Anyone using microsoft 365 on their mac? thoughts.

[The Point and Shoot Pro]

Hi,

I am very close to getting a gaggle of macs for my family here. We use microsoft 365 for our storage, notes, etc. It all works great on our iPhone/ipad/pc combo, how does it work on mac?

thanks!

 

[terrydev]

Perfectly. It just works for me here with no issues.

 

[The Point and Shoot Pro]

Thanks. Just wanted to make sure before we toss alot of money apple's way. ha ha. Great to know. I do like Microsoft's software, but I am into the integration of all our tech with apple.

 

[Paul Hoppe]

Depending on your needs I am rather happy with using the Mac native apps like Pages, Numbers, Notes etc.

Sure they don't come close to the functionality of MS Office but they come free with any Apple device and sync nicely via Icloud.

 

[Greybeard2017]

Hi,

I am very close to getting a gaggle of macs for my family here. We use microsoft 365 for our storage, notes, etc. It all works great on our iPhone/ipad/pc combo, how does it work on mac?

thanks!

I mostly use Microsoft 365 for the apps - especially Excel - they just seem to work better than the Apple alternatives.

As far as storage goes then iCloud is probably better integrated into the Macs but OneDrive is easily accessible - you can read and write to folders as though they were local.

 

[Roxburgh22]

Same here. My needs are relatively simple. Uncomplicated spreadsheets and straightforward documents. I don't need the functionality of Microsoft and I don't see why I would pay for it. Numbers and Pages are working okay for me.

Maybe if Microsoft offered a one time license for Word and Excel without all the other stuff I don't want or need then I would consider it.

 

[The Point and Shoot Pro]

Same here. My needs are relatively simple. Uncomplicated spreadsheets and straightforward documents. I don't need the functionality of Microsoft and I don't see why I would pay for it. Numbers and Pages are working okay for me.

Maybe if Microsoft offered a one time license for Word and Excel without all the other stuff I don't want or need then I would consider it.

I do. that's why I am asking about it. it's not as simple as that. Plus, I have the 365 family plan where my wife, 2 sons and my mother in law all use the sub. So it's sort of a needed thing for us. We get way more storage than the Apple family plan which we also have for services.

 

[Greybeard2017]

Same here. My needs are relatively simple. Uncomplicated spreadsheets and straightforward documents. I don't need the functionality of Microsoft and I don't see why I would pay for it. Numbers and Pages are working okay for me.

Maybe if Microsoft offered a one time license for Word and Excel without all the other stuff I don't want or need then I would consider it.

Depends if you want cloud storage - Microsoft storage is much cheaper than Apple - plus you get the apps thrown in.

There do appear to be lifetime versions of Office available for purchase - they won't be as current as the 365 versions but maybe thats not important.

 

[Roxburgh22]

Yes, you can buy a one time license which is only good on one device. You get Word, Excel and Powerpoint and the cost is $150. I don't need Powerpoint and $150 is too much when I get Numbers and Pages for free.

I choose not to use the Cloud.

Obviously, I am looking at my needs. Others will have different ones and will, no doubt, be willing to pay for it.

 

[The Point and Shoot Pro]

Same here. My needs are relatively simple. Uncomplicated spreadsheets and straightforward documents. I don't need the functionality of Microsoft and I don't see why I would pay for it. Numbers and Pages are working okay for me.

Maybe if Microsoft offered a one time license for Word and Excel without all the other stuff I don't want or need then I would consider it.

Depends if you want cloud storage - Microsoft storage is much cheaper than Apple - plus you get the apps thrown in.

There do appear to be lifetime versions of Office available for purchase - they won't be as current as the 365 versions but maybe thats not important.

Yes, the Microsoft cloud storage is much better when you have more than two users. We have 5 so we get 5 tb. 1tb each, not 2tb shared. I am getting ready to contact MS about upping mine to keep projects I am working on in the cloud so I can work without having to drag extra drives with us.

 

[Chris Noble]

Hi,

I am very close to getting a gaggle of macs for my family here. We use microsoft 365 for our storage, notes, etc. It all works great on our iPhone/ipad/pc combo, how does it work on mac?

thanks!

Apple keeps falling further and further behind.

 

[The Point and Shoot Pro]

Hi,

I am very close to getting a gaggle of macs for my family here. We use microsoft 365 for our storage, notes, etc. It all works great on our iPhone/ipad/pc combo, how does it work on mac?

thanks!

Apple keeps falling further and further behind.

How so? Can you elaborate on your views? I think the M series are great for notebooks, and I am very intetested in new MacOS.

 

[Chris Noble]

Hi,

I am very close to getting a gaggle of macs for my family here. We use microsoft 365 for our storage, notes, etc. It all works great on our iPhone/ipad/pc combo, how does it work on mac?

thanks!

Apple keeps falling further and further behind.

How so? Can you elaborate on your views? I think the M series are great for notebooks, and I am very intetested in new MacOS.

I was a devoted Apple user for many years. But the tide has changed in three significant ways:

1. Google Android (cellphones & tablets), Google Docs (Cloud) and Microsoft Windows and apps (laptops and PCs) are seamlessly integrated.
2. The apps in the Android and Windows world keep on getting better, while the Apple apps now struggle to keep up (or have given up, against Office 365 for example).
3. There is a wide range of Windows/Android hardware available from multiple vendors for all types of products at every price and performance point, compared to a very narrow and expensive product range from Apple.

