Does Microsoft document anywhere the differences between Excel and Excel for Mac?

Question

Hi,

I am a long term user of Excel and recently switched to Excel for Mac.

Every week I continue to find differences between the way Excel functions as implemented on the two versions. The original Excel in O365 is well documented and supported. But so far as I can tell the Mac version which seems to be supported on a model of "20 questions". After hours of searching can't find any authoritative document that lists the feature differences.

One example may serve to illustrate my point, another user has asked how to resize a table in Excel for Mac. There appears to be no answer to this other to rely on the auto expand feature which admittedly works very well.

so the question remains;

Does Microsoft document anywhere the differences between Excel and Excel for Mac?

If not perhaps some community of interest has done this.

Such a side by side comparison would be of great benefit.

regards

DJ

Answer 1

Hi Hans,

Please forgive me for calling BS on the second link you provided:

Excel on Mac vs Excel on Windows – Full Comparison (2023)

I wish I didn't have to spend so much time correcting lies, BS and disinformation about Office for Mac, but this site purports to offer expert advice, but it's full of untruths. This example shows why it is difficult to find correct information even from supposed experts who simply do not check their facts and live in a fantasy world.

Let's go down the list as displayed on the Spreadsheeto page:

1. Power Pivot: Spreadsheeto is correct. The Power Pivot add-in was written for Microsoft Windows and does not run on Mac. Additionally, COM add-ins are Windows-only and none of them run on Mac. Any add-in that was written to run only in Windows Excel will not run on a Mac. Conversely, add-ins that were written to run exclusvely in Excel for Mac do not run in Excel for Windows. Add-ins that were written to accommodate cross-platform differences do run on both platforms.

2. Pivot Charts: Spreadsheeto is wrong. PivotCharts display and work the same on Mac as Windows. One rarely used feature is omitted. Here's a screen shot. See if you can spot the feature that's missing::

3. Import / Export Quick Access Tool Bar Customization File: Spreadsheeto is correct. Excel for Mac does not have this feature.

4. Visual Basic for Applications. This topic is subdivided by Spreadsheeto

1. Userforms: Spreadsheeto is correct. Making and editing userforms is a PITA. There's no GUI.

2. Properties window: Spreadsheeto is wrong. The Mac VB Editor fully supports the Properties window. Yes, you can drag individual windows within the VBE so they float. Note that the watches, project, module, locals, and immediate windows are there, too. The Object Browser is also there and even has the secret Show Hidden Members feature.

3. IMPORT/EXPORT of VBA Codes: Spreadsheeto is wrong. The Mac VB Editor offers the same Import/export functionality as the VBE in Windows. You can right-click a module or userform to import or export. You can also use the File menu in the VB Editor for this purpose, same as in Windows. The keyboard shortcuts are different. The Mac version uses the original shortcuts.

4. VISUAL BASIC EDITOR. Spreadsheeto is wrong. In Mac Excel you CAN add the VB Editor's watch window to the QAT. You can add the VBE as well.

Spreadhseeto's historical footnote about Office 2008 and 2011 is accurate.

Data Connections: Spreadsheeto's information is dated. Data connection availability is increasing in monthly updates of Excel for Mac. Here's what I see in my build, but only subscribers in the beta channel will see all of these options.

Scriptosheets didn't even mention the new Office Scripts feature being tested in Excel for Windows. It's also on the Mac!

It took more than 1 hour for me to write this reply. I hope you understand how difficult it is to keep disinformation about Office for Mac from spreading and seeing this, why everyone should be careful to not spread lies about Office for Mac.

Answer 2

Following up on what I wrote yesterday, let me address a misconception in the question itself: "differences between Excel and Excel for Mac"

That wording implies that Excel for Windows is the "real" or "first" Microsoft Excel, which is not true. Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) were sold by Microsoft on the Mac for years before these products were ported to Microsoft Windows. At least historically, Excel for Mac was first, although now Excel for Mac and Excel for Windows use the same code base.

Nevertheless, Microsoft has retained many original Excel features in Excel for Mac that are absent in Excel for Windows or have been changed in Excel for Windows. The Menu Bar is still integral in Excel for Mac, but it was completely removed in Excel for Windows. In Microsoft Office for Windows, because there is no menu bar, Microsoft had to come up with a File tab on the Ribbon to substitute. The Mac Ribbon has no File tab and continues using the File Menu and still calls Preferences "Preferences" instead of the newer, term "options."

The Preferences panels in Mac Excel are searchable. The Options panel in Windows Excel is not searchable.

The Help menu in Excel for Mac provides instantaneous interactive context related interface element support. There is no Help menu in Excel for Windows. The Help tab on the Ribbon in Excel for Windows does not provide interactive interface support.

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You can use voice commands to activate Menu Bar commands in Excel for Mac. This is important for people with vision disabilities. There's no equivalent feature in Excel for Windows.

Mac OS is "sandboxed" and Apple recently tightened the sandboxing screws even further. Object Linking and Embedding is essentially dead in Office for Mac. Apple does not allow sandboxing to be turned off. Microsoft Windows ships with sandboxing turned off by default. Sandboxing can be turned on in Microsoft Windows. I do not know how rigorous sandboxing is in Microsoft Windows. Sandboxing disables many useful features in Microsoft Office, which makes me doubt its value. It seems that both Apple and Microsoft are trying to turn all applications into web applications or at least apply web application rules and behavior across the board no matter how inappropriate and destructive these restrictions may be.

File path separators are different on Mac and Windows. Microsoft MVP Ron DeBruin has a web pagethat is authoritative that describes these differences in great detail. Explore Ron's site for more differences.

More about JavaScript: Microsoft is making a huge effort to incorporate a JavaScript editor in Excel for Windows. They are making this available in Excel for Mac, as well. Apple was into JavaScript in a big way long before Microsoft. Microsoft has supported JavaScript not just in Excel, but also Word and PowerPoint in Office for Mac since 2009 using the built-in Mac OS Script Editor. That's starting 14 years ago you could automate Office for Mac using JavaScript. It wouldn't surprise me if the JavaScript editor for Mac has wider access to the Office Object Model than the current beta of the Office JavaScript editor.

Active-X. Many years ago Microsoft made Active-X for Windows and even had a beta of Active-X for Mac. Then they had the idea that development of Active-X would happen faster if they turned it over to the Open Source Community. The Open Source Community turned its nose up at Active-X and did not develop it further. It still won't run on a Mac because no one has ported it from Windows. Microsoft seems to have lost interest in Active-X altogether.

I encourage others to add to this thread and report their findings when it comes to Excel platform differences.

Answer 3

It took more than 1 hour for me to write this reply. I hope you understand how difficult it is to keep disinformation [...] from spreading

I empathize. I think I spend more time correcting misinformation than helping OPs proactively. And IMHO, the worst offenders are the IAs and MA|Ms, if only because of the frequency of their responses and because MSFT describes them as "experts" (hah!).

Answer 4

Third-party comparisons:

Excel for Mac vs Excel for Windows