I've had a MacAir since 2014 and have updated to Catalina.
I'm now blocked from accessing my Excel files and it seems I have to pay for Excel via Microsoft 365.
Is there a better (free) way of doing this?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15
There are some free options listed below.
If you have an early version of Office for Mac 2016, you can update it at no charge. However note that connecting to Microsoft 365 services using Office 2016 for Mac is not supported by Microsoft after October 13, 2020. See: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/troubleshoot/administration/office-2016-for-mac-64-bit-upgrade
If you have Office for Mac 2011 or earlier, you can either subscribe to Microsoft 365 or you can make a one-time purchase. See: https://products.office.com/en-us/buy/compare-microsoft-office-products-for-mac?ms.officeurl=mac-compare-redir
Or use the free Microsoft Office on the web: https://products.office.com/en-us/free-office-online-for-the-web
Or Google Docs: https://www.google.com/docs/about/
Other options include using the free and very good Libre Office https://www.libreoffice.org/
or Apple's Pages and Numbers
There are some free options listed below.
If you have an early version of Office for Mac 2016, you can update it at no charge. However note that connecting to Microsoft 365 services using Office 2016 for Mac is not supported by Microsoft after October 13, 2020. See: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/troubleshoot/administration/office-2016-for-mac-64-bit-upgrade
If you have Office for Mac 2011 or earlier, you can either subscribe to Microsoft 365 or you can make a one-time purchase. See: https://products.office.com/en-us/buy/compare-microsoft-office-products-for-mac?ms.officeurl=mac-compare-redir
Or use the free Microsoft Office on the web: https://products.office.com/en-us/free-office-online-for-the-web
Or Google Docs: https://www.google.com/docs/about/
Other options include using the free and very good Libre Office https://www.libreoffice.org/
or Apple's Pages and Numbers
Office 2011 and earlier are no longer supported by Microsoft.
Catalina does not support 32 bit applications at all.
You can either upgrade to a supported 64 bit version of office, find an alternative office suite, or revert to the version of macOS you were running previously.
i've had excel for years, why do i have to pay for it now?
