Microsoft Fully Drops Support for Office for Mac 2011

[tebbe]

Running office 2011 here too. A long way from perfect but I don’t want to be paying £10 a month to open a few word docs.

Slightly concerned how i’m going to reinstall it if I ever decide to do a system nuke and re-install OS from scratch. (Or when I upgrade to a new(er) Mac)

[doublepost=1518885766][/doublepost]I think you need not worry. The only support that has ever gone away is for the old MS-DOS versions. Versions from the late '90s are still readable and editable in current releases. MS has done a good job with this.

In my opinion, the noise MS is making about possible security problems can be ignored. While they are possible, they are very unlikely. It is more likely that this is a marketing ploy to get you to buy into the subscription model.

 

[Solomani]

If I keep Office for Mac 2011, am I in danger of having all my old word files - THOUSANDS of them! - becoming corrupt? Or not working for the next Mac update? What else could go wrong? Are there security issues?

No, not really.

Microsoft "dropping support for an older Office version" does not mean dropping compatibility for older MS-Word document file versions. Microsoft (and I'm no Microsoft fan at all) does have a good history of supporting numerous older Word/Excel/PowerPoint document file formats. Sometimes, supporting the ones that originated from past decades.

Once again, Microsoft is simply dropping support for the app (program) Office for Mac 2011. Which means they don't have time or resources to keep updating the program. There's really no good reason for them to stop supporting backwards compatibility with the document files created by Office for Mac 2011.

 

[pika2000]

If I keep Office for Mac 2011, am I in danger of having all my old word files - THOUSANDS of them! - becoming corrupt? Or not working for the next Mac update? What else could go wrong? Are there security issues?

I’ve been reading lots of people hate Office 2016. I mostly use Word for word processing - not much special formatting. I don't use the other programs. Thanks.

How can your files become corrupt? Newer version of Office is backward compatible, supporting files created by older versions of Office.

Security issues can come up. However, if you don’t use macros and never open 3rd party files, your likelihood of having problems is quite minimal.

Office 2016 is great. People hate on them because Microsoft is moving to a subscription model Office 365. Microsoft do still sell regular license of Office 2016, but if Microsoft moved to subscription model entirely, then people will have a harder time pirating the software.

If you only use Word, you should review if you even need Office. Apple’s Pages and Google Docs, both are free, are actually more than enough for most people’s needs.

 

[VulchR]

...
Office 2016 is great. People hate on them because Microsoft is moving to a subscription model Office 365...

Actually I hate on MS because Office for the Mac is still riddled with bugs, with some new ones introduced with the last update (try using the symbols for male and female in a graph label or title and you get a ? in a little box where ♂ and ♀ should be).

 

[mikzn]

If I keep Office for Mac 2011, am I in danger of having all my old word files - THOUSANDS of them! - becoming corrupt? Or not working for the next Mac update? What else could go wrong? Are there security issues? I’ve been reading lots of people hate Office 2016. I mostly use Word for word processing - not much special formatting. I don't use the other programs. Thanks.

I don't think there is much to worry about - Microsoft has been very consistent about supporting legacy versions and Office 2011 still functions fine on Sierra (and even High Sierra - so far)

They will probably have a file converter in the new version of Office - if there is any kind of update / conversion / security issue.

 

[bernuli]

I bought and installed Office 2016. It has 0 new features that I asked for, want or need. It is slower both in UI sluggishness and the fact that Microsoft added a step to some of my most used functions.

I would rather rebuy 2011 than go through with this forced upgrade. Hell I would even sign up for a yearly subscription to 2011 if I was guaranteed they would not throw out wacky UI "enhancements" for no reason.

 

[VulchR]

I bought and installed Office 2016. It has 0 new features that I asked for, want or need. It is slower both in UI sluggishness and the fact that Microsoft added a step to some of my most used functions.

I would rather rebuy 2011 than go through with this forced upgrade. Hell I would even sign up for a yearly subscription to 2011 if I was guaranteed they would not throw out wacky UI "enhancements" for no reason.

After awhile, you get to like them. #ILoveYouBigBrother

 

[jblagden]

IMO people decided too quickly that they must have Office, even if it’s an old unsupported version.
Personally, I think most people don’t actually need Office. There are universities and even businesses that switched to Google Suite, showing that MS Office is overkill for the common usage scenarios. I myself don’t remember the last time I have to use MS Office. Google’s suite and iWork seem to do the job more often than not. The only annoyance is when you have to deal with somebody that can only save files in docx format.

