Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Do you prefer Microsoft Office or built in Mac Office apps?

  • Microsoft Office

    Votes: 57 70.4%
  • Apple apps - Pages, Numbers, Keynote

    Votes: 24 29.6%

  • Total voters
    81

jwolf6589

macrumors 601
Dec 15, 2010
4,795
1,556
Colorado
Oh yeah, I also use Google Sheets and Docs. It’s handy for bill reconciliation and a lot of my political organizing/collaboration runs through the suite. I don’t understand why anyone actually pays for general office software.

because MS office is the best.
 
Another one. In a number of years I predict many of these suites will be gone, but MS Office, iWorks, and Google will still be around.
You'll have to wait a long, long time before LibreOffice is gone. It's just too good.

BTW, I was able to find someone to send to me a Word 2019 document, and an Excel 2019 spreadsheet. The LibreOffice applicable modules easily handled each of them.
 

3SQ Machine

macrumors 6502
Dec 8, 2019
341
196
Office 2008? I just upgraded my mom's Hi-Sierra MacBook Air to Office 2019. Entourage 2008 was having problems opening attachments among other issues. I think she is allot happier with Office 2019.

I don't use 2008 as my DD, but 2016. I was just saying that I'll keep my licensed "dvd-rom" 2008 version (which still works--at least until I eventually go to Catalina) because of its ability to open OLD .doc files (which I have wayyyy too many of). Maybe someday I'll sit down and convert them all to .docx. then again, maybe not
 

jwolf6589

macrumors 601
Dec 15, 2010
4,795
1,556
Colorado
I don't use 2008 as my DD, but 2016. I was just saying that I'll keep my licensed "dvd-rom" 2008 version (which still works--at least until I eventually go to Catalina) because of its ability to open OLD .doc files (which I have wayyyy too many of). Maybe someday I'll sit down and convert them all to .docx. then again, maybe not

I can open old .doc files with Word 2019. Word 97-2004 that is. Not sure about Word 95 and before.
 

3SQ Machine

macrumors 6502
Dec 8, 2019
341
196
I'll admit I haven't had to test whether 2008 lives up to its supposed "bridge" status. It was this thread from the Microsoft forums that I relied upon to keep (instead of deleting) a working copy of 2008 in my backups as I was doing my "new computer cleanout" of old, unused stuff.

What concerns me more is that the recent versions I have (besides 2008) are locked into the 365 subscription model which means Microsoft will lock me out of them unless I pay up the moment my employer decides to stop offering us the home subscriptions as a benefit. Of course, Catalina may lock me out of my 32-bit 2008 before Microsoft does unless I decide to keep a separate Mojave user on a boot drive, which is kinda silly just for office docs.
 
Have never seen any. If you can point me to site where there are such files, I'd be more than willing to try it.

Also, according to this:

".dot – Legacy Word templates; officially designated "Microsoft Word 97 – 2003 Template""

and this:

"
On the flip side, this is a list of all the file formats LibreOffice supports for both opening and saving, meaning that you can not only open and edit the file, but also save back to that same format:

  • CSV, DBF, DIF, DOC, DOCX, DOT, FODS, FODT, HTML, ODG, ODP, ODS, ODT, OTP, OTS, OTT, POT, POTM, PPSX, PPT, PPTX, RTF, SLK, STC, STW, SXC, SXI, SXW, TXT, UOP, UOS, XLS, XLSX, XLT, XML"

The .dot format is supported. What is the version of the Office Suite specific to Windows 3.11?
[automerge]1575860230[/automerge]
Can you open up Word for Windows 3.11 or Word 95 files?
Look at my post above.
 

jwolf6589

macrumors 601
Dec 15, 2010
4,795
1,556
Colorado
Have never seen any. If you can point me to site where there are such files, I'd be more than willing to try it.

Also, according to this:

".dot – Legacy Word templates; officially designated "Microsoft Word 97 – 2003 Template""

and this:

"
On the flip side, this is a list of all the file formats LibreOffice supports for both opening and saving, meaning that you can not only open and edit the file, but also save back to that same format:

  • CSV, DBF, DIF, DOC, DOCX, DOT, FODS, FODT, HTML, ODG, ODP, ODS, ODT, OTP, OTS, OTT, POT, POTM, PPSX, PPT, PPTX, RTF, SLK, STC, STW, SXC, SXI, SXW, TXT, UOP, UOS, XLS, XLSX, XLT, XML"

The .dot format is supported. What is the version of the Office Suite specific to Windows 3.11?
[automerge]1575860230[/automerge]

Look at my post above.

