-->
X supports all Mac OS X features and technologies, and has Mac-only features like Formatting Palette, Microsoft Word Data Merge Manager, Microsoft Excel List Manager, and Microsoft PowerPoint Movies. X includes Microsoft Word X, Excel X, PowerPoint X, and Entourage X, for Mac. The modern user interface within Office v. Support for Office v. X ended on January 9, 2007 after the release of the final update, 10.1.9 Office v.X includes Word X, Excel X, PowerPoint X, Entourage X, MSN Messenger for Mac and Windows Media Player 9 for Mac; it was the last version of Office for Mac to include Internet Explorer for Mac.
Office for Mac that comes with a Microsoft 365 subscription is updated on a regular basis to provide new features, security updates, and non-security updates. The following information is primarily intended for IT professionals who are deploying Office for Mac to the users in their organizations.
Note
- Starting with Version 16.21, Microsoft Teams will be installed by default for new installations if you're using the Office suite install package. For more information, see Microsoft Teams installations on a Mac.
- For security reason, Microsoft has deprecated the use of SHA-1. Learn more
- Starting with the 16.17 release in September 2018, this information also applies to Office 2019 for Mac, which is a version of Office for Mac that’s available as a one-time purchase from a retail store or through a volume licensing agreement.
- The update history information for version 16.16 and earlier also applies to Office 2016 for Mac, which is also a version of Office for Mac that’s available as a one-time purchase. Older versions up to and including 16.16 can be activated with an Office 2016 for Mac volume license. You can’t activate version 16.17 or later with an Office 2016 for Mac volume license. For information about Office 2016 for Mac releases from September onward, see Release notes for Office 2016 for Mac
- For information about the features, security updates, and non-security updates that are included in a given release of Office for Mac, see Release notes for Office for Mac.
- If you want early access to new releases, join the Office Insider program.
Most current packages for Office for Mac
The following table lists the most current packages for the Office suite and for the individual applications. The Office suite includes all the individual applications, such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. All packages are 64-bit only. The build date is listed in parentheses, in a YYMMDD format, after the version number. The install package is used if you don't have the application already installed, while the update package is used to update an existing installation.
To view release notes, see Release notes.
October 13, 2020
Version 16.42 (20101102)
| Application | Download links | SHA-256 hash for install package |
|---|---|---|
| Office suite (with Teams) | Install package | 8AC425F0E31869B32C323F4349FB48E9B1C3A114B77EA68897D97C50D9B8BECB |
| Office suite (without Teams) | Install package | 5FA1084BD240BF10FAAF94D908492939807EAD8E014582DCB2ADE7ECC484276B |
| Word | Install package Update package | 21C54A78343B106A93FFD176130DEB9A6C9154F56EB58446FC27192D1E191995 |
| Excel | Install package Update package | 2235E4FE0741CE013777E2B6811AD9EFF738F9A724860FBA0DFD31976BF96E62 |
| PowerPoint | Install package Update package | EAF6B82C2042BD4D026779CEB4A58E0B92C8E320A9797C77CA3A588FD94B19EB |
| Outlook | Install package Update package | 566A1BD7AD446FCDD31156EBCA3FBD7F8F8BB2EFBCC8F3217CB55AA16A586420 |
| OneNote | Update package | Not applicable |
Release history for Office for Mac
The following table provides release history information and download links for Office for Mac. The table is ordered by release date, with the most recent release date listed first. The build date is listed in parentheses, in a YYMMDD format, after the version number. All releases after August 22, 2016 are 64-bit only. All releases prior to August 22, 2016 are 32-bit only.
Note
Download links are only provided for the most recent releases.
