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64 bit Catalina question...

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Kat17man

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 7, 2020
66
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Just purchased a MB Pro laptop with Catalina 10.15.6. I also have a 2013 MBA with Catalina 10.15.6. On the MBA I have Office for Mac 2008. I just tried to install Office on the new MB Pro and it wouldn't install, but it runs fine on my MBA.

I understand the warning about Catalina not supporting 32 bit programming which I believe my Office for Mac 2008 is, but I don't understand why it won't install on my new MB Pro with the same Catalina operating system. I've now installed LibraOffice which seems like it will provide Excel like operation on my MB Pro.

I really don't want to buy a new MS Office for Mac with a annual fee. If I can find a onetime pay for Office for Mac, I may cough up the cash for it.
 
Is there a difference between the version of Office on the installer and the version of Office on the MBA?

Can you connect the MBA to the MBP via Thunderbolt, boot the MBA into target disk mode, then boot the MBP from the MBA's disk, and see if Office works from their on your MBP?

Instead of using the installer, can you use Migration Assistant to copy apps and settings from the MBA to the new MBP?
 
The installer itself is most likely a 32 bit application. I find myself in this position with Adobe Lightroom (non cloud product) it continues to work just fine following upgrading to Catalina however the installer / updater is a 32 bit application.
 
joevt said:
Is there a difference between the version of Office on the installer and the version of Office on the MBA?

Can you connect the MBA to the MBP via Thunderbolt, boot the MBA into target disk mode, then boot the MBP from the MBA's disk, and see if Office works from their on your MBP?

Instead of using the installer, can you use Migration Assistant to copy apps and settings from the MBA to the new MBP?
Click to expand...
Are you saying with Migration Assistant I could transfer Mac Office ONLY from my old MBA to my new MB Pro? I certainly don't want to transfer the other crap on the MBA.
 
Golgafrincham said:
The installer itself is most likely a 32 bit application. I find myself in this position with Adobe Lightroom (non cloud product) it continues to work just fine following upgrading to Catalina however the installer / updater is a 32 bit application.
Click to expand...
Since I'm selling my old MBA, I guess I could wipe macOS Office from it and then try to reinstall it just to see if it would again install on that system.
 
I might note because of this, I tried "LibreOffice" on my new MB Pro and it seems to work fine. I might just give up on MS Office for Mac and go with LibreOffice.
 
You need at least Office 2016 to run on Catalina because that version is designed to run on 64 systems.

I had Office 2011 on Mojave and switched to Office 2016 because it would not run in Catalina since it's a 32 bit app.
 
Kat17man said:
Since I'm selling my old MBA, I guess I could wipe macOS Office from it and then try to reinstall it just to see if it would again install on that system.
Click to expand...

You would need to install something older than Catalina if you wipe the MBA and then attempt to install your current version of Office, then upgrade to Catalina. Not sure you'd learn much from this now other than it would prove / disprove why the app is installed and functional on your MBA.
 
Golgafrincham said:
You would need to install something older than Catalina if you wipe the MBA and then attempt to install your current version of Office, then upgrade to Catalina. Not sure you'd learn much from this now other than it would prove / disprove why the app is installed and functional on your MBA.
Click to expand...
If this actually works, then the installer is 32-bit and the application binaries are 64-bit. No idea if that's actually the case.
 
LET'S forget this whole thread. Rather than jump though all these hoops, I may just buy a newer 64 bit MAC Office. Or I might just quit on Mac Office entirely because "LibreOffice" seems to take care of my Excel/Word needs in the MAC World. Thanks to all for their insight on this problem.
 
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another reason why i'm sticking to mojave 😂

i'm very fond of my office 2011 since they have a very useful note pad template that allows voice recording in segments, which they got rid off in 2016.
 
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