Can I keep Microsoft Office when erasing my iMac?

Hi Mark,

The other problem is that Microsoft have taken down the activation servers for older versions of Office. Even were this not an end user agreement issue, neither you nor the new owner could reinstall any version of Office that is compatible with a 2010 Mac.

As much as I admire the desire to help others—you'll make a good helper here—a new owner will find little or no software today that installs and runs on macOS 10.13 (the highest OS a 2010 can run). It very like they would not even have browser support.

I know there are organizations that help low-income families acquire tech gear. I agree that a cash donation to one of those would go much farther than donating a computer that cannot be brought up to date.

You can't because you'll have to prepare the iMac according to this Apple document: What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support. That will erase the hard drive and remove all what was on there. You won't be able to add anything to it or you won't be able to give it away and have the recipient use it.

So prepare it as the Apple document describes and let the recipient determine what apps they want to use. There's a lot of free apps or Apple apps that can do what MS Office can do.

FWIW, legally you can't give someone else Microsoft Office that was registered to someone else. Besides, Microsoft only supports the three current versions of macOS; Sequoia, Sonoma & Ventura, so not sure anyone would benefit from having an unsupported version.

Yes, this can be done, but it's not recommended. And, as @dialabrain has pointed out, it isn't actually legal. The best thing you can do, imho, is simply wipe the obsolete Mac and recycle it. A fifteen year old computer will be difficult for a needy family to use given that there won't be much support to be found when functionality and compatibility issues arise. It might make a nice hobby machine for someone.

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

Perhaps for an older mac and associated macOS system..

You may try to get a correct version free Office download

that can open, create, save as new; from quality 3rd party.

LibreOffice - Free and private office suite - Based on OpenOffice

Compatible with Microsoft

https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/install-howto/macos/

Libre office is open source free-ware; several versions of

varying newness are available to download from their site

Older versions of LibreOffice (no longer updated!) available

in the archive archive online. Doesn't list separate macOS(?)

https://downloadarchive.documentfoundation.org/libreoffice/old/

All those older versions pre-date any modern Mac hardware &

so are no longer supported by LibreOffice, however should work

anyway; for reference on where to start, duckduckgo Libreoffice.

For very old word-processing applications under older mac OS X

some sites may have their options; some links still work but may

not work in newer secure browsers(!!) I've a few in my old G4 Mac.

One version from maker site is in an archive at Bean.com here:

https://bean-osx.com/Bean.html

"Bean is a small, easy-to-use word processor that is designed to make

writing convenient, efficient and comfortable. Bean is lean, fast and

uncluttered. It starts up quickly, has a live word count, and is easy on

the eyes. Also, Bean is available free of charge."

Versions for older Macs:

Bean 3.2.9 for macOS Sierra 10.12

Bean 3.2.5 for OS X 10.5 to OS X 10.11 (El Capitan)

Bean 3.1.1 for PowerPC Macs running OS X 10.5

Bean 2.4.5 for PowerPC Macs running OS X 10.4

List of all previous versions."

There are versions of LibreOffice that will run on High Sierra – but the current ones don't. You'd need to dig around in the archive of old, unsupported versions, which is well-indexed by version number, but not in a way that makes it easy to find the latest version of LibreOffice for a given version of macOS.

If I remember correctly, 7.4.7 originally ran on High Sierra, but then was changed to require Mojave, so there may be a useful version of LibreOffice with a version number slightly before that.

Likewise, current versions of Safari (bundled with macOS), Firefox, Brave, and Chrome will not run on High Sierra. I believe that Mozilla will now provide security updates for Firefox 115 ESR through March 2025 (they had planned to discontinue them by now), but if you're giving the machine to someone, the inability to even get a current version of a third-party browser might be an issue.

Donating pre-historic obsolete gear to a needy family has a good chance of making their life even more miserable. Recycle it and find another way to help them.

+1