loading microsoft

Yes. You can use the following information to make a one-time purchase or to subscribe to Microsoft 365.

It is also available to download from the Mac App Store (although I prefer to deal directly with Microsoft).

See: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/mac/microsoft-365-for-mac

and

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-365-and-office-resources

sabrinafromscotland wrote:

So then, no need to “partition “ the hard drive between the two systems? I’ve read about this but really sounds complicated and unnecessary for our needs. Your thoughts on this?

You would not be able to do that on an M1 based Mac even if you wanted to.

No need to partition. You may have been reading about running native Windows applications where you would actually install Windows 10 on a Mac. There are several ways to run Windows applications on Macs such as https://www.parallels.com/ but none of those are necessary for Microsoft Office. It installs and runs on Macs the same as other Mac applications.

sabrinafromscotland wrote:

So then, no need to “partition “ the hard drive between the two systems? I’ve read about this but really sounds complicated and unnecessary for our needs. Your thoughts on this?

There is no need t partition; also, there is no need for "two systems" (unless she needs to run some application that will only run on Windows and there is no other alternative which is unlikely). Microsoft Office for Mac is designed by Microsoft to run on Macs just like other Mac applications.

Also note that Office will run natively on Apple's new M1 chip: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/12/15/4-ways-microsoft-365-is-improving-the-experience-for-mac-users/