Microsoft Word is not available anymore after the latest MOS update. How can I get it back?

I am assuming you updated to Catalina. With this update older 32 bit apps will no longer function, so you may have other applications that will also be affected. I would like to offer several important points for you and any of our other viewers concerning the ‘problems’ with Microsoft Office after an OS upgrade to Catalina.

·      First, Apple has regularly informed all of us for a couple of years that at some point our old 32 bit programs would no longer work with a future OS upgrade. That has finally occurred as we have been told it would. This appears to be the case with you. The message announcements were received when an older 32 bit program was opened.

·      Any other old 32 bit programs you have installed will also be affected. They also will no longer work.

·      As noted, if a person wishes not to upgrade their Microsoft Office, there are several good alternatives. They are the free LibreOffice and OpenOffice apps. Additionally, your Apple OS provides three free programs which you may use as an alternative to Office, Pages, Numbers and Keynote.

·      Any of these apps can and will open your Office documents. You may also create new documents and save them as Word files, etc. when you need to share files with other people who only have Office installed.

·      You should be aware that using these other apps to open Word documents will result in formatting changes.

·      Using any of these programs does involve a learning curve as they work a bit differently, but all of them are fine programs.

If you have Microsoft Office for Mac 2016 or later, it can be upgraded at no cost. If it is an earlier version, it cannot.

·      If you decide to upgrade an older version of Office, you have options. You may elect to subscribe to any of the following:

• • Office 365 Home:         $99.99 per year or $9.99 monthly. This allows you to install Office in up to six devices. This service must be renewed yearly. You may try the service free for one month.
  • Office Personal:           $69.99 per year or $6.99 monthly. This is for installation on one device only. This service must be renewed yearly. You may try the service free for one month.
  • Office Home & Student:        $149.99 one-time purchase cost. This is a purchasefor installation on one device only and is not renewed or have a monthly fee. It does not expire.
  • The second and third options include fewer additional apps such as having no Outlook app. Check the Microsoft site for details.

·       Finally, and this is important, when purchasing any of these Office upgrades, you need to register your purchase on the Microsoft web site, including which device or devices the apps are installed on. This can be changed later if a device is replaced. You must do this registration or you can have problems.

I hope this information is useful to you. Basically, you either need to get an upgrade to Office or try out one of the free alternatives. Good luck.

Microsoft Office 2016 (updated), Office 2019, and Office 365 all work with Catalina. You can get Office from Microsoft.

Look into the Free LibreOffice, it handles MS Office files…

https://www.libreoffice.org/