I have no "stake" in any of this. I'm just an experienced consumer of both options.

 

[The Point and Shoot Pro]

Hi,

I am very close to getting a gaggle of macs for my family here. We use microsoft 365 for our storage, notes, etc. It all works great on our iPhone/ipad/pc combo, how does it work on mac?

thanks!

Apple keeps falling further and further behind.

How so? Can you elaborate on your views? I think the M series are great for notebooks, and I am very intetested in new MacOS.

I was a devoted Apple user for many years. But the tide has changed in three significant ways:

1. Google Android (cellphones & tablets), Google Docs (Cloud) and Microsoft Windows and apps (laptops and PCs) are seamlessly integrated.
2. The apps in the Android and Windows world keep on getting better, while the Apple apps now struggle to keep up (or have given up, against Office 365 for example).
3. There is a wide range of Windows/Android hardware available from multiple vendors for all types of products at every price and performance point, compared to a very narrow and expensive product range from Apple.

I have no "stake" in any of this. I'm just an experienced consumer of both options.

oh, no problem, that's why I asked for you to elaborate on your comment. Thanks for the information.

 

[Zeee]

I had Office 2008 and eventually the OS could not run it. I switched to free Macs Pages (Word), Numbers (Excel) and Keynote (Power Point). These will open all the Office documents.

As for shared Mac calendars, notes, reminders, etc I have those synced to 6 apple devices. I did these first and then a few years later the ones in the first paragraph.

You probably want to to keep using what you are used to but I thought I'd point a different option out.

 

[terrydev]

The apps in the Android and Windows world keep on getting better, while the Apple apps now struggle to keep up (or have given up, against Office 365 for example).

They neither struggle nor have given up. They are not competing with any of these products and that is by design.

Apple are a hardware (and increasingly services) company. The offer - at no cost - an amount of "good-enough-for-a-lot-of-users" software, principally to help sell hardware. That is really their only interest in these products. Whether you look at Pages, Numbers, Photos it's all the same. Mid range, easy to use, not very complicated. This means that the person buying a Mac has software to get started with. Many never go past it that, but if they do there is a healthy ecosystem of more capable and robust apps. for whatever they need. Doing a neighbourhood newsletter? Pages is good. Doing a doctoral thesis? You're going to need Word, Nisus Writer or Mellel. Want to manage your iPhone shots and share them with friends, Photos is good. Want to manage and process your Raws with a high degree of control and subtlety? Well then there is LRC or CaptureOne et al.

The Apple apps are giveaways, designed to leave space in the ecosystem for 3rd party apps. Apple don't compete with LRC or Word, they make a space where you can get them if you need that kind of power and control.

Only exceptions are the pro apps like Final Cut and Motion etc.

So don't be too disappointed. All's that's happened is you've outgrown the freebies.

 

[Greybeard2017]

1. Google Android (cellphones & tablets), Google Docs (Cloud) and Microsoft Windows and apps (laptops and PCs) are seamlessly integrated.

Equally iphones, ipads and the various Macs work together with iCloud offerings and are seamlessly integrated

1. The apps in the Android and Windows world keep on getting better, while the Apple apps now struggle to keep up (or have given up, against Office 365 for example).

Office 365 works perfectly well on a Mac - in the same way the Adobe products work perfectly well on a Mac - they are all apps in the Apple world

1. There is a wide range of Windows/Android hardware available from multiple vendors for all types of products at every price and performance point, compared to a very narrow and expensive product range from Apple.

A wide range doesn't always mean better - the Apple range is wide enough for most

I have no "stake" in any of this. I'm just an experienced consumer of both options.

 

[Tom_N]

Yes, you can buy a one time license which is only good on one device. You get Word, Excel and Powerpoint and the cost is $150. I don't need Powerpoint and $150 is too much when I get Numbers and Pages for free.

If you go with the subscription for one person, it costs $70 a year. Over ten years, that would add up to $700 for the rental of your word processor.

There is LibreOffice, which is free, and supposedly can open many Office documents.

https://www.libreoffice.org/

 

[Greybeard2017]

Yes, you can buy a one time license which is only good on one device. You get Word, Excel and Powerpoint and the cost is $150. I don't need Powerpoint and $150 is too much when I get Numbers and Pages for free.

If you go with the subscription for one person, it costs $70 a year. Over ten years, that would add up to $700 for the rental of your word processor.

There is LibreOffice, which is free, and supposedly can open many Office documents.

https://www.libreoffice.org/

to put it another way - 20 cents a day for the real thing (including Excel) - frequently discounted - continually updated including security fixes - not have to worry about "supposedly" - plus 1 terabyte of cloud storage

 

[Michael Gebauer]

Microsoft 365 runs well on the Mac. However, you have to be aware of some weaknesses:

Excel's performance is significantly slower than Windows when using large tables with XLOOKUP, VLOOKUP and pivots. When I work on large tables, I usually use a virtual machine on macOS or a native Windows laptop.

PowerPivots are not supported

PowerBI is not supported

Microsoft Access is not supported

The implementation of OneDrive still can be improved

The other differences are not dramatic.