14 DAY TRIAL // Apple announced at WWDC that the next version of macOS would be called High Sierra and would launch in the fall, with developers already allowed to download and give it a try.
As far as Microsoft software is concerned, most programs developed to run on macOS Sierra should work just fine on High Sierra as well, as long as they continue to receive support from the company.
But in the case of Office for Mac, Apple customers need to choose the 2016 version, as the previous 2011 edition would no longer be supported, hence won’t work on High Sierra.
Updated Office 2016 running fine on High Sierra
The company explains in an announcement today that with end of support imminent for Office 2011 for Mac, no other updates and security patches would be shipped after October, and this is why the productivity suite won’t work on the new OS either. The final version of High Sierra is expected to launch in the fall as well.
“Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Lync have not been tested on macOS 10.13 High Sierra, and no formal support for this configuration will be provided,” Microsoft explains.
“All applications in the Office for Mac 2011 suite are reaching end of support on October 10th, 2017. As a reminder, after that date there will be no new security updates, non-security updates, free or paid assisted support options or technical content updates.”
On the other hand, Microsoft explains that all Office 2016 apps should install and run on High Sierra, though it admits that some issues could be experienced, and this is why feedback needs to be sent to the company as long as the operating system is still in beta.
“Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote will install and run on 10.13. Not all Office functionality may be available, and you may encounter stability problems where apps unexpectedly quit. During the beta period for macOS 10.13 High Sierra, no formal support is available for this Office configuration,” Microsoft explains.
Office 2016 for Mac version 15.34 and earlier might fail to launch on High Sierra, so an update to the productivity suite could be required for the new Apple operating system.