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Office 365 subscribers can get the newest version of Office for Mac today. All you need is an Office 365 subscription (Office 365 Home, Personal, Business, Business Premium, E3 or ProPlus), which includes the rights and access to use Office applications on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android devices, along with additional value in OneDrive and Skype. Here are a few different ways to get Office 2016 for Mac today. Office 2016 for Mac is a version of Office that’s available as a one-time purchase from a retail store or through a volume licensing agreement. It will be supported with security updates and bug fixes, as needed, until October 13, 2020. The minimum supported macOS for Office 2016 for Mac is 10.10 (Yosemite). 'The minimum supported macOS for Office 2016 for Mac is 10.10 (Yosemite).' But none of the 16.16 versions (Excel, Word, Powerpoint etc) work. They install and then on load, they hang and the crash reporter comes up. I've reverted to 0500 from the following link, which I presume is the last version of the 15.x branch.
Today we mark the end of support for Office 2010 and Office 2016 for Mac, as well as changes to the requirements for connecting to Office 365 services. Learn what’s next and resources to help you remain productive and secure. To use Office for Mac 2016, you must have: Mac OS X 10.10 or later. One of the following subscriptions: Office 365 Enterprise E3. Microsoft 365 Apps for business. Microsoft 365 Business Standard. Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise for Students. Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise for Faculty. Office 365 Midsize Business.
Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.
Summary
Existing Office 2016 for Mac customers will be seamlessly upgraded to 64-bit versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote as part of the August product release (version 15.25). This affects customers of all license types: Retail, Office 365 Consumer, Office 365 Commercial, and Volume License installations.
Deployment options for the 64-bit update
AutoUpdate (MAU)
Customers who use Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) to keep their Office applications up-to-date will see a 'regular' monthly update notification when their selected channel is upgraded to 64-bit builds. Depending on which version is installed on the local computer, MAU will offer either a delta or full update. The update package size does not change between 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Also, MAU can deliver a delta update when applicable to update a user from 32-bit to 64-bit applications. Therefore, customers won't experience a sharp increase in download activity. For the release to the Production channel, customers will see '(64-bit)' in the update title to make them aware that this is a 64-bit update.
For information about how to use the MAU, see Check for Office for Mac updates automatically.
Manual updates
The August release of Office for Mac is available for manual download. The following file provides a 64-bit package to replace existing 32-bit applications with 64-bit variants during installation:
Download the Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac August update package now.
Virus-scan claim
Microsoft scanned this file for viruses, using the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to it.
Volume License Service Center
Volume License customers typically get their Office 2016 software from the Volume License Service Center (VLSC). These builds are refreshed infrequently and are typically aligned with new language editions. The VLSC will continue to offer 32-bit installers (15.23) until November 2016. However, all updater packages that are released after August will be based on 64-bit builds. Therefore, a VLSC customer who updates either manually or through AutoUpdate will be transitioned to 64-bit builds.
More Information
64-bit only
The Mac operating system has been 64-bit for several years. Unlike for Windows, there's no choice between running a 32-bit or 64-bit version of the Mac operating system. Similarly, we won't offer a choice between 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Office 2016 for Mac. After each 'channel' is transitioned per the rollout schedule, only 64-bit builds will be available.
Effect on third-party applications and add-ins
The transition to 64-bit Office for Mac was announced in April 2016. IT Pros will want to understand which compiled add-ins are deployed to the users whom they manage so that they can assess the effect of the upgrade. The following Microsoft Office website summarizes the issues that affect the more common add-ins that are used together with Office 2016 for Mac:
Tools for inspecting product architecture
Office 2016 For Mac Download
To verify the architecture of an Office application (that is, to understand whether you have a 32-bit or 64-bit build), start the application, open the Activity Monitor, and then enable the Kind column.
You can also use the file command in a terminal session to inspect the binary. For this use, type file -N <path of binary>.This method can be used with for any binary file, including third-party add-ins.
