So even though I once had microsoft word on my Mac I can no longer even use it on my new mac?

Not enough information provided to answer completely.

If your Office app is the older 32 bit app it will not run on an operating system version Catelina or newer. You would have to upgrade Office to the 64 bit version.

georgieb51 wrote:

Can I update Microsoft Word and thereby use it on my Mac. Right now it has that symbol with a slash through it meaning stay away or forbidden or some such thing. Thanks folks.

Update your third party software to be compatible or use an alternative software...

If you have Office 2011 for Mac or before WILL NOT run, For Catalina Office 2016 for Mac needs to be v15.35 or later.

Update the software : https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac


Big Sur compatibility—Microsoft recently announced that it was officially ending support for Office 2016 for Mac on October 13, 2020. Apple Silicon compatibility in Office 2016 is questionable. Office 2019 no issues.

The current Office for Mac; Office 365 or Office 2019 (One-time purchase) are OK with Catalina/Big Sur

https://support.microsoft.com/

Microsoft Corporation/Customer service

1 (800) 642-7676

Microsoft does not provide free upgrades between major versions of their Office products (unless you subscribe to Microsoft 365) and older versions of Office are not compatible with macOS Catalina or Big Sur.

If you have a version of Microsoft Office that is not compatible, you can either subscribe to Microsoft 365 or you can make a one-time purchase. See: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/mac/microsoft-365-for-mac

Or use the free and very good Libre Office https://www.libreoffice.org/

or 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/

or Apple’s Pages and Numbers

The documents shouldn't be lost. If you don't want to pay for a Microsoft 365 subscription or make a one-time purchase, you can download the free Libre Office. It will open your old Microsoft documents. See: https://www.libreoffice.org/

I can tell you first hand that's definitely possible. I had it happen with office and just yesterday was reminded that Carbon Copy Cloner v5 does not work with Monterey. I wanted to keep using CCC so I bought the upgrade to v6.

This situation is actually nothing new. It seems to be new only because MS Office programs are sometimes quite expensive compared to other 3rd party offerings.

Your documents are NOT lost.

They may open:

today in Pages, or

if you pay Microsoft more money for a later version of Office, or

If you install the open-software LibreOffice or OpenOffice or NeoOffice