How to upgrade Microsoft Office 2004 (for Mac)

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Level 1

9 points

How to upgrade Microsoft Office 2004 (for Mac)

I have been using an old version of Word and Excel for a long time. I don't particularly want anything more sophisticated than what I have, but I am wanting to upgrade the OS on my Mac Mini to Mavericks.... and I am told Microsoft Office 2004 will not work. Please explain how to move to a newer version of Microsoft Office for Mac - at minimum expense. I do not want the latest and greatest, only something that will be compatible with Mavericks.

Presumably I should upgrade MS Office FIRST..... otherwise my documents and spreadsheets will be lost.

Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jul 30, 2014 4:12 PM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

741,881 points

Jul 30, 2014 4:15 PM in response to jap0nica

Try using a product such as LibreOffice. If that doesn’t work, buy and install Office 2008 or 2011.

(110283)

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Jul 30, 2014 4:30 PM in response to jap0nica

Office 2004 and Other Applications Don't Work in Lion/Mountain Lion

If you have Office 2004 which is a PPC-only suite, it will not work in Lion/Mountain Lion. You need to upgrade to Office 2011 - Mactopia - or you can try the freeware suite, Libre Office, that is functionally similar to Office 2007 for Windows except it works on Lion/Mountain Lion.

You may want to consider as well:

These two suites are similar to Libre Office but not as current or as well-supported:

NeoOffice

Open Office

And, then there is Apple's iWork suite:

Pages - word processing and layout

Keynote - presentation

Numbers - spreadsheet

Each can open and save Office compatible files. They may be purchased separately via the Mac App Store for $19.99 each.

As for other software, any PPC-based software will not run in Lion or Mountain Lion because Rosetta is no longer part of OS X. You will need to upgrade to Intel versions of the software.

(Access to the Mac App Store requires Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or higher and an Apple ID.)

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Answer 3

jap0nica Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 31, 2014 11:02 AM in response to Niel

I've decided to purchase MS Office 2011. I can save over $40 by downloading it from My Choice Software which has 3 recent positive reviews. Are there any risks involved by not ordering from the Microsoft site?

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Answer 4

Niel

Level 10

741,881 points

Jul 31, 2014 11:08 AM in response to jap0nica

There don’t appear to be any problems with ordering a retail box from that site.

(110318)

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