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Is Word 2019/365 or Excel 2019/365 now identical on Mac and Windows operating systems?

Anonymous
2020-01-04T07:59:16+00:00

When Office 2016 was launched I had high hopes that the Mac and Windows versions of Excel and Word would be Identical on each platform. Silly me, they got close but still had annoying little differences.

It is now getting to the point where MS will be stopping support for Office 2016 and I'm contemplating an upgrade (?) to either Office 2019 or 365.

My question to the community is: Has anyone done a comparison of Office 2019 or 365 (in particular Word and Excel, I know Access is Windows only) between the two platforms (Windows and Mac)? How close is Microsoft getting to producing an identical product for different operating systems?

Looking forward to user comments.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Other

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-01-04T10:38:57+00:00

    Dear Andrew，

    In my personal opinion, you can get Office 365 as Office 365 is always updated with updates and new features as Office 2019 for Mac may be replaced with the next version of the Office for Mac applications when they are released.

    What's the difference between Office 365 and Office 2019?

    I admit that the Office for Mac applications and the Office for Windows applications may be different. However, our product developers are adding features in the newly released Office for Mac applications for users to get a better experience. So Office 2019 for Mac may have more features than Office 2016 for Mac and the two versions of the Office applications on Mac and Windows are getting more compatible now.

    The following article shows the features in the Office 2019 for Mac applications and the Office 2019 for Windows for your reference. You can make a comparison. We also welcome you submit your feedback on our Office for Mac and Office for Windows UserVoice platforms so that our product developers can focus on users’ requirements and suggestions to improve our products and release more new features.

    Office 2019 for Windows and Mac FAQ

     

    If you have any questions, welcome to post back at your convenience.

    Thanks for your understanding.

    Cliff

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-01-04T20:09:43+00:00

    Jim's reply sums the situation up. Although MS announced a year ago that the programs now used the same "code base", they are still working on getting Mac versions up to the same features as Windows.

    If you are looking for charts listing features and operating system, there aren't any. Well, not from MS. Maybe some user has created them.

    The problem is, "features sets" have become a moving target. While the features in 2019 Windows and Mac are pretty much set (but even here not absolutely set!), the 365 versions keep getting new features, at different times ...

    How many versions of the applications are there?

    • 2019 Windows
    • 2019 Mac
    • 365 Windows
    • 365 Mac
    • Office Online
    • Windows Store
    • Android free
    • Android 365
    • iphone free
    • iphone 365
    • others?
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  2. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2020-01-04T17:27:02+00:00

    Hi Andrew,

    The two platforms will never have 100% identical features. Some of the features in Office applications reflect capabilities of the underlying operating systems, which are different.

    In one major sense the platforms have parity. The code base is the same across the board for Windows and Mac in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

    I just replied to a question from someone who could not use a workbook that was made in Excel for Windows. The workbook's author used Active-X controls, which are an open source technology that is supported in Microsoft Windows but the technology was never ported to the Mac. Hence, the author of the workbook built a platform-specific workbook, perhaps without realizing it.

    Apple demands adherence to its Sandboxing restrictions, which wreak havoc with major and minor applications across the board.

    There are other examples.

    Parity is not a realistic expectation.

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