| Release date | Version | Install package | Update packages |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 13, 2020 | 16.42 (20101102) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| September 15, 2020 | 16.41 (20091302) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| August 11, 2020 | 16.40 (20081000) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| July 14, 2020 | 16.39 (20071300) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| June 16, 2020 | 16.38 (20061401) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| May 12, 2020 | 16.37 (20051002) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| April 21, 2020 | 16.36 (20041300) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | |
| April 14, 2020 | 16.36 (20041300) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote | |
| March 10, 2020 | 16.35 (20030802) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| February 11, 2020 | 16.34 (20020900) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| January 14, 2020 | 16.33 (20011301) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| December 10, 2019 | 16.32 (19120802) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| November 12, 2019 | 16.31 (19111002) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| October 15, 2019 | 16.30 (19101301) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| September 18, 2019 | 16.29.1 (19091700) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint | |
| September 10, 2019 | 16.29 (19090802) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| August 13, 2019 | 16.28 (19081202) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| July 16, 2019 | 16.27 (19071500) | Office suite (with Teams) Office suite (without Teams) | Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote |
| June 11, 2019 | 16.26 (19060901) | ||
| May 14, 2019 | 16.25 (19051201) | ||
| April 16, 2019 | 16.24 (19041401) | ||
| March 27, 2019 | 16.23.1 (19032603) | ||
| March 12, 2019 | 16.23.0 (19030902) | ||
| February 20, 2019 | 16.22 (19022000) | ||
| January 24, 2019 | 16.21 (19011700) | ||
| January 16, 2019 | 16.21 (19011500) | ||
| December 11, 2018 | 16.20 (18120801) | ||
| November 13, 2018 | 16.19 (18110915) | ||
| October 16, 2018 | 16.18 (18101400) | ||
| September 11, 2018 | 16.17 (18090901) | ||
| August 14, 2018 | 16.16 (18081201) | ||
| July 10, 2018 | 16.15 (18070902) | ||
| June 13, 2018 | 16.14.1 (18061302) | ||
| June 12, 2018 | 16.14.0 (18061000) | ||
| May 24, 2018 | 16.13.1 (18052304) | ||
| May 23, 2018 | 16.13.1 (18052203) | ||
| May 15, 2018 | 16.13.0 (18051301) | ||
| April 11, 2018 | 16.12.0 (18041000) | ||
| March 19, 2018 | 16.11.1 (18031900) | ||
| March 13, 2018 | 16.11.0 (18031100) | ||
| February 13, 2018 | 16.10.0 (18021001) | ||
| January 26, 2018 | 16.9.1 (18012504) | ||
| January 18, 2018 | 16.9.0 (18011602) | ||
| December 12, 2017 | 15.41.0 (17120500) | ||
| November 14, 2017 | 15.40.0 (17110800) | ||
| October 10, 2017 | 15.39.0 (17101000) | ||
| September 12, 2017 | 15.38.0 (17090200) | ||
| August 15, 2017 | 15.37.0 (17081500) | ||
| July 21, 2017 | 15.36.1 (17072101) | ||
| July 11, 2017 | 15.36.0 (17070200) | ||
| June 16, 2017 | 15.35.0 (17061600) | ||
| June 13, 2017 | 15.35.0 (17061000) | ||
| May 16, 2017 | 15.34.0 (17051500) | ||
| April 11, 2017 | 15.33.0 (17040900) | ||
| March 14, 2017 | 15.32.0 (17030901) | ||
| February 16, 2017 | 15.31.0 (17021600) | ||
| January 11, 2017 | 15.30.0 (17010700) |
Microsoft Office remainsthe gold standard of productivity suites, but there are several different versions/editions of Office available for users of Apple hardware. Together with Parallels Desktop and Parallels Access, the Apple user can access just about any of these versions/editions on each of their hardware platforms.
While Microsoft produces all of these suites and the suites have a very high degree of similar functionality and visual fidelity, they are not identical, and no single suite has all the features of the entire group.
This blog post will enumerate most of the differences between the following suites and their apps:
- Office 2016 for Windows (“WinOffice 2016”)
- Office 2016 for Mac (“MacOffice 2016”)
- Office 2013 for Windows (“WinOffice 2013”)
- Office 2011 for Mac (“MacOffice 2011”)
- Office for iPad (“iPad Office”)
The vast bulk of the content in this post is in the following five tables, which list the differences I found. Note that because the tables lists differences, no row of the table will be all checkmarks (since this would mean that all the suites had this feature, and thus this wasn’t a difference) nor will any row be all “X”s (since this would mean that no suite had this feature, and thus it isn’t a difference either). I am listing the differences because listing the similarities would take much too much room—the suites are that identical.
Hopefully, this will assist you in choosing the best version/edition for your use. In addition, I will describe my personal Office setup.