It was .doc but its a different type of .doc format. I remember in College carrying around floppies and working on my .doc files under Windows 3.11. Oh that was the day way back in 1996.
 

throAU

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2012
8,772
6,935
Perth, Western Australia
If you need to inter-operate with the business world, pages and numbers are a pain. And OneNote is just way better than Apple's notes in many respects.

a 365 subscription is pretty cheap.

The Apple productivity apps are fine for home use, but they simply don't hold up when compared to office. Keynote though - that's WAY better than powerpoint in my opinion.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,419
43,307
MS Office all the way, I found the iWork apps to be horrible in many ways, they just don't hold up to the ease of use or functionality of MS Office.
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,271
12,994
where hip is spoken
no it’s not! It’s actually a improved UI over 2016 and it’s not bloated.
Each app in MS Office for macOS is over 2GB each... that is bloated.

As for the UI, there are 2 separate menu bars for each app. That is NOT an improvement over Office 2011 for MacOS...

There is the menu bar near the Apple icon, then there is the menu bar within the app window.
Screen Shot 2019-12-09 at 11.23.10 AM.png
 

jwolf6589

macrumors 601
Dec 15, 2010
4,795
1,556
Colorado
Each app in MS Office for macOS is over 2GB each... that is bloated.

As for the UI, there are 2 separate menu bars for each app. That is NOT an improvement over Office 2011 for MacOS...

There is the menu bar near the Apple icon, then there is the menu bar within the app window.
View attachment 881676

So what. The apps launch very fast on my old 2012 Mac with a SSD and I have plenty of disk space left. I like 2019.
[automerge]1575916243[/automerge]
Meh. There isn't any difference, aside from actually costing money, for my purposes.

I see. Well for some iWorks is just fine. I just prefer Office for most tasks but I alsouse iWorks and Mail sometimes.
 
It was .doc but its a different type of .doc format. I remember in College carrying around floppies and working on my .doc files under Windows 3.11. Oh that was the day way back in 1996.
Well then, I most likely have no way to test that with LibreOffice. Note, though, that the Writer Document module of LibreOffice can both read and save .doc files. Just don't know about the "Windows 3.11" version of that format.
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,271
12,994
where hip is spoken
So what. The apps launch very fast on my old 2012 Mac with a SSD and I have plenty of disk space left. I like 2019.
So what? I said that MS Office for macOS is bloated, you said it was not. I gave you a reason why I said it was bloated. Do you agree or disagree that it is bloated?


I see. Well for some iWorks is just fine. I just prefer Office for most tasks but I alsouse iWorks and Mail sometimes.
You said that the UI was improved over 2016. How exactly is it an improvement if there are 2 menu bars?

I'm not trying to be argumentative but you don't appear to be responding to the things I'm actually saying.
 

Eric Best

macrumors member
Jul 30, 2011
34
6
Tamworth, NSW, Australia
When I used MSWidows, my goto word processor was WordPerfect. I found it much more intuitive to use than MSWord (and I would go back to it if ever Corel decided to do a Mac Version). These days, for my own stuff, I use Pages, for collaboration, MSWord. There are other nice writing apps out there. For authors, I would suggest they check out Papyrus Author.
 

interbear

macrumors regular
Sep 5, 2012
240
182
UK
You have an odd definition of "great". Office 2019 on macOS is a bloated mess with a terrible UI.

I disagree. I use it every day and I find it very good. I want Office on the Mac to be as functional as Office on a Windows PC and for me, it is. I can do everything I need to do on a platform (MAC) that I prefer to use.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jwolf6589

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,271
12,994
where hip is spoken
I disagree. I use it every day and I find it very good. I want Office on the Mac to be as functional as Office on a Windows PC and for me, it is. I can do everything I need to do on a platform (MAC) that I prefer to use.
It's clear that I'm the odd duck. I think having 2 separate menu bars is a terrible UI design.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vkmd

interbear

macrumors regular
Sep 5, 2012
240
182
UK
It's clear that I'm the odd duck. I think having 2 separate menu bars is a terrible UI design.

Like pretty much everything else tech related, what works for some doesn’t work for others. We all have our preferred way of doings things, this is no different. The good thing is that there are plenty of options on the Mac platform to suit all tastes.
 

jwolf6589

macrumors 601
Dec 15, 2010
4,795
1,556
Colorado
I disagree. I use it every day and I find it very good. I want Office on the Mac to be as functional as Office on a Windows PC and for me, it is. I can do everything I need to do on a platform (MAC) that I prefer to use.

I agree with you. Glad I upgraded my moms MacBook to Office 2019.
 
Like pretty much everything else tech related, what works for some doesn’t work for others. We all have our preferred way of doings things, this is no different. The good thing is that there are plenty of options on the Mac platform to suit all tastes.
Well stated! I am pleased with LibreOffice, as it easily satisfies my needs. But I have "played" with Word 2019 and Excel 2019, and they look pretty good.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.