Microsoft Office is probably the most popular office tool kit for any computer, phone, and laptop. The Apple MacBook is no exception. When you get the Office kit, you will be able to use familiar tools like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Outlook, and more. These tools will boost your work’s efficiency significantly. However, Microsoft Office requires a license that costs $99.99 / year to run with full features. This is quite expensive for many users. Luckily there is a way to get Microsoft Office for free on a Mac. Here is how to do so.
Which Version Of Office Will Work on A Mac?
Microsoft Office 2019 is the latest Office version available for MacBook Pro/Air. This version comes with some unique features, notably:
The new Crayon feature allows you to customize and operate all the tools in a more creative way.
- New plug-in mode terminology.
- Focus Mode has been perfected and improved in quality.
- Support 4K video export and many new interfaces for Powerpoint.
- Support 2D map in Excel
- Allow sending mail as scheduled in Outlook.
Can you download Microsoft Office for free?
There are several ways to download and install the Microsoft Office suite on your Mac for free. If you’re looking at alternatives, take a look at our list of the best programs below!
You should also keep in mind that Word (as well as Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote) can be downloaded for free on your iPhone or iPad. The iPad screen can serve as a laptop if you use it with a Bluetooth keyboard.
How To Download MS Office for free on your Mac:
1 – Try Microsoft Office Online
If you don’t want to pay for the full version of Microsoft Office, try using their free online program. You can create a free account and have access to a simple version that still provides most of your word processing needs.
With Office Online, you can create and edit documents anywhere. However, it is not recommended for large projects because of limited processing power. It’s best used to write letters or short reports!
2 – Microsoft 365 trial period
Those who need to download Word on their Mac only for a short period of time should take advantage of the Microsoft 365 free trial. You will be able to enjoy all its programs for one month.
This test includes not only Word but also Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneDrive. The subscription costs $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month, so we recommend canceling it in time if you don’t want to be automatically charged after the trial.
Microsoft 365 has different packages for those who want to share with their family or a group of friends compared to those that only plan on using the software themselves. If you choose Microsoft 365 Family, your household can use Office titles such as Word and Excel free for up six people before needing to purchase the license key needed from Microsoft directly. For those looking at just getting MS Office by itself, it is available through either an annual subscription package called Personal or Home & Student edition which gives access after buying once year’s worth of licenses online via the Microsoft store.
Only those who purchase the Microsoft 365 Family package will receive a free trial of Office. For personal and student packages, the free trial is not available.
3 – Follow YouTube tutorials
There are many free tutorials on YouTube that explain how to download and install Microsoft Word (and the entire Office suite) without investing any money. But not everything is gold, so here’s a heads up: there may be some gotchas you’ll want to know about before committing your computer for this task.
Maybe this is not the answer you were waiting for. You will quickly realize that most of them encourage you to buy software with which to modify the program code in order to bypass Word’s license restriction.
We do not recommend that you go with this option, because download programs outside of the Mac App Store is the easiest way to infect your computer with viruses. We also warn against illegalities and hacking victims.
Free Alternatives to MS Office For Mac
1. LibreOffice
This is one of the most popular open-source Microsoft Office suite alternatives available on a variety of platforms including MacOS.
LibreOffice is an offshoot of OpenOffice and includes a word processor, presentation software, and spreadsheet program.
Because of similar features such as the pre-ribbon interface, anyone who has worked with Microsoft Office will readily adapt to LibreOffice.
LibreOffice Pack includes all of the professional functionalities in your offline desktop applications, including a recent online component that allows you to connect files from OneDrive or Google Drive. This means that you can modify your documents right within LibreOffice.
It uses the OpenDocument (ODF) format and supports many other types of formats, such as “.docx”.
LibreOffice is free and open-source, so it’s also incredibly simple to install. The lightweight, flexible set is available in 110 languages with onsite technical assistance, as it is open-source software. However, you may not require assistance all of the time since LibreOffice is quite user-friendly and straightforward to use.
It also allows you to export files in PDF format and add more features, such as extra document templates, via LibreOffice website extensions.
The downside is that it has no real-time collaborative editing or built-in cloud storage.
2. Google Drive / Google Suite
Google Cloud Drive is a great option for users looking to store their files online. It offers robust features at an affordable price and the easy-to-use interface makes it accessible even to novice computer users.
Google Drive comprises Google Documents, Presentations, and Spreadsheets, which are alternatives to Microsoft’s Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. G Suite is the business version of Google Drive and comes with Gmail, Docs, Drive, and Calendar for your business.
It’s widely used, though it’s not as feature-rich as Microsoft Office, and you can access it from anywhere.
GC Suite integrates with your Google account so you can open Gmail Word documents in Google Docs and even access beautiful templates, add-ons, search features Google, and superior integrated search tools.
With G Suite, you can easily import Microsoft Office files, work on them, and export them to Office formats to share with your team or other recipients. You can also take advantage of Google’s cloud and collaborate with multiple users in real-time on any document or file.
As well as being great for productivity, G Suite also offers up to 15GB of free storage. Plus, its offline mode lets you work on documents offline in Chrome.
The downside is that it doesn’t have a desktop application, it lacks some Office features, and documents aren’t always duplicated images of Office document versions.
3. iWork Suite
iWork is a program built into your Mac that works like Office. It includes Pages, Keynote, and Numbers, which are Apple’s general equivalents for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
It’s simple to use, has a nice but straightforward interface, and is lighter than Office.
Numbers give you a blank canvas to get you started, making it easy to add tables, images, and charts. It also removes the feeling of being a ledger, unlike Excel which has a grid view.
Pages is also simple to use and doesn’t have complicated options like Word, plus you can collaborate with other users as you work.
The presentation app, KeyNote, helps you create beautiful presentations without the hassles of PowerPoint.
All iWork applications can export and import Office formats and other formats supported by other packages. However, the iCloud version requires an Internet connection to use and is not as complete as the desktop client. The good thing is that you can access documents from anywhere, as it allows for cross-platform collaboration.
4. Calligra
Calligra offers mind maps and project management tools among many advanced features.
Your tabs are set on the right side of the screen, so the page you edit won’t take up the entire screen.
With Calligra, you can read DOCX and DOX document formats, although it does not allow you to edit them. This can present some challenges if you get Office documents from other people, as they would have to send documents in formats like Open Document Text (ODT).
MacOS users can download this free, open-source alternative for Office directly from the developer’s website or download page.
5. Polaris OfficeOffice
The Polaris suite of editing tools is a free alternative that provides you with the ability to create and edit various file types such as DOCX, PPT, HWP and XLS. The apps work across platforms so they’re readily available when you need them most; your files will sync between devices for easy access on any device at any time. On top of all these features like converting PDF documents into other formats or creating new ones from images or voice recordings, there are also additional common functions included in this toolkit including spellchecker support (in 9 different languages) & upload directly to cloud storage services like AWS (Amazon Web Services).
