Old habits definitely do die hard, which is probably why I have dutifully pulled out the Microsoft Office for Mac (OfM) install disk every time I've reformatted or upgraded one of the many Macs I've set up and kept running over the years. When recently setting up a new iMac with Mavericks and I couldn't locate that OfM install disk, however, an act of desperation turned into a new modus operandi after I realised that our open-source allies have made the world's most widely used office suite nearly irrelevant. Microsoft Office may be rusted onto the corporate office worker's psyche, but many Mac users will find OpenOffice just as capable. CC BY-SA 3.0 Herzi Pinki. There has been a lot of movement in the office-suite market of late, what with Apple releasing Pages, Keynote and Numbers for free; Google Docs popular but; and Microsoft's Office 365 even as the company puts to varying effect. While cloud-based alternatives are getting better all the time, I'm a traditionalist who has used local productivity applications since the days of Wordstar.
So, as you can imagine, when I set up a new computer I like to have a writing tool that works whether I'm online or not. Previous versions of iWork had promise as an alternative, but I have a long-running feud with Apple over iWork for one simple reason: Apple refuses to give it the ability to simply load and save files in Word's.DOC format. That's right: the only way to handle documents in Pages is by saving your working documents as.pages files – which are, inexplicably, often 10 or more times larger than their Word.DOC equivalent – and then exporting.DOC versions as and when you need them. If you work with a lot of documents, the double-handling rapidly grates on you. I was hoping to standardise on Pages after hearing about Apple's move to make it free, but Apple is still insisting that we use its own file format to save documents. Little wonder the business community has been increasingly: in the real world – the business world outside Apple's closed-garden ecosystem –absolutely nobody uses the.pages format. Apple's determination to force it down our throats has made its latest iWork iteration less of an Office killer and something more resembling TextEdit on steroids.
At any rate, with Pages out of the question and Office nowhere to be found, I took a chance and revisited the open-source equivalent, OpenOffice, to see if it might allow me to maintain my workflow based on the frequent loading, editing and saving of.DOC files. OpenOffice has been around for some time, but despite heroic efforts by its developers it has struggled to gain a massive following mainly because Microsoft Office is so broadly available.
Business users know Office and have it available to them as a matter of course, while home users probably get it through student bundles or the like. OpenOffice 4.0 works like Word but looks like Pages. Screenshot: David Braue Mac users, however, have a different decision set. Despite its name, Office for Mac is a rather different productivity suite than Office for Windows – with a different interface and a different feature set.
These differences are often significant: it was only with the latest version, for example, that the Mac version of Office was given Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) scripting capabilities after years of conspicuous absence. Rumour has it that the next version of Office for Mac will bow early next year – prompting many to upgrade, no doubt, even as the memory of fades. But if you can't wait that long – or, like me, you find yourself without an OfM install disk – it's time to give OpenOffice another look. I had tried it a few versions ago but found it woefully underfeatured as a replacement for OfM.
But with, OpenOffice is not only extremely quick and easy to use; thanks to ongoing improvements and the contribution of a large volume of code from, it's compatible and close enough to Office that you may not even notice you're in the new environment. Certainly, for someone with very specific requirements – all I need to do is be able to edit documents, save and send.DOC files, and use tools like the highlighter and word counts – OpenOffice ticks all the boxes. I have found it to be a simple-to-use, capable alternative to Word that costs nothing and offers more than enough features and flexibility that it probably does everything you need it to.
It even has Pages' contextual sidebars. If you have several Macs in the family, this may make OpenOffice not only curious but absolutely compelling because of its much lower cost. Sure, I've made a few changes: for example, using Mac OS X's application-specific keystrokes I have set up a few keyboard shortcuts for functions like Format Paragraph (Shift-Command-M) and Word Count (if you don't know how to do this, go to System Preferences Keyboard Application Shortcuts, then click +, choose your application, enter the unique text of the menu item you want the keystroke to start, and then the keystroke you want to use). Play around with it and you'll find that the latest OpenOffice gives you more than enough room to stretch your arms and get to work. The spreadsheet and presentation modules are so similar to Excel and PowerPoint – the Mac versions, at least – that you may never know you're not using the real thing. This is not meant to be a primer on OpenOffice, as much as a reminder that it is still out there, and in its latest iteration it is better than ever.
That may be good news for its authors, since figures suggest that OpenOffice is not exactly burning up the charts; a recent that only 6 percent of companies offer their employees an alternative to Microsoft Office. As I mentioned earlier, favourable enterprise licensing terms mean most people don't have any need for OpenOffice; recent figures suggest 16 percent of businesses will upgrade to Office 2013 within a year and 20 percent more in the long term. This is great news for Microsoft and Windows users.
