Microsoft would prefer both Mac and Windows users of Office to move to the online version, Office 365, but it’s still entirely up to you. In fact, you can already use some Microsoft Office. The new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote provide the best of both worlds for Mac users - the familiar Office experience paired with the best of Mac. If you already use Office on a PC or iPad, you will find yourself right at home in Office 2016 for Mac.
Applies to:Office for Mac
This article is for IT administrators and discusses frequently asked questions about the availability of Office from the Mac App Store, and the differences between downloading and distributing Office apps directly from Microsoft.
Starting in January 2019, the following Office applications are available for download from the Mac App Store:
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft OneNote*
- Microsoft OneDrive*
* These apps were also available from the Mac App Store in previous years.
What version of Office is available from the Mac App Store?
The Office apps available from the Mac App Store provide the latest Current Channel version of Office on the Mac. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook require an Office 365 (or Microsoft 365) subscription to activate. OneNote and OneDrive do not require a subscription, but some premium features may require a subscription. All apps are compatible with Office 365 (and Microsoft 365) subscription plans, such as Office 365 E5 or Microsoft 365 Business Premium.
Note
Some Office 365 (and Microsoft 365) subscriptions don't include access to downloadable Office apps. For example, the Office 365 E1 and Microsoft 365 Business Basic plans. For more information, see Office 365 plans.
Can I use apps from the Mac App Store with my Volume License?
No. Perpetual licenses, such as Office 2019, are not supported with Office apps available from the Mac App Store. The Volume License (VL) Serializer is not compatible with these apps. Attempts to use a perpetual license with Mac App Store apps will cause the apps to enter reduced functionality mode.
How do I deploy Office apps from the Mac App Store to computers in my organization?
You need an enterprise mobility management (EMM) tool that supports either Apple's Volume Purchase Program (VPP), Apple Business Manager, or Apple School Manager. For example, Jamf Pro is compatible with these programs and can be used to deploy Office apps. Office supports managed distribution, which allows your Mobile Device Management (MDM) server to install Office even when the user does not have an Apple ID. Office apps cannot be distributed through redeemable codes.
While a consumer may acquire Office through the Mac App Store as a bundle with a single-click download, IT admins will need to deploy the individual apps.
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When deployed through the Mac App Store, does Office behave differently, or provide less functionality?
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote provide the same end-user functionality regardless of how it is deployed. IT admins have traditionally deployed Office from Microsoft's Content Delivery Network (CDN), but now have the option of deploying from the Mac App Store.
The OneDrive app, when acquired from Microsoft's CDN, offers IT admins more deployment flexibility such as pre-enabling icon overlays and system access. When acquired from the Mac App Store, users will see additional prompts to enable this functionality.
The Office builds available from the Mac App Store are Current Channel builds and are usually updated on a monthly basis. The Office Insider program is not supported through the Mac App Store. If you wish to use Current Channel (Preview) or Beta Channel, you should continue to install Office apps from the Microsoft CDN.
Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business are not available through the Mac App Store and must be deployed from the Microsoft CDN.
How do Office updates occur?
When Office apps are deployed through the Mac App Store, it is the sole responsibility of the App Store to keep those apps up to date. Conversely, apps deployed from Microsoft's CDN are updated through the Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU) tool. Content caching services in macOS can be used (and is highly recommended) to optimize both the installation and update process of Office apps acquired through the Mac App Store.
The download size of monthly update packages is the same, regardless of whether the CDN or Mac App Store is used for deployment.
Can I convert an existing CDN-based Office installation to Mac App Store?
If a user launches the App Store app on their Mac, they may see that Office apps are available for download even though Office is already installed from Microsoft's CDN. Depending upon the currently installed Office build, and the build available in the Mac App Store, the existing app may or may not get overwritten. For example, if the build of Office currently installed is newer than what is available from the Mac App Store (such as an Insider build), it will not be overwritten if the user chooses to download the Mac App Store build.