People saving documents in MS Office format is one of the reasons why I prefer LibreOffice over iWork. Well, in addition to having a number of other useful features. And being available on all three major desktop operating systems.

 

[flygbuss]

Well, the ugly part is that you can't activate it anymore.
Had to recover from a back up and neither the server nor the hotline work any longer.

 

[StellarVixen]

What's there to be supported? It will keep working basically forever, anyway.

 

[flygbuss]

What's there to be supported? It will keep working basically forever, anyway.

Until you have to register again..

 

[chrfr]

What's there to be supported? It will keep working basically forever, anyway.

Office 2011 is 32-bit so it will never work with any operating system past Mojave.

 

[StellarVixen]

Office 2011 is 32-bit so it will never work with any operating system past Mojave.

32 bit app from 2011. LOL, Microsoft.
[doublepost=1534785009][/doublepost]

Until you have to register again..

Isn't the 2011 version still one of those old-school Microsoft apps, which you basically buy once and run forever?

 

[flygbuss]

32 bit app from 2011. LOL, Microsoft.
[doublepost=1534785009][/doublepost]
Isn't the 2011 version still one of those old-school Microsoft apps, which you basically buy once and run forever?

Nope, you need to activate with your product key via server or phone.

 

[Le Big Mac]

Nope, you need to activate with your product key via server or phone.

True, but I think that's as compared to the Office365 model of paying each year for the most up to date version.

 

[flygbuss]

True, but I think that's as compared to the Office365 model of paying each year for the most up to date version.

It's just annoying that I can't use a for me flawlessly working Excel any longer, just because I had to restore from a back up.

 

[robertcoogan]

I'm happy with Office 360 now, it works great. But it would make my millennium if MS would bring back Entourage and its mini-project manager.

 

[Le Big Mac]

It's just annoying that I can't use a for me flawlessly working Excel any longer, just because I had to restore from a back up.

Yes - that is crap.

 

[boppin]

Did someone noticed that Office 2016 for mac is crippled?

You can't modify the ribbon menu.

See attachment

 

[chrfr]

Did someone noticed that Office 2016 for mac is crippled?

You can't modify the ribbon menu.

See attachment

As the note says, you need to have an Office 365 subscription to be able to customize it. It's a feature that wasn't in the original release of Office 2016, so nonsubscribers don't get access to it.

 

[boppin]

As the note says, you need to have an Office 365 subscription to be able to customize it. It's a feature that wasn't in the original release of Office 2016, so nonsubscribers don't get access to it.

in the 90s there was an expression for it:

crippleware

 

[chrfr]

in the 90s there was an expression for it:

crippleware

I'm no fan of subscription software, but if a product does what it did when you bought it, is it crippled?

 

[boppin]

I'm no fan of subscription software, but if a product does what it did when you bought it, is it crippled?

Before a specific update for Office 2016 you could use these features.

 

[RedTomato]

Well, the ugly part is that you can't activate it anymore.
Had to recover from a back up and neither the server nor the hotline work any longer.

Seeing as you brought a licence to use it in perpetuity, and Microsoft no longer operate the license server or the phone hotline, I think you would be perfectly justified in downloading an activation crack for Office 2011 from Pirate Bay. Search for Mac Office 2011, and sort by number of seeders.

You may need to edit your Hosts file, but the info in the activation crack will tell you what to do. If you need to keep your manager / any auditors happy, then make sure you have your proof of purchase handy. Also best not to tell them if they're not directly asking about your Office licence. They have a habit of not wanting to understand these things.

(FYI Mods, this post may be viewed as technically breaking MR rules, however it is not advocating piracy, just supporting someone to use the software they have legally purchased.)

 

[jblagden]

They do.
Pages can open, edit, and save .doc and .docx extensions.
Numbers can open, edit and save .xls and .xlsx extensions.
Keynote can open, edit and save .ppt and .pptx extensions.


You're really only going to have problems if your documents are extremely complicated in terms of layout. The commenting and track change functions don't always import/export correctly, but if you're just opening and editing basic text documents or spreadsheets, iWork apps are fine.

Not really. You can open and export Office files with iWork, but you can't actually save anything in the Office formats. So you can't open a Word doc that someone sent you, modify, save it, and send it back to them without having to export it as word. In that case, you would have to save it as an iWork file, make your changes, export it as an Office file, and then finally send it back. iWork < LibreOffice.