Updating Office 2004 documents on my new Mac Mini

[jpa66]

First off, please excuse my ignorance of this. If it sounds simple, it may be to some, but I simply cannot figure out how to get my Office 2004 (for Mac) to open on my new Mini. The problem is that the current OS no longer supports PowerPC applications, and I have a lot of work saved as Word files.

My question(s) is/are:

What is the easiest (and least expensive) way to get Office running on my Mac? Do I need to purchase the current Office (and if so, should it be Office for Mac or simply the Windows version)? Do I need to get Windows? Or is there some other type of software that will work?

I actually have Parallels 8, since I knew that I would have to use Word and Excel (for work), but I'm unsure what I need to do about the actual PC-software part of the equation.

Also, my wife has a pc with Vista installed on it - would I be able to somehow migrate the software on her computer to mine?

Any help is greatly appreciated, as I really need to access the files I have stored in Word.

Thanks,
JP

[California]

Originally Posted by jpa66

First off, please excuse my ignorance of this. If it sounds simple, it may be to some, but I simply cannot figure out how to get my Office 2004 (for Mac) to open on my new Mini. The problem is that the current OS no longer supports PowerPC applications, and I have a lot of work saved as Word files.

My question(s) is/are:

What is the easiest (and least expensive) way to get Office running on my Mac? Do I need to purchase the current Office (and if so, should it be Office for Mac or simply the Windows version)? Do I need to get Windows? Or is there some other type of software that will work?

I actually have Parallels 8, since I knew that I would have to use Word and Excel (for work), but I'm unsure what I need to do about the actual PC-software part of the equation.

Also, my wife has a pc with Vista installed on it - would I be able to somehow migrate the software on her computer to mine?

Any help is greatly appreciated, as I really need to access the files I have stored in Word.

Thanks,
JP

Office for Mac 2004 will only work with Snow Leopard OS 10.6 and below. New Macs with Lion 10.7 or Mountain Lion 10.8 cannot run Rosetta which runs older Mac applications, such as Office 2004. You need to buy Office for Mac 2011.

Which is why so many of us are sticking with older machines and Snow Leopard... Most of our older Mac software no longer works.

I'm pretty sure once you buy the newer Word, you won't have any difficulties migrating stuff.

[jpa66]

Originally Posted by California

Office for Mac 2004 will only work with Snow Leopard OS 10.6 and below. New Macs with Lion 10.7 or Mountain Lion 10.8 cannot run Rosetta which runs older Mac applications, such as Office 2004. You need to buy Office for Mac 2011.

Which is why so many of us are sticking with older machines and Snow Leopard... Most of our older Mac software no longer works.

I'm pretty sure once you buy the newer Word, you won't have any difficulties migrating stuff.

Yeah - I wish that I had gotten a new mac a couple of years ago, so I wouldn't have that problem.

Should I just get Word for Mac, or simply Word, since I have Parallels 8?

[California]

Originally Posted by jpa66

Yeah - I wish that I had gotten a new mac a couple of years ago, so I wouldn't have that problem.

Should I just get Word for Mac, or simply Word, since I have Parallels 8?

I think you have to get the entire office for Mac. If you know anyone in school, I think you still can get educational discounts...

[RickyB]

Originally Posted by jpa66

First off, please excuse my ignorance of this. If it sounds simple, it may be to some, but I simply cannot figure out how to get my Office 2004 (for Mac) to open on my new Mini. The problem is that the current OS no longer supports PowerPC applications, and I have a lot of work saved as Word files.

My question(s) is/are:

What is the easiest (and least expensive) way to get Office running on my Mac? Do I need to purchase the current Office (and if so, should it be Office for Mac or simply the Windows version)? Do I need to get Windows? Or is there some other type of software that will work?

I actually have Parallels 8, since I knew that I would have to use Word and Excel (for work), but I'm unsure what I need to do about the actual PC-software part of the equation.

Also, my wife has a pc with Vista installed on it - would I be able to somehow migrate the software on her computer to mine?

Any help is greatly appreciated, as I really need to access the files I have stored in Word.

Thanks,
JP

Before you fork out for Office 2011, try OpenOffice.org - it's free.
It isn't completely compatible, but it's worth a try and if it doesn't work, you consider other options, such as Apple's Pages, or Office 2011.

BTW, If you do have to get Office, I would go for the Mac version, as it will save you having to use Paralells, and is, IMHO, better.

[MichaelLAX]

Originally Posted by California

Which is why so many of us are sticking with older machines and Snow Leopard... Most of our older Mac software no longer works.

If you are unable or unwilling to upgrade your PowerPC applications, consider installing Snow Leopard (with Rosetta) into Parallels.