Is there is a cheaper way of carrying on with Word, or, failing that, an alternative word processor with which I’ll still be able to open and edit my existing Word documents? EdThe Office Mac version only includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook (most notable is the. A dialog box opens, showing the full version number and bit version (32-bit. For more information, such as the bit-version, choose About Excel. 2 - Version number, which includes version, build number, and the type of installation such as Click-to-run or Windows Store. As a writer, I have a very large number of Word files, but with Microsoft moving to an annual subscription model, the cost of remaining with Word is looking prohibitive.1 - Product name, such as Microsoft 365 ProPlus or Office Home and Student. Read more.I chose Microsoft Word for Mac when I switched to a MacBook Pro some years ago.
What Is In Office 365 Free Suite AlsoOffice 365 includes online, desktop, tablet and smartphone versions for both PCs and Macs, Android and Apple’s iOS. I expect this list will continue to grow in the future.So, if you want to use Word, you have three choices: the online version (free), the desktop program (one-off payment), and Office 365 (annual subscription). The main difference is that Microsoft’s programs are better, except for multiuser simultaneous editing.Microsoft’s free suite also includes OneNote, Skype, Calendar, People, Tasks, Photos, Sway, Flow and Forms. This is exactly the same as Google’s online suite. All you have to do is create a Microsoft Account using any working email address – it doesn’t have to be a Microsoft email address – and you can use online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint with free online storage in OneDrive. In fact, you can already use some Microsoft Office programs online, including Word, without paying Microsoft a penny.But if your documents are simple text files, then a lot of programs will load them.I tried to avoid this problem by saving all my files in Microsoft’s. If your documents include multiple columns, embedded images, custom fonts, footnotes and similar features, you can more or less forget about using anything else. This depends on the complexity of your files. That’s why I’ve used it for a couple of decades.The second reason is that you need it to read old files, which is one of your problems. The best is that you like using it, because of its power, rich feature list, ease of use or whatever. Photograph: MicrosoftThere are many reasons for using Word.![]() This applies in spades to files that use VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) and macros, and to Excel spreadsheets where errors can have career-ending financial consequences.This isn’t going to change in a hurry because Microsoft Office is also a platform with hundreds of add-ons and plug-ins, it’s supported by thousands of books, video tutorials, websites and consultants, and it’s what most office workers already know how to use.And when time is money, the cost of sorting out incompatibilities and usability issues is far higher than the cost of Office. But I found I still needed Word to compare files, and to cope with the publishing industry’s use of styles, comments and “ track changes”.The third reason is that we live in a world where Microsoft Office is the de facto standard for business documents, and you absolutely have to be able to read them accurately. Being text based, it’s hopeless for storing images, but it’s perfect for texts with simple formatting. Boxed OfficeThe traditional advantages of buying boxed copies of Office were that you could use it on two PCs (a desktop and a laptop, but not at the same time) and that you could transfer it to a new PC. But even if you switch to a free alternative, you’ll spend time learning a new interface and handling your old documents. If you are not a business, you can certainly live without it or use the free online version. I suspect Microsoft will support it until 14 October 2025, which is the end of support date for Office 2016, and that Office 2022 (yes, there will be one) will only get five years.A further complication is that Microsoft only supports the last three versions of MacOS.Office Home & Student 2019 looks like a bargain at £119.99 or less, but that’s a single-installation version. That means you’re unlikely to get the full 10 years we used to get by moving Office to new PCs, and perhaps explains Microsoft’s attempts to reduce its 10-year support lifecycle.In fact, Microsoft has only announced mainstream support for Office Home & Student 2019 for the five years up to 10 October 2023, with extended support marked “Not Applicable”. If you lose the activation code, you can’t get a new one without giving Microsoft proof of purchase.Cheaper versions of Office are locked to the PC on which they were originally installed. If you lose the DVDs, you can download the software. Extra features over the Home & Student edition include Outlook, the desktop email and organisation program, 60 minutes of Skype calls, apps for Android and Apple iOS smartphones and tablets, and 1TB of online storage instead of 15GB. Photograph: MicrosoftOffice 365, launched in 2013, is the cloud-based version of Office, but usually provides access to the full desktop programs as well. Office 365Office 365 includes online access and cloud storage. It will be more than the usual £12 a year. There’s no need to buy three or more single-machine copies to install them on a desktop, laptop, 2-in-1 tablet and so on.Also, Microsoft claims that Office 365 is better than Office 2019. If you can share the cost, it’s terrific value, because each user can install the full Office on multiple PCs and Macs. For a family of four, it’s only £20 per year each. Everyone gets their own terabyte of storage, up to 6TB in all. This costs £79.99 a year for up to six users, including friends. (Google charges £57 a year for 1TB, and £24.99 a year for 200GB of Gdrive.)However, the family version, Office 365 Home, is far better value. As mentioned, the success rate generally depends on the Word features you use. Docx formats, and some can also write or export them. Alternatives to WordLots of programs claim they can read Microsoft Word. It’s not clear how useful most of these are to solitary users, apart from instant translation. Second, Office 365 has various collaborative and AI-based cloud features. The Office 2019 versions are fixed. Download firefox browser for mac os xLibreOffice is both open source and free, so it will only cost you the time needed to try it.The less-well-known German suite SoftMaker Office has a ribbon interface and uses Microsoft Office file formats by default, without conversion. Otherwise, your best bet is LibreOffice 6.2.2, which now has its own optional ribbon interface. Just keep your original files, instead of overwriting them.You could start with Apple’s Pages, because it’s free, and you may have it already. If you only write plain texts, you should be fine. ![]()
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