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Is MS Office for Home and Student 2021 fully compatible with Apple Silicon Mac?

For those who use only one machine, did you choose Office for Home and Student 2021 or 365? Why?

  • Total voters
    14
H

hajime

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
8,067
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Hi, I am trying to decide whether to buy Office for Home and Student 2021 or Office 365. Currently plan to use it on only one PC. Even I may buy a M2 MacBook Pro next year, I could transfer the license between the two machines.

On the internet, somebody mentioned that Office for Home and Student 2021 only works for Intel Mac but not Apple Silicon Mac. Other users stated otherwise. Who is correct?

If I don't use collaboration nor cloud features, is the one-time purchase version the one to go?
 
I have the Home version on my M1 Mini and haven't had any issues, although I don't use it a lot. It runs using Rosetta on the current MacOS releases.

For me a major reason to buy it was that I didn't want yet another subscription fee to pay.....those do add up to real money after a while
 
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Macky-Mac said:
I have the Home version on my M1 Mini and haven't had any issues, although I don't use it a lot. It runs using Rosetta on the current MacOS releases.

For me a major reason to buy it was that I didn't want yet another subscription fee to pay.....those do add up to real money after a while
Click to expand...

Do you mean Office for Home and Student 2021 cannot run natively on Apple Silicon Mac?

Have you noticed any lag in performance?
 
I mostly use Excel, and I haven't seen any issues -- data input, pivot tables, sorting, formulas, text formatting...all is working as I expect. I'm on an M1 silicon Mac and running Excel 16.61.1 Office Home and Student 2021.

As for why I chose Home and Office instead of 365 -- I am not ready for another subscription just yet. We use 365 at work, but for home I'm content with a standalone install.
 
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hajime said:
Do you mean Office for Home and Student 2021 cannot run natively on Apple Silicon Mac?

Have you noticed any lag in performance?
Click to expand...

The links that others have provided will give you Microsoft's info telling you it will run natively.

I've not experienced any performance lag, however I'm not dealing with large complex documents
 
hajime said:
On the internet, somebody mentioned that Office for Home and Student 2021 only works for Intel Mac but not Apple Silicon Mac. Other users stated otherwise. Who is correct?
Click to expand...
Office 2021 works fine on Apple Silicon, though it may use Rosetta (translation from Intel to AS). I can't find a definitive statement on that.

Cyby-CyberDog said:
Microsoft 365, Office 2021, and Office 2019 support for Apple silicon - Microsoft Support
support.microsoft.com
Click to expand...
That doesn't actually say whether Office 2021 is native on Apple Silicon, only that any Office from 16.55.1107 onwards is native. Microsoft 365 16.55.1107 was released in November 2021. Office 2021 was released October 2021, so I have doubts that Office 2021 is native (I may be wrong).

Macky-Mac said:
The links that others have provided will give you Microsoft's info telling you it will run natively.
Click to expand...
Can you say which link?
 
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hajime said:
Hi, I am trying to decide whether to buy Office for Home and Student 2021 or Office 365. Currently plan to use it on only one PC. Even I may buy a M2 MacBook Pro next year, I could transfer the license between the two machines.

On the internet, somebody mentioned that Office for Home and Student 2021 only works for Intel Mac but not Apple Silicon Mac. Other users stated otherwise. Who is correct?

If I don't use collaboration nor cloud features, is the one-time purchase version the one to go?
Click to expand...
All the Office apps are Apple Silicon native (technically, they're Universal.) The apps themselves are the same whether you choose a 365 subscription or an Office 2021 license. The features that you see in the apps differ based on your license.
 
gilby101 said:
Office 2021 works fine on Apple Silicon, though it may use Rosetta (translation from Intel to AS). I can't find a definitive statement on that.


That doesn't actually say whether Office 2021 is native on Apple Silicon, only that any Office from 16.55.1107 onwards is native. Microsoft 365 16.55.1107 was released in November 2021, so I have doubts that Office 2021 is native (I may be wrong).
Click to expand...
Office is native now and has been since version 16.55, just as the link you mention says.
 
Given that Office for Home and Student 2021 is on sale, it is like it fully covers the cost of 365 in 1.5 years if only the basic three programs are used on one machine.

How useful are those "AI-powered tools"?
 
Last edited:
Don’t forget that 365 will allow you to use office on iPads as well.
In fact, as far as I am aware it’s the only way to license it on iPad.
 
Wando64 said:
Don’t forget that 365 will allow you to use office on iPads as well.
In fact, as far as I am aware it’s the only way to license it on iPad.
Click to expand...

I found it unfair that users of iPad above certain size do not get Office for free. They should include it for free for iPad Pro 12.9". Whose fault is that? Apple or MS?
 
hajime said:
I found it unfair that users of iPad above certain size do not get Office for free. They should include it for free for iPad Pro 12.9". Whose fault is that? Apple or MS?
Click to expand...
I think it’s a MS decision.
What I find strange and frustrating is that you can purchase a stand alone version for Mac or PC, but not for iPad.
Since I have switched fro OneDrive to iCloud, the iPad license is the only thing that keeps me tied to 365.

By the way, 365 can be very cheap if you share a family subscription.
Each account is completely independent.
 
hajime said:
That is their way to force people to choose 365.
Click to expand...
Indeed....they make more money when you pay for an ongoing subscription.

That's why a lot of software companies won't even offer the customer the option of buying and owning a copy
 
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