Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

oceangirl10

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 14, 2016
127
11
I had Office 2012 in my old Macbook Pro. I just got a Macbook Air M2. I still have the disk for Office 2012 - is it compatible with my new MBA? Not wanting to purchase Office again, but am not liking Pages.
 
I had Office 2012 in my old Macbook Pro. I just got a Macbook Air M2. I still have the disk for Office 2012 - is it compatible with my new MBA? Not wanting to purchase Office again, but am not liking Pages.
See this: about Office for Mac 2011, didn't know there even was a 2012 version, are you sure about that?
You said you have the "disk", but do you mean aDVD or CD with the installer on it? How do you intend to get that onto your Mac? oes it have a CD disk player?
 
See this: about Office for Mac 2011, didn't know there even was a 2012 version, are you sure about that?
You said you have the "disk", but do you mean aDVD or CD with the installer on it? How do you intend to get that onto your Mac? oes it have a CD disk player?
Yes, I meant 2011, my mac was 2012. I thought I could load it by an external CD/DVD drive. I was thinking more basic compatibility, not necessarily how to actually transfer it, although that could be a first hurdle. I know Office 2011 is no longer supported, but I still might be able to install it, if it will.
 
Yes, I meant 2011, my mac was 2012. I thought I could load it by an external CD/DVD drive. I was thinking more basic compatibility, not necessarily how to actually transfer it, although that could be a first hurdle. I know Office 2011 is no longer supported, but I still might be able to install it, if it will.
Even if you can install it, it is very much out of date. The lack of security fixes alone would make me insecure about using it. If you use Office in your business, I think it is necessary to pay for it. I prefer the stand alone version, but the subscription version Office 365 is not that expensive per year. What do you intend to use it for?
 
Do most people subscribe? I honestly see that as not so secure either. I'd rather just buy it at $150 US, that's too much! Maybe I'll just try to figure out Pages more. I hate spending time learning new interfaces.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Piscestg
Do most people subscribe? I honestly see that as not so secure either. I'd rather just buy it at $150 US, that's too much! Maybe I'll just try to figure out Pages more. I hate spending time learning new interfaces.
There are ways to get Office for less than that. If you have any connection with a school or university, you should be eligible for an educational discount, and that can be very cheap. Look into it more and try to get it cheaper, but still legally. While pages is a good application, it is standard now in business all around the world to use Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. In the past, I used several other word processing software applications that were much better than Word but that is just how the world turns.
Someone you know must know of a way to buy it cheaper than that price. I use Word and Powerpoint in my translation business and Excel for my financial records, so I thought it was OK to pay a lot more than $150 when I really needed it!
But for many, even 150 dollars isn't cheap I know!
 
Do most people subscribe? I honestly see that as not so secure either. I'd rather just buy it at $150 US, that's too much! Maybe I'll just try to figure out Pages more. I hate spending time learning new interface.
I agree. Best Buy had the one time purchase for either $99 or $119 (I can't remember) when I got my 2019 MBP. When I got my M2 MBA all I needed to do was log into Microsoft to prove my identity and it switched over perfectly. I don't think I've seen the price that low since, and I like the one time purchase.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mojo50
Word for Mac 2011 is a 32-bit program. It will not run under any Mac OS later than Mojave. Alas, therefore, it cannot run on an M2 MacBook Air.

2011 was, for my purposes, by far one of the best Word for Mac versions. (2008 was excellent, too.) One of their best features were their near-complete customizability— menus, keystrokes, toolbars. Any command you needed available with a simple single click on a toolbar icon was doable. The toolbars could be positioned in different locations and were properly sized, too.

More recent versions limit customizing, menus cannot be changed, the ribbon is tiny, and the toolbars quite large, taking up valuable screen real estate.

In spite of all that, Word 2016 is passable. You might want to give Pages another try. It may grow on you.

As to an alternative, look at Libre Office and Open Office — they are clones of Word 2011. Although they lack certain commands, such as Command-click to select a sentence, they are quite good and should work as a substitute.
 
....You might want to give Pages another try. It may grow on you.

As to an alternative, look at Libre Office and Open Office — they are clones of Word 2011. Although they lack certain commands, such as Command-click to select a sentence, they are quite good and should work as a substitute.

Pages is truly awful - a throwback to early days of ClarisWorks (or Microsoft Works)- and its Export / Import to / from Word can be...uneven. IMHO (and having tried to make it work) it's really only good for 'hobbyist' document creators - and it certainly isn't the de facto WP suite for business communications.

I agree with Saturn007 that you might want try LibreOffice - it can be set up to Save to...Word / Excel files by default. Though again, sometimes its success in doing so can be varied.

I know some have bailed completely and gone to the online Microsoft 365 or, more often, Google Docs - but virtual WP (and how your use of the products is used and monetized for their benefit) gives me the willies.
 
I have Office 365 through my work, but my wife didn’t have access to it. She used LibreOffice and Open Office for a few years, but they crashed fairly frequently. A year or so ago, I got an ad in my MacRumors feed for the single-user, standalone version of Office for $70 or so. I got it for her, and it works fine. So be on the lookout for deals.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bazza1
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.