Microsoft Office Vs Open Office & Outlook Email & Other Software

bigyun2000

bigyun2000

bigyun2000

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Joined
20 Jan 2012
Posts
21
Location
Rotherham UK
Hi all.
I am a total newbie to the Mac World. I have totally gone from Windows 10 and Android to completely wanting to use Mac etc.

I use MS Office on Win 10 PC and Outlook for all my Contacts, Calendar and emails. (emails thru Yahoo.co.uk) I use MS Word & MS Excel mainly.
When I want to backup my mail, contacts & calendars it's easy I just copy my Documents/Outlook Files/and the pst file.

Firstly can I do this with Mac As someone suggested I would have to buy the Mac version of Office 365 or use Open Office I think they said.

Secondly what top 5 apps would be beneficial on my MacPro?

Many thanks
Stay Safe
Tony (Rotherham UK)
 
Do you have a 365 subscription for your PC? Often the account allows you to install on up to two computers (including Macs). I believe the latest Mac versions of the Office apps are distributed via the Mac App Store and you just login with your account once downloaded.

Worth a look
 
Thanks. Just seems strange Microsoft & Apple mixing? I was wondering if I can change my emailing system from MS Outlook to iCloud. I use Yahoo.co.uk for my email, contacts & calendar using pop3 so when I open Outlook it automatically downloads all my email. Can I use icloud in the same or similar way?
Thanks Tony (Rotherham UK)
 
Not sure why that seems strange? They're just applications and you've still bought the Apple hardware and paid for the Microsoft sub.

You can use whatever email service and email client you like. Mail.app on macOS would support Yahoo emails, iCloud, whatever. Outlook would do the same.

My two cents: Although the latest version of Outlook for Mac is a lot better than previous ones, it's still super bloated and power hungry. Mail.app has suited my needs in work and home but it's all a matter of preference.
 
@Feek Yes but not often due to severe illnesses over recent years. I was M3TDC, then 2E0TDC and finally M0MTD. Although i'm not on much I do like a good earwig. Still scanning, was digital but decided to stick with analogue. Still like Military & Civil aviation although very little going on due to the current situation. I have been isolating for 3 weeks now and I'm bored which doesn't take much. My wife is NHS on the front line at Rotherham Hospital so she's out most days so it's just me and my 10 yr old daughter. (She's doing my head innnnnnnnnn). :)

Anyway back to Mac stuff. I bought an iPhone X and got rid of my Android Samsung S10, then I got a MacBook Pro 13 (Mid 2012) 16GB i5-310Ghz 512GB SSD a few days ago so trying to learn how to do things the Mac way and not the PC way. It's very daunting. I have got some books thru Kindle and I download the latest Magazines (Subscription) seen loads of video's but disappearing up my own a**e. Another issue is that over the years I have bought software for PC but no doubt they will want paying again for a Mac version. I do a lot of Music so we can play it in the car on a USB stick and I download YouTube video's so I can watch them when I have the time (when little one is in bed). My main software is converting my DVD's into MP4 or MKV especially my DVD Series. Stick them on a USB Stick, saves taking originals with us if we go on holiday etc.

Mac Software I bought: CleanMyMac X, Macx-Video-Converter-PRO, Macupdater.

If there is anything you can recommend, i'm all ears.
That's all for now. Take care
Tony (Rotherham UK)
 
My tuppence worth: I have done the same thing, been on Windows PCs forever and had Nokia Windows phones (8 & 10), which were pretty good. When they bit the dust I decided to go to iPhone rather than Android for security and stability reasons and haven’t looked back - 3 years later I am on my second iPhone (XR), had a Macbook Pro (now my dad’s!) and am currently typing this on an iPad Air after again donating my iPad Pro 10.5” to my mum, who loves it.

With using Onedrive as my main storage and currently having Office 365 for work reasons I find they integrate very well into iOS, although have recently gone back to using stock Calendar, Reminders, Mail and Notes apps as they are much faster and smoother than the Microsoft versions (Outlook, OneNote, To Do). I use my Outlook email with stock Mail with no issues. I have always found Outlook contacts to be a pain, adding in random emails and so on so much prefer iCloud to store/sync contacts, although you can easily sync in Outlook contacts. I also find Pages to be nicer to use than iOS Word, especially when it comes to page design and moving graphics around. Numbers vs Excel is pretty much preference if you don’t have extreme needs for power and aren’t running a multi-national corporation from one sheet.

i think it all depends with Office how much you share and collaborate files. I don’t, so I’m quite happy to use the easier iOS layout of Pages and export to PDF for longterm backup (have just done that with a load of doc files that don’t need further editing so I’m not locked in). Onedrive integrates very smoothly, although the app has bene playing up this last week and not uploading files via the Share tab.

All this would apply to MacOS as well, in my experience. Overall I do not miss using Windows at all at home and would be very reluctant to return (work is a different story, stuck with it unfortunately!). I would agree with shiver above, give it a try, I’ve flip-flopped between the stock apps and the Microsoft ones easily to find which work best. Hope this helps!
 
@SDMFer Thanks for your kind tuppence worth. I have always used MSOutlook as I can sort folders and when emails come in they automatically go the correct folder. When I do a system overhall of Windows and reset to factory settings MSOutlook back up's easily. That's always my standard backup.
Win10, MSOffice then put back my Outlook so I don't lose a contact or anything. I have only had the MAC OS but a little intimidated.

My MacBook Pro came with MacOS Catalina. But I am a bit of an OCD person. So to make it mine my next step is to see how to do a factory reset, download and re-install Catalina so it's like new. Then make a bootable USB Stick. So if you have any experience with that, i'm all ears. I will have a look at some video's and with some luck I can make a fresh start without knackering it up.
Thanks
Tony (Rotherham UK)
 
If your email is with Yahoo then have a look at IMAP. POP, if you are still using it, isn't a great idea. You may have to upload from your PST back to Yahoo to get the archives/history you want.

Then you can keep your Email synced and accessible from a Web Browser, and you can use the native Mail app across all of your iDevices. You can also use the native Contacts and Calendar Apps on the iDevices too to sync using CalDAV or CardDAV.
 
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