Alternatives to Word

Lots of programs claim they can read Microsoft Word .doc and .docx formats, and some can also write or export them. As mentioned, the success rate generally depends on the Word features you use. You will need to load and “save as” a few of your most complex documents to see how much of the formatting survives. If you only write plain texts, you should be fine. Just keep your original files, instead of overwriting them.

You could start with Apple’s Pages, because it’s free, and you may have it already. Otherwise, your best bet is LibreOffice 6.2.2, which now has its own optional ribbon interface. LibreOffice is both open source and free, so it will only cost you the time needed to try it.

The less-well-known German suite SoftMaker Office has a ribbon interface and uses Microsoft Office file formats by default, without conversion. It has a free version and a subscription version (£49.90 a year), but you can buy the full SoftMaker Office Professional 2018 for Mac, Windows or Linux for £89.99, after a 30-day free trial.

I don’t regard Google Docs as an alternative because it’s online only, and you’d mostly be better off using the free version of Word online. Of course, nothing stops you from using both.

I was also going to suggest WPS Office, the suite owned by China’s Kingsoft, but it only has Windows, Linux, Android and iOS versions, not MacOS. WPS used to claim 100% compatibility, and it’s actually pretty good. Unfortunately, the free version includes advertising, which I found unbearable, and the Premium version isn’t worth $29.99 a year. Users who like it could consider a “lifetime” purchase for $79.99 (individuals) or $119.99 (businesses), but try SoftMaker first.

Have you got a question? Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com

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