so im on a mid 2020 mb air i3/8gb ram/Mac OS 11.3.. I'm needing Microsoft Office... mainly just needing word and excel... tried installing a copy of office 2011 forgetting they're 32 bit apps and can't install.. I can deal with pages and numbers if I have to but would prefer word and excel.. I don't use them enough to warrant purchasing the subscription to Microsoft.. I'll probably open them 7-8 times a year.. any suggestions on something inexpensive or an older version that's compatible that won't break me..thanks for any help guys 😀
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lookin for a free/cheap version of Microsoft Office
- Thread starter tboyd37
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There is no free version of Microsoft Office for the Mac. However, you can use it free on an iPad that is less than 11" in size.
that was a trip lol I tried excel on my phone a couple years ago.. not the ideal experience… thanks for the suggestion tho.. I’m thinking I’m stuck
Try Pages and Numbers, which are included with your Mac. Microsoft Office isn't free.
I've tried Numbers and OpenOffice as replacements for Excel. I like OpenOffice a lot more than Numbers, because most of my Excel habits and muscle memory allowed me to just start using OpenOffice. Numbers works so differently from Excel that I didn't want to spend the time learning how to use it.
I believe many of the keyboard shortcuts are similar enough between Google Sheets and Excel that this is a free option.
Companies with enterprise licenses usually have access to the Home Use Program where you get a personal license for about $10.
There are plenty of Word alternatives out there if you want something simple although Libre Office as a suite is worth spending time getting used to if you want something really powerful.
Excel is a little more difficult as it's the real stand out member of the Office suite in my opinion and nothing comes close.
Have you considered Google Docs for occasional use? I'm not a fan of doing things online or google, but you can create a gmail specifically for using docs which has no personal info about you whatsoever, and google docs (Sheets is the Excel equivalent) is really quite close to Excel in many ways.
Excel is a little more difficult as it's the real stand out member of the Office suite in my opinion and nothing comes close.
Have you considered Google Docs for occasional use? I'm not a fan of doing things online or google, but you can create a gmail specifically for using docs which has no personal info about you whatsoever, and google docs (Sheets is the Excel equivalent) is really quite close to Excel in many ways.
There's a Office 2021 preview that will work until early next year: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/office2021/overview-mac-preview
There's always the online version of MS Office that comes with a free outlook.com account.
As BrianBaughn states, just sign up for a free Outlook.com email account and you get access to Word, Excel PowerPoint and OneNote on the web... it's not a native app, obviously, but you can save and download the native files it creates. I had to do this for about a year and it didn't take long to get used to working in my web browser for writing and creating simple presentations.
Also, you can get the latest MS Office apps without paying a subscription. They still sell the perpetual license version of Office.
Also, you can get the latest MS Office apps without paying a subscription. They still sell the perpetual license version of Office.
I would but I’m still rocking a Hotmail lol.. i wonder if I have access to that tho since I have hotmail
That is the problem with numbers. I have been using Excel since very 1. Number does to many thing differently. I am with you, now that I am retired my need for Excel is minimal.
lookin for a free/cheap version of Microsoft Office
Excellent reply. I had forgotten all about that feature.
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