Here are the five tables (click on each thumbnail for an enlarged view):
Table 1: Suite-wide differences
Current Version Of Office For Mac
Table 2: Word differences
Table 2
Table 3: Excel differences
Table 4: PowerPoint differences
Table 4
Table 5: Outlook differences
What differences surprised me the most? These two:
Right-to-left language support in iPad Office:
WinOffice has had support for right-to-left languages like Arabic and Hebrew for many years. While Mac users have been asking for such support, no version of MacOffice, even the latest MacOffice 2016, has had such support. Therefore, I was quite pleasantly surprised when iPad Office added support for Arabic, Hebrew, and Thai.(See Figure 1.)
Figure 1: Arabic text in iPad Word on iPad Pro
No multiple selection support in iPad PowerPoint:
All Office programs provide some way to select content in a document (text, cells, or shapes, for example). This is needed so that the user can apply some operation on just that content (change the color, for example). The Windows or Mac Office applications also provide for “advanced” types of selections. In Word, this is non-contiguous text selections; in Excel this is non-contiguous cell selections; and in PowerPoint this is the simultaneous selection of multiple objects. In Word and Excel, these really are advanced types of selections that are rarely needed by even sophisticated users of Word or Excel. (See Figures 2 and 3.)
Figure 2: Non-contiguous cell selection in MacExcel 2011.
Figure 3: Non-contiguous text selection in MacWord 2011.
But in PowerPoint, the ability to select multiple objects is a pretty basic capability. (See Figure 4.)
Figure 4: Multiple selections in MacPowerPoint 2011.
I wasn’t surprised to learn that non-contiguous selections were not supported in iPad Word or iPad Excel, but I was astonished and very disappointed to learn that multiple selections were not supported in iPad PowerPoint.
My Use of Office
So, which do I use? The short answer is that I use all of them.
I worked on the MacOffice team at Microsoft for several years, and at that time I also worked closely with colleagues on the WinOffice teams. Because of this background, I am often able to pick just the right Office app that will make a given task the easiest to do. One task might be particularly well suited to MacWord 2011 because Publishing Layout View—a feature only in that one Word version—will make this task easy. Another task might be suited to WinPPT because of the Animation Painter, which is not in any MacPPT version. Yet another task might be best suited to WinPPT 2013 because it needs an Office extension not available in other Office suites.
Having all the versions of Office at your fingertips used to be rather hard to setup, not to mention very expensive. Luckily, that is no longer the case.
With a single Office 365 Home subscription, you get five installs of the Office suite and you can pick which versions make up this set of five. Since I have Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition on my Mac, I can run any version of Windows without rebooting. Because I have different versions of Windows running on my Mac, I can also run different versions of WinOffice on my Mac and have everything I need on one computer. (You can download a free trial of Parallels Desktop for Mac here.) Here’s my setup:
- MacOffice 2011 is my main productivity suite and is installed on my El Capitan MacBook Pro. MacOutlook 2016 came out long before the entire MacOffice 2016 suite, and because of the vastly improved performance of MacOutlook 2016, I use it as my main email client, instead of MacOutlook 2011.
- WinOffice 2013 is installed in a Windows 7 virtual machine (VM) (under Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition) on my MacBook Pro.
- iPad Office is installed on my iPad. As you saw in the tables above, iPad Office is lacking many of the features of WinOffice and MacOffice, so I also haveParallels Accesson my iPad which lets me access and run the full featured versions of any Office suite (or any other application) on my computers and use them with natural iPad gestures. (You can download a free trial of Parallels Access for iOS and Android to access your Mac and/or PC atwww.parallels.com/access).
- MacOffice 2016 is installed in an El Capitan VM (under Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition) on my MacBook Pro.
- WinOffice 2016 is installed in a Windows 10 VM (under Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition) on my MacBook Pro.
So, why don’t I use MacOffice 2016 as my main productivity suite? Four reasons:
Latest Version Of Office Mac
- Only MacWord 2011 has Publishing Layout View, a feature I depend on heavily and consider essential.
- To me, MacOffice 2016 has a kind of cartoon-like look to the user interface that just doesn’t appeal to me.
- There was no compelling feature pulling me to MacOffice 2016, and
- Inertia was keeping me in MacOffice 2011.
Those are my five installs, and with this setup, I have easy and immediate access to the best Office app for any particular task. I tend to store all my documents on Dropbox so that I have easy access to them from any of my Office suites or Apple platforms.
Which Office suite(s) do you use, and what’s your setup?
Need Microsoft Windows operating system? Buy directly below:
Office For Mac Version History
Interested in running Microsoft Office on your Mac? 14 day free trial of Parallels Desktop for Mac: Try Now!