Office 2019 for Mac will stop working shortly: Microsoft will disable the creation, editing and saving of documents on July 13. This means that those of us who still use Office apps on our Mac will have to find another option to keep working. Here is what we need to know.
What will happen to Word, Excel and the rest of the Office 2019 for Mac apps
The reason behind all this is the expiry of the digital certificate that validates the Office 2019 for Mac license. The company has already renewed that certificate, but the solution requires an update. And since Office 2019 reached the end of its support lifecycle in October 2023, it is excluded from that possible update.
So, from July 13 onwards, the entire Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac suite—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote—will move into reduced functionality mode: files can be opened, viewed and printed, but editing tasks will no longer be possible. This will also affect iPhone and iPad apps that remain on older versions with no option to update.
Alternatives for continuing to edit documents on Mac
What can we do? Microsoft explains that reinstalling Office 2019 will not change the situation either. However, the renewed certificate is included in version 16.83 of the apps, an update that will be available for Microsoft 365 and Office 2021. So, if we use one of these editions and have a Mac running macOS Monterey or later, we only need to check that we are up to date in Word > About Word.
The options, then, are to use Microsoft 365, which keeps Word, Excel, PowerPoint (which Steve Jobs was not particularly fond of), Outlook and OneNote always up to date through a subscription. Alternatively, we can buy Office 2024 with a one-off payment, an option closer to Office 2019 that is still currently supported.
Another possibility is to use Microsoft 365’s web apps for free through the browser. They work really well for everyday tasks and make it easy to access documents from any Mac, iPhone or iPad. Although, admittedly, some advanced features and offline work are better handled through the apps.
LibreOffice remains a free and very comprehensive option for working locally. And, of course, one of the best alternatives is to switch to the apps built into the Apple ecosystem. Pages, Numbers and Keynote make it easy to open and export Office formats.
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