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Hi is there a mac equivalent to MS office word

Hi is there a mac equivalent to MS office word


MacBook Pro (2020 and later)

Posted on Sep 28, 2021 9:40 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 28, 2021 1:40 PM

The current release of MS "Word" is Office365.

Apple has a consumer-level equivalent called "Pages" and for many, it comes included for free with MacOS.

There is an open-source "Office" suite called LibreOffice (commonly known as "OpenOffice")


If you plan on using it for personal, home use then "Pages" and "OpenOffice" would work fine for you.


If you plan on using your documents in a business environment, and emailing documents to others, or if you receive documents from others, then Office365 is what you want to use. It is the deFacto standard.


More times than I can count, there are subtle difference/problems with formatting issues between Pages/OpenOffice and Office365. We exclusively use Office365 to eliminate formatting issues.


10 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 28, 2021 1:40 PM in response to Merlyn505

The current release of MS "Word" is Office365.

Apple has a consumer-level equivalent called "Pages" and for many, it comes included for free with MacOS.

There is an open-source "Office" suite called LibreOffice (commonly known as "OpenOffice")


If you plan on using it for personal, home use then "Pages" and "OpenOffice" would work fine for you.


If you plan on using your documents in a business environment, and emailing documents to others, or if you receive documents from others, then Office365 is what you want to use. It is the deFacto standard.


More times than I can count, there are subtle difference/problems with formatting issues between Pages/OpenOffice and Office365. We exclusively use Office365 to eliminate formatting issues.


Sep 28, 2021 9:43 AM in response to Merlyn505

Yes, Microsoft Word for Mac. See: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/mac/microsoft-365-for-mac


Or for not completely equivalent see:

The free and very good Libre Office https://www.libreoffice.org/

or the free Microsoft Office on the web: https://products.office.com/en-us/free-office-online-for-the-web

or Google Docs: https://www.google.com/docs/about/

or Apple’s Pages and Numbers

Sep 28, 2021 12:10 PM in response to Merlyn505

Apple provides Pages as a free installation from the Mac App Store for macOS Catalina and Big Sur. It is not a Word clone, and aside from having substantial less features than Word, will translate an opened Word document into Pages .pages document format without changing the Word document. If you are accustomed to using Word, or share documents with those that do, then you should use the current Word for macOS in either the subscription Microsoft 365, or the single-purchase Office 2021 for Mac that will be released on Oct. 5.


Pages User Guide for Mac.


Pages for Mac Support Community.

Sep 28, 2021 6:08 PM in response to muguy

Thank you for helping me my word was running fine then I had it for a couple of years approx and it updated regularly ....then...with no warning said i need to activate it to carry on....I had misplaced my word for mac info when i first set word up

So entered my email and password i used at that time and had a message back saying "No licence Found' despite having the original 'key' on a yellow card saying word for mac.

So I would now look with a view to purchase 'Pages'


Just wondering if it will open the old .doc Word saved files?


Thanks for all help its greatly appreciated

Sep 28, 2021 6:22 PM in response to Meg The Dog

Hi

I feel jilted with microsoft over this Word issue.

I had for a couple of years used word for mac with no problems after purchasing a copy years earlier

Now suddenly it was blocking me from writing or editing with a message to activate it.

thinking it would not be a problem but it returned a 'Licence Not Found' I spent hours and failed trying to get any help for thes problem... So im jumping ship.....and looking for a perpetual licence i can use on my mac 2021 'M'

so thanks for all help on this....

Sep 28, 2021 6:33 PM in response to muguy

Thank you im hoping to look into pages now as I had heard the perpetual licence of word / Office 360 would stop being supported by Microsoft possibly in a years time. As you can imagine Ive spent hours on Google and have to admit im becoming confused over what I read.

Having paid for a licence all be it a while back now im not happy when I went to edit a document to find a request to re activate it.

have paid for it once and frustrated i cant resolve this with Microsoft, i'm reluctant to buy another perpetual licence again

Sep 28, 2021 7:47 PM in response to Merlyn505

Office365 (not Office360) is a subscription package. Many times when one purchases it, it is usually for one year. The old "OffcieXX" packages were perpetual licenses, and as they were older programs, Microsoft stopped supporting those suites, an stopped working on certain releases of MacOS.


Office365 does require a renewal fee, or monthly subscription. One can debate the agendas of subscription software, but the subscription model allows the program to always remain current, and allows the user to install Office365 on up to five computers at no extra cost, in addition to using the iPhone and Android apps as well.


Often times, there are ways around having to pay for Office365 such as using a license from your employer, school, etc...

Hi is there a mac equivalent to MS office word

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