But if you're a Mac user who can't or won't buy OfM – or are just looking for an easier and faster productivity option – give it a try. You may find, like I did, that the days of installing massive, monolithic applications are simply over. What do you think? Have you switched to OpenOffice? Did you try it and discover it was underpowered for your needs? Or am I already late to the party? Related Topics.
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Note:.Some versions of Office don't have an associated Microsoft account, or work or school account, or you may need to redeem your product key in a different way. For Office Professional Plus 2019, Office Standard 2019, or a stand-alone app such as Word 2019 or Project 2019 the steps to install Office depend if you got Office through the following: Microsoft HUP: You bought Office for personal use through your company and have a product key, see. Volume license versions: IT departments might use a different method to install Office for their organization. Talk to your IT department for install help. Third-party seller: You bought Office from a third-party and you're.
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Note: If you want to install a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Office, but this is different from what you previously installed, you need to first. You can then select the version you want. Select Other install options, your language, and then under Version select Advanced, and choose 64-bit or 32-bit, and then select Install.
For more information about which version is right for you see. Office should now begin downloading. Follow the prompts in Step 2 to complete the installation. Don't see an install option after signing in? There could be an issue with your account. Select from above and review the section Account questions. Step 2: Install Office.
Depending on your browser, select Run (in Edge or Internet Explorer), Setup (in Chrome), or Save File (in Firefox). If you see the User Account Control prompt that says, Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? The install begins. Your install is finished when you see the phrase, 'You're all set! Office is installed now' and an animation plays to show you where to find Office applications on your computer. Select Close.
Follow the instructions in the window to find your Office apps. For example depending on your version of Windows, select Start and then scroll to find the app you want to open such as Excel or Word, or type the name of the app in the search box. Installation or sign in issues? If you're having an installation issue such as Office taking long to install, try for a list of common issues. Step 3: Activate Office Start using an Office application right away by opening any app such as Word or Excel. In most cases, Office is activated once you start an application and after you click Accept to agree to the License terms.
If you need activation help, see. Select Install Office Apps Office 2016 if you signed in with a work or school account. (Note: The link may say Office 2016, however Office will install the most up-to-date version of the Office apps as set by your Office 365 admin.) This begins the download of Office. Follow the prompts on your screen to complete the install.
Don't see an install option after signing in? There could be an issue with your account. Select from above and review the issues listed in the section Account questions. Step 2: Install Office. Once the download has completed, open Finder, go to Downloads, and double-click Microsoft Office installer.pkg file (the name might vary slightly).
Tip: If you see an error that says the Microsoft Office installer.pkg can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer, wait 10 seconds and move the downloaded file to your desktop. Hold Control + click the file to launch the installer.
On the first installation screen, select Continue to begin the installation process. Review the software license agreement, and then click Continue. Select Agree to agree to the terms of the software license agreement. Choose how you want to install Office and click Continue. Review the disk space requirements or change your install location, and then click Install. Note: If you want to only install specific Office apps and not the entire suite, click the Customize button and uncheck the programs you don't want.
Enter your Mac login password, if prompted, and then click Install Software. (This is the password that you use to log in to your Mac.).
The software begins to install. Click Close when the installation is finished. If Office installation fails, see. Step 3: Launch an Office for Mac app and start the activation process.
Or, try the option instead. We will find it for you. Ps3 eyetoy driver. If you cannot find the right driver for your device, you can.
Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock to display all of your apps. Click the Microsoft Word icon in the Launchpad. The What's New window opens automatically when you launch Word. Click Get Started to start activating.
If you need help activating Office, see. If Office activation fails, see. Installation notes Installation notes How do I pin the Office app icons to the dock?. Go to Finder Applications and open the Office app you want. In the Dock, Control+click or right-click the app icon and choose Options Keep in Dock. Can I install Office on my iPhone or iPad?
If you're trying to sign in with your work or school account to www.office.com and your sign in is blocked, it likely means your Office 365 administrator set up a security policy that's preventing you from signing in to that location. To install Office, try signing in directly to the page instead. Select the language and bit-version you want (PC users can choose between 32-bit and 64-bit), and then click Install. See Steps 2 and 3 on the PC or Mac tabs above to help you with the rest of the install process. Office won't install: Your computer must be running a supported operating system to install Office. You can find a list of which systems are supported on the page. For example, your install won't be successful if you're trying to install Office on a computer running Windows Vista or Windows XP operating system.
If your computer can't install the full desktop version of Office, try the free using your desktop browser. I received an error message: If you got an error message while trying to install Office and it has a Learn More link, select it to get information for how to troubleshoot that particular error. If there wasn't a link, see.
I received an unsupported operating system message: If you got an unsupported operating system error message you may be trying to install Office on an unsupported device such as installing the Mac version of Office on a PC or vice versa, or trying to install Office on a Chromebook or other mobile device. Help with specific applications, and help for Office 365 admins.