It’s pretty simple to depart Home windows behind. Simply purchase a Mac, take a few days to settle in, and by no means look again. However for Microsoft Workplace customers who don’t have a Microsoft 365 subscription, the necessity to purchase Workplace for Mac once more is usually a pricey problem.
For those who work in a conventional workplace surroundings that runs on Excel and Phrase, you may need to chew the bullet to appease your coworkers. However for those who’ve outgrown that world and nonetheless have to edit and ship Workplace paperwork from time to time, you’ve gotten various choices.
For those who’re not prepared to purchase Microsoft Workplace, listed below are your finest free Workplace and Microsoft Phrase alternate options for Mac.
1. Google Suite
For those who’re going to let go of the Microsoft world and also you’re in search of a free phrase processor for Mac, your finest wager is to affix the Google alliance. Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides are the Mac and Home windows equivalents and the three direct alternate options to Microsoft Phrase, Excel, and PowerPoint—they’re primarily free Workplace in your Mac!
There’s no actual various to Outlook past Gmail, and you will get OneNote on Mac without spending a dime.
Google’s suite is actually good and integrates nicely together with your Google account. You’ll be capable to open an Excel file you obtained through Gmail in Google Sheets, which is actually only a free model of Excel.
You may simply import Microsoft Workplace recordsdata to work on them, then export them once more in Microsoft Workplace codecs to cross them round. And if what you’re doing is pretty fundamental, with normal fonts and formatting, you will get away with it. The opposite celebration won’t ever discover out that you just’re not utilizing Microsoft Workplace correctly.
In some methods, Google Docs is extra highly effective than Microsoft Phrase. There’s an intensive add-on gallery, lovely templates, superior analysis instruments built-in, and Google search capabilities as well. All of those superb options primarily make Google Docs a free model of Phrase for Mac.
Plus, there’s the benefit of Google’s cloud prowess. Collaborating with a number of customers concurrently in a doc is pure pleasure. It’s a bit profit, but it surely does wonders for productiveness.
All the suite is free and also you get 15GB of storage included. The one drawback is that there’s no actual desktop app for any of those (although you’ll be able to work offline on paperwork in Chrome, utilizing the Offline mode).
The accompanying apps for iPhone and iPad are nice too.
Go to: Google Docs | Google Sheets | Google Slides (Free)
2. LibreOffice
LibreOffice is widely known as one of the best open-source various to the Microsoft Workplace suite. This implies it’s fully free and obtainable on a bunch of platforms. It’s by far probably the greatest Microsoft Workplace alternate options for Mac.
For those who’re used to the Microsoft Workplace consumer interface (pre-Ribbon period), it gained’t take you lengthy to regulate to LibreOffice. In contrast to Google’s apps, the LibreOffice suite comes with featured-packed offline desktop apps with all the professional options you count on.
To make the deal even sweeter, LibreOffice not too long ago added a web-based element. So you’ll be able to sync recordsdata from Google Drive or OneDrive and edit them proper in LibreOffice (there’s no collaboration function, although).
LibreOffice additionally does a very good job with regard to formatting when importing Microsoft Workplace paperwork. Even complicated Excel spreadsheets imported into LibreOffice Calc work as they need to.
LibreOffice really grew out of OpenOffice, which was once the de facto various to Microsoft Workplace. However OpenOffice hasn’t seen any significant updates not too long ago, and its administration is contemplating retiring the challenge. So we advise you to keep away from OpenOffice. Conversely, LibreOffice’s monitor file within the latest previous has been nice.
Obtain: LibreOffice (Free)
3. iWork Suite
Included together with your Mac is the iWork suite: Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. These are Apple’s personal alternate options to Phrase, Excel, and PowerPoint. Pages, as an illustration, is without doubt one of the finest Phrase alternate options for Mac.
As these are Mac-centric apps, the UI is kind of totally different. As an alternative of being top-heavy, the choices present up in a contextual menu on the facet. And also you don’t have as many choices because the Microsoft Workplace suite. Since all three apps are actually matured, all of the fundamentals are lined.
