Upgrade without installing each OS version?

I can't speak to this particular transition but in the past it has always been possible to. One small caveat might apply if you were doing a really large jump. I recently jumped from High Sierra to Sequoia and my former iTunes library did not survive the transition. The audio files did but I had to rebuild my library in Music. I doubt that would apply in your case though.

You don't need to install the intermediate versions.

ebskye wrote:

Thanks for the info. I am trying to install Microsoft Office package and it says the OS is incompatible, but on the MS list for compatibility Sonoma is okay. Has 16GB so don't think it is space.

Sonoma is ok for the latest version of Office 365 or Microsoft Office. My wife still has Sonoma on her M1 iMac (she also doesn't like to upgrade) and she has the latest version of Microsoft 365 running on it.

Your "16 GB ... space" might be an issue. Just to install Office requires 10 GB minimum, but I noticed my installation put apps into the Application folder that total more than 12.5 GB. So if you have only 16 GB free, that's very borderline to start and will be downright unacceptable after adding another 12.5 GB. Normally the MAcOS needs to have about 15%-20% free space to run properly. During installations, more space may be temporarily required.

ebskye wrote:

Thanks very much, always appreciate the info. Would it help to uninstall or delete apps that are taking up space, like "Chess" or others I never use? I have apps that I don't use turned off and assume they still "take up" space even if not in use.

Are there any other things to check besides the size available that might be preventing the install? I realize this is a rhetorical question and you may not know ALL the answers, so thanks again!

Chess is a baked in application. You can not delete those— not to mention it is hardly nothing at 13.9MB

Look else where in your Home folder if you want to do some house cleaning.

Free up storage space on Mac

ebskye wrote:

Thank you. I have two other defacto MBs, one air and one Pro and have only updated earlier models, so appreciate your response. There are quite a few complaints on the boards re: Tahoe updates, so have always had aversion to updating and have used the older OS for from 6-8 years without too much confusion. Thanks again!

There are always complaints about new versions. However, you need to keep in mind that the people who aren't having problems don't come to forums to post that. Also, problems with updates can be the result of third-party apps that aren't properly updated, user error, simple misunderstandings or people who just don't like the new colors.

But...there's also nothing wrong with staying with what works for you.

For freeing up space, the best place to look is in your own user folder. There are like a lot of stuff that you don't need on a daily basis and just need to be archived on an external drive. Once transferred and verified that the transfer was successful you then delete from the internal.