The file command returns one of three values.
| Return value | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64 | 64-bit binary |
| Mach-O executable i386 | 32-bit binary |
| Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64 | FAT binary (compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit processes) |
| Mach-O executable i386 | FAT binary (compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit processes) |
Options for reverting to 32-bit installations
There may be situations in which the customer has to change code that's not 64-bit ready. If customers can't immediately move forward to 64-bit builds, we will make available a one-time 32-bit update for the 15.25 release in addition to the default 64-bit updates. The 32-bit updates will be available only for manual download from the Office CDN.
The latest 32-bit release of Office 2016 for Mac (15.25.160818) can be downloaded from https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=823192.
Customers who manually install the 32-bit release won't be offered the 64-bit version of 15.25 through MAU. However, MAU will offer the 64-bit version of 15.26 in September 2016. Therefore, customers have a limited time to remain on 32-bit builds.
If a customer has already upgraded to the 64-bit update of Office for Mac 15.25 and wants to revert to the 32-bit version, follow these steps:
- Exit all open Office 2016 applications.
- Start Safari, and then browse to https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=823192 to start the download of the 32-bit installer.
- Double-click the downloaded package, and then follow the instructions.
The 64-bit installation has a build date of 160817. The 32-bit version has a build date of 160818.
Microsoft is preparing to release the next major standalone version of Office 2019 edition for both Windows and Mac operating systems. We already learned that the Windows Edition would only work on Windows 10 PCs. Although we are several months away from release, we will get to know when the software is in GA ( Generally Available). In this post, however, we are only focussing on the Microsoft Office 2019 Mac System Requirements in the preview stage. Let’s find out!
Microsoft Office 2019 Mac System Requirements
In April 2018, the commercial preview of Office 2019 began for Enterprise customers who would primarily be the target customers for this release. For personal and small business users, Microsoft already has the following options that you can opt for, under the O365 subscription model. For Mac, you have the following options, as per the official Microsoft Office blog.
- Office 365 ProPlus standalone
- Office 365 E3
- Office 365 E4
Microsoft Office For Mac 2016
With Office 2019 for MAC, you will get the following client applications:
Office 2016 For Mac Requirements
- Word 2019
- Excel 2019
- PowerPoint 2019
- Outlook 2019 (Some features are dependent on Exchange 2019 or O365 Groups)
- OneNote 2019
System Requirements: (Same as Mac for Office 2016 till final confirmation post GA)
The new edition of Office 2019 for Mac is expected to have better support for Pens and highlighters. Some of these features are already available on O365 Pro plus but not on the current edition of Office 2016.
So, what is the difference between Office 2019 vs. subscription-based Office 365 model? Office 2019 for both Windows & Mac is going to be a one-time purchase and as per Microsoft, will not receive feature updates after your purchase. Office 2019 will include a meaningful subset of features available in Office 365, but it will not be a part of Office 365. However, Office 2019 will receive both quality and security patch updates from time to time as required. Just like the earlier releases, this release will be fully supported for five years with two years of “Extended support” as per Microsofts FAQs.
To summarize, Office 365 is a per-user-based subscription model powered by Microsoft’s cloud service. It provides easy access to a suite of services well beyond what the perpetual edition provides, and frequently receives feature updates on an ongoing basis. Essentially it includes the most collaborative, secure, and up-to-date features.
So, how to decide the uses cases for both the offerings?
Scenario | Solution |
| Office 365 Office 365 products are continuously refreshed with new features & functionality. All functions in perpetual products are made accessible through Office 365 first. |
| Office 2019 Commercial Preview Office 2019, the latest edition of on-premises apps and services, is available in preview with existing end-user and IT capabilities. For many of our patrons, Office 365 is the way to go. It is the most secure, intelligent & collaborative version of Office products. However, moving to the Microsoft cloud is a journey, and customers may be in various stages of that journey, including approaches such as hybrid and on-premises. To help those customers, we have Office 2019, a valuable new version of Office with a subset of features from Office 365. |
Conclusion
If you want to join the preview, visit Office 2019 Commercial Preview Support. We will update the Microsoft Office 2019 Mac System Requirements once we get the final information post-release officially on the Microsoft website.
We hope the information available in this article was helpful. Suggestions or questions are welcome in the comment section below.