When you get used to them, they’re really nice to make use of (one thing we will’t essentially say about Microsoft Workplace). Whereas customization choices are restricted, all the pieces that’s obtainable is kind of polished.
While you create something in Keynote, likelihood is you’ll find yourself creating one thing lovely. The identical goes with Pages—shifting textual content, pictures, and graphs round is a seamless expertise that doesn’t make you need to pull your hair out.
The iWork suite allows you to import and export paperwork in Microsoft Workplace codecs (it would save to the iWork format by default, although). And so long as you don’t use a Mac-specific font, going back-and-forth with Workplace paperwork shouldn’t be an enormous drawback.
iWork additionally has on-line collaboration choices however, frankly, I wouldn’t advocate utilizing them. They’re nowhere close to as dependable as Google’s providing.
Obtain: Pages | Numbers | Keynote (Free)
4. Workplace On-line
When nothing else will do, and you continue to want a free model of Workplace for Mac, simply open Office.com. It primarily offers you entry to Microsoft Workplace for Mac but it surely’s free, although with restricted options. Workplace On-line is Microsoft’s free and fundamental Microsoft Workplace service, which works in any browser.
Whereas the function set is proscribed, the fundamentals of doc modifying, spreadsheet formulation, and presentation choices are all lined. You’ll get entry to Microsoft Phrase, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote without spending a dime. Simply go to the Workplace hyperlink under after which choose Signal Up for the Free Model of Workplace.
Go to: Office Online (Free)
5. Edit Workplace Paperwork in Dropbox
Dropbox’s partnership with Microsoft means you’ll be able to open a Phrase, Excel, or PowerPoint doc shared with you on Dropbox. You don’t want an Workplace 365 license, however you’ll require a free Microsoft account.
Utilizing this feature opens your doc in Workplace On-line.
Go to: Dropbox (Free, subscription obtainable)
PowerPoint is highly effective, but it surely’s additionally fairly old-school. If you wish to stand out together with your displays, try some more modern online presentation tools:
- Slides: That is my private favourite for creating lovely displays simply. The free account allows you to create and current paperwork on-line. To export, you’ll have to improve to a paid account.
- Prezi: Whereas this service is geared extra in direction of startups, the visible instruments supplied by Prezi are past something you will get with PowerPoint.
- Canva: Canva is a web-based picture editor, but it surely has an intensive library of presentation templates. Plus, Canva offers you all of the vital instruments for making a custom-made presentation.
7. Embrace Markdown
That is an concept purely out of the left area. You probably have given up Home windows and are embracing the Mac platform, you will need to have began appreciating macOS’s simplicity by now. If you’d like extra of that for creating and modifying plain textual content paperwork, it is best to strive utilizing Markdown.
Markdown is a syntax like HTML, but it surely’s a lot less complicated. While you use a Markdown app to put in writing, you don’t get misplaced in dozens of menu choices. All of the formatting occurs utilizing shortcodes. So, for instance, to make a phrase italic, you wrap it with asterisks.
You may create a posh formatted doc with out ever shifting your arms away from the keyboard. Plus, Markdown exports as clear HTML, and you’ll generate lovely PDFs utilizing apps like Ulysses.
If Wanted, Use Microsoft Workplace With out Paying for It
Shopping for the most recent model of Microsoft Workplace will price you a number of hundred {dollars} (or a subscription to Microsoft 365). More often than not, the choices listed above will suffice for you.
Google Docs works as a terrific various to Phrase, and the identical goes for Sheets and Excel. For those who’re in search of offline alternate options, LibreOffice ought to be greater than sufficient.
However there could be occasions when it’s important to use Workplace for a specific activity or for a restricted time period. On this case, you could possibly choose up an affordable Workplace license, or with some analysis, you possibly can get Phrase for Mac without spending a dime.
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