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Office Apps on Mac
Microsoft maintains full-featured native Mac apps for the entire Office suite. They're not watered-down web wrappers: they're real apps with feature parity for most tasks.
Install
bash
brew install --cask microsoft-officeThis installs Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive in one shot.
Or install individually from the Mac App Store.
What Works the Same
| Feature | Mac | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Core editing (Word, Excel, PPT) | Full feature set | Full feature set |
| Real-time co-authoring | Yes | Yes |
| OneDrive sync and AutoSave | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Yes | Yes |
| Teams meetings and chat | Yes | Yes |
| Outlook email and calendar | Yes | Yes |
| SharePoint and OneDrive web | Safari or any browser | Edge or any browser |
What's Different on Mac
| Feature | Mac Behavior | Windows Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| VBA macros | Supported but some Windows-specific APIs missing | Full support |
| COM add-ins | Not supported | Supported |
| Access database | Not available on Mac | Desktop app |
| Publisher | Not available on Mac | Desktop app |
| PowerPivot / Power Query | Limited in desktop Excel | Full support |
| File paths in macros | Use / (POSIX) paths | Use \ paths |
If you need Access or Publisher, use the web versions at office.com or use your Windows machine.
Power Query and Power Pivot
Excel on Mac now supports basic Power Query (Get & Transform Data). For advanced data modeling:
- Simple queries: use Excel on Mac
- Complex Power Query / Power Pivot: use Excel on Windows, or use Power BI Desktop (Windows only)
- Both platforms: save to OneDrive so the file is accessible from either machine
Printing
Print to PDF
| Platform | How |
|---|---|
| Mac | Cmd + P > PDF dropdown (bottom-left) > Save as PDF |
| Windows | Ctrl + P > select "Microsoft Print to PDF" |
Both work in every app. The Mac version is slightly more convenient with the built-in PDF button in every print dialog.
Shared Printers
See Printer Sharing for sharing printers between your Mac and PC on the same network.
Notifications
Getting the Same Notifications on Both Machines
If you use Teams, Outlook, and Slack on both platforms, you'll get duplicate notifications. Solutions:
- Turn off email notifications on one device: let your primary machine handle it
- Use Focus modes on Mac to silence work notifications after hours
- Configure notification priority in each app's settings independently
Focus Mode vs Windows Focus
| Feature | Mac Focus | Windows Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule-based | Yes | Yes |
| App filters | Yes | Yes |
| Contact filters | Yes | Limited |
| Cross-device sync | Yes (iPhone, iPad, Mac) | Yes (Windows + Android) |
| Calendar integration | Yes | Yes |