There is no automated process for performing a CDN to Mac App Store conversion. Depending on your EMM's capabilities, you may be able to orchestrate the process through a script. The high-level steps for each Mac are as follows:
- Close all Office apps
- Remove the Office apps from the /Applications folder
- Remove the Office entries from the keychain
- Remove the Office package registrations (
pkgutil --forget
) - Trigger the MDM server to install the Office apps (such as
jamf recon
)
While CDN-based installations of Office can utilize the bandwidth-optimized suite installer, which is approximately 1.8 GB in size, the total size of the same apps when deployed through the Mac App Store is approximately 4 GB.
How can I tell if an Office app was downloaded from the Mac App Store?
- Open Finder, and navigate to the Applications folder
- Locate the Office app (such as Microsoft Outlook.app), control-click, and choose Show Package Contents
- Navigate into the Contents folder
- If a folder named
_MASReceipt
is present, the app was downloaded from the Mac App Store
How do I manage Office policies and preferences with apps downloaded from the Mac App Store?
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote offer the same policies and preferences as their CDN-based counterparts. IT admins do not need to alter existing Configuration Profiles as the bundle ID for each app is unchanged.
Note
OneNote does use a different bundle ID, and different management controls are available depending on how you obtain the app. For more information, see Deploy and configure the new OneDrive sync client for Mac.
It is highly recommended that IT admins set the OfficeAutoSignIn value to TRUE
in the com.microsoft.office
preferences domain. For new installations from the Mac App Store, this preference will bypass the first run dialogs that ask users if they wish to purchase a new Office 365 (or Microsoft 365) subscription. This will mitigate calls to the help desk in commercial environments as users can only activate an existing subscription.
Note
Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.
Symptoms
After you install a font into the Fonts folder in the operating system and start Microsoft Word for Mac, the font unexpectedly is not available in the Font dialog box, in the drop-down list, or in the Formatting Palette.
Cause
Third-party fonts are not directly supported in Microsoft Office for Mac applications. Some third-party fonts may work in one application and not in another. Other third-party fonts are installed in a 'family'. A family usually consists of the third-party font itself together with some or all of its variations (bold, italic, and so forth). Sometimes, a font may be displayed in Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft Entourage, but you may be unable to use one of its variations, such as italic.
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Office does not support custom fonts. This includes any fonts that were manipulated by a font or typography program.
Note
Microsoft Office for Mac technical support does not provide support for installing or configuring third-party fonts.
Basic font troubleshooting
If the following methods don't resolve your font issue, contact the font manufacturer or the website from which you purchased the fonts.
First, restart your computer, and then test the font again. Some installations are not complete until the computer is restarted. This also makes sure that all applications are restarted after the installation.
Method 1
Clear the font caches. To do this, quit all Microsoft Office applications. On the Home menu, click Go > Applications, and then click Apple's Font Book.
On the Edit menu, click Select Duplicated Fonts.
On the Edit menu, click Resolve Duplicates.
To remove all the fonts from the computer that Font Book just disabled, follow these steps:
- After the duplicates have been resolved, select each disabled font, click File > Reveal in Finder, and then drag it to the trash.
- You may notice that Font Book sometimes turns off the newer copy of the font instead of the older one. If you prefer the newer copy, drag the older one to the trash, and then re-enable the new one.
Restart the computer. Apple OS X will rebuild its font cache, and Word will rebuild its font cache from that.
For best performance in Word, try to run with all your fonts enabled all the time. Each time that Word starts, it compares its font cache with the system font cache. If the two don't match, Word will regenerate its own font cache, which can take a few seconds. If you have dynamically enabled fonts, the system font cache will appear different nearly every time that Word runs this comparison.
You must do this every time you install an update, because the Microsoft installer tries to restore the disabled fonts each time.
Method 2
Restart the computer in Safe mode. Then, restart the computer normally. For more information about how to restart your computer in Safe mode, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
2398596 How to use a 'clean startup' to determine whether background programs are interfering with Office for Mac
Method 3
Create a new user account to determine whether the problem is associated with an existing user account.
The font is damaged, or the system is not reading the font
If the font is not a custom font and does not appear in your Office program, the font may be damaged. To reinstall the font, see Mac OS X: Font locations and their purposes.
The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.