Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac Cross-Compatibility Question?

NbinHD · Feb 3, 2013, 02:04 AM

One question before i buy my new Macbook Air. If i have a Windows based laptop with Microsoft Office 2010 and a OSX based laptop with Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac, will they be cross-compatible - meaning if i start a piece of work on the windows and want to work on the mac at a later date will it use the same template and convert over - or vicer versa. Do they have and use the templates, etc etc? How different is the UI, easy to learn the Mac version?

Abazigal · Feb 3, 2013, 03:51 AM

It may or may not be an issue, depending on the complexity of your files. They will try to use the same template and all, but the mac2011 version is sadly not 100% with the windows version. You may still encounter minor formatting issues here and there. For example, I can open a document on my mac and find the tables and images all out of alignment because the margins and borders are different.

The UI is also slightly different, but not really enough to bother me.

If you want perfect compatibility, I think the only way is to run office 2010 via parallels.

James Craner · Feb 3, 2013, 04:23 AM

The compatibility between Office for Windows 2010 and Office for Mac 2011 is very good. Have not really had an issue with it. Most of the issues related to formatting tend to be related to people using fonts that are supported on one platform but not the other. Word and Excel are usually fine, but you can have some image conversion issues with some documents, particularly Powerpoint.

yusukeaoki · Feb 3, 2013, 05:46 AM

They are pretty good.
Never had a problem here.
In fact the 2011 Office and my friends old Office 2003 windows version worked fine.

seveej · Feb 3, 2013, 06:37 AM

99% of the time, you will have no issues, and the UI is less different than between any two windows office versions.

And btw, the Mac version is not incompatible with the windows version. It's the windows version which is incompatible with the Mac version.

RGDS,

Feb 3, 2013, 02:04 AM	#1
NbinHD macrumors regular Join Date: May 2012 Location: Macbook Pro 13'' - Mid 2012 Baseline	Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac Cross-Compatibility Question? One question before i buy my new Macbook Air. If i have a Windows based laptop with Microsoft Office 2010 and a OSX based laptop with Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac, will they be cross-compatible - meaning if i start a piece of work on the windows and want to work on the mac at a later date will it use the same template and convert over - or vicer versa. Do they have and use the templates, etc etc? How different is the UI, easy to learn the Mac version?
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Feb 3, 2013, 04:23 AM	#3
James Craner macrumors 65816 Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Bristol, UK	The compatibility between Office for Windows 2010 and Office for Mac 2011 is very good. Have not really had an issue with it. Most of the issues related to formatting tend to be related to people using fonts that are supported on one platform but not the other. Word and Excel are usually fine, but you can have some image conversion issues with some documents, particularly Powerpoint. __________________ Productivity Orchard Be more productive with your Mac
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Feb 3, 2013, 05:46 AM	#4
yusukeaoki macrumors 68020 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: California, USA.	They are pretty good. Never had a problem here. In fact the 2011 Office and my friends old Office 2003 windows version worked fine. __________________ 17" MacBook Pro (Early 2011), 2.2GHz i7 Quad, 16GB RAM, 128GB SSD+1TB HDD@5400rpm 11" MacBook Air (Mid 2012), 2.0GHz i7 Dual, 8GB RAM, 256GB Flash iPhone 5 (White), 32GB
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Feb 3, 2013, 06:37 AM	#5
seveej macrumors 6502 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Helsinki, Finland	99% of the time, you will have no issues, and the UI is less different than between any two windows office versions. And btw, the Mac version is not incompatible with the windows version. It's the windows version which is incompatible with the Mac version. RGDS, __________________ MP 3,1 Octo MBP 13" 2,66 C2D, 8GB, 160SSD MDD, 1Ghz DP, 2GB, 4.25 TB (Leopard Server)
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Feb 3, 2013, 03:51 AM	#2
Abazigal macrumors 68000 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Singapore	It may or may not be an issue, depending on the complexity of your files. They will try to use the same template and all, but the mac2011 version is sadly not 100% with the windows version. You may still encounter minor formatting issues here and there. For example, I can open a document on my mac and find the tables and images all out of alignment because the margins and borders are different. The UI is also slightly different, but not really enough to bother me. If you want perfect compatibility, I think the only way is to run office 2010 via parallels.
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