I just received an email pitching the Office 2024 version, so it’s probably on the Microsoft web site now if you want a more current version. I haven’t yet because I want to find what they’ve changed.
And I’m with you on giving editors what they want; they are my customers and they pay me, so I try to give them what they want.
Many thanks for the tip about FreeOffice. I have been getting by with LibreOffice, which is decent, but non-intuitive for many of its features, and the same goes for its help documentation which is often frustrating. I’d somehow not heard about FreeOffice! At least with its download and installation today, it already looks better.
My pleasure! There are several office suite-type programs for the Mac that aren’t based on OpenOffice, and which aren’t well known. They are all listed here:
Macintosh Word Processing Programs
http://www.macattorney.com/wp.html
Hi Jane! I was in the same boat recently. For my MacBook, I ended up buying a Microsoft Office 2021 key from Digitlogs, in just 15 dollars and it worked perfectly. It was much cheaper than buying directly from Microsoft, and I had no issues activating it. If you’re unsure about other sites, I’d say stick with ones you feel comfortable with. Hope this helps!
I assume that discount price is because you are buying an outdated version that has less than two years of support left.
The current perpetual-license release of Microsoft Office is 2024. Given the standard 5-year support schedule, it will receive updates until 2029.
Office 2021, on the other hand, will reach the end of support on October 13, 2026.
A question: can the new Microsoft Office’s AI features be turned off? Some publishers don’t allow the use of AI, and I agreed in a contract I signed not to use it in writing my book. (Those restrictions don’t include spell-checking; the issue is having the AI writing parts of the book.)
Hi! I have Microsoft Office 365 with a Family License in my Macbook Pro, and it does not have the AI features turned-on by default, unless you pay for the Copilot Pro option. It currently costs $20 per month per user. So you should be safe if you are using the normal Microsoft Office 365 without this additional option turned-on. This is the Copilot Pro page with more information → Copilot Pro Plan & Pricing – Premium AI Features & Latest Models I Microsoft Store
FWIW, my Office 365 subscription was due to expire at the end of this month. I “renewed” by buying a license key from Costco. I paid $130 for a 15-month family subscription with Copilot. It included a $10 Visa gift card rebate, for an effective price of $120.
This comes to $120/15 = $8/mo for up to 6 users (currently myself and my wife) on up to 5 computers each (we each have two).
In comparison, the current Microsoft Family subscription price with Copilot is $130 for 12 months ($10.83/mo). A “classic” Family subscription (no Copiliot) is $100 for 12 months ($8.33/mo).
So, the Costco price is a better deal than even Microsoft’s classic subscription. So I’d say that if you don’t care about Copilot, just disable it, because it’s still a lower cost.
The amusing and ironic thing here is that Copilot still isn’t free. The subscription includes a number of credits (I think 60) per month, which you must “spend” to use Copilot. And if you have a family subscription, only the primary account can spend them - family members can not. If you need to use more than your allowance or if a family member needs access, then you need to buy a “Copilot Pro” subscription.
I don’t personally care, because neither I nor my wife expect to ever use Copilot and we’ve disabled it in our installations, but I do find it amusing that this brand new feature they’re trying to promote everywhere ultimately is just a “gateway drug” to try and convince people to buy even more subscriptions.
I would add that a rather extensive collection of VBA macros is crucial to my editing work.
I bought Office Home 2024 a month or so ago.
I’ve been using Office 2011 on an older Mac but recently upgraded hardware and macOS to something more modern so I need a replacement for Office. I have tried the various products including LibreOffice, NeoOffice, Softmaker FreeOffice, Pages but eventually they all run into formatting issues with one or more documents.
So, just as I did many years ago, I purchased MS Office. I bought the perpetual single-user license as it fits my needs better than a subscription.
Instead of buying from Microsoft, I got it from B&H Photo/Video (where I buy a lot of camera and computer gear) for $149.99.
Note: For just a few hours today (12 March 2025), B&H is offering it for $99.99.
Edit: discount has expired.
I had a MacBook Pro from 2011, running High Sierra. I had Microsoft Office 8 and Microsoft Office11 on it. I ran Office 11 without deleting Office 8 without problems. Now I have a MacBook Air running Sonoma. I have Office19 on it and supposedly Office 2023 from Prime Software. It never worked. They just sent me an MS key for 2023 Office. I haven’t installed it yet.
Do I have to DELETE Office 19 or can I have BOTH Office 19 and 2023 on the same Mac? I would be using Office 2023 (If it works!)