MS Office on pro11 with ARM

[SurfaceDude]

I have a (legal) copy of Office ? - one of the last? standalone versions, which will not install on the S Pro11 - apparently the ARM does not allow it....

(disclaimer: below is my personal understanding, and may not be entirely accurate....)

I understand Office 365 has been 'taught' to work with ARM versions and WinWord, Excel are "free" for personal use.
I have avoided Office 365 as I do not always have an internet connection.

anyone taken that path?
will the S Pro11 ARM version(s) of WinWord and Excel operate with no internet connection?
[[ work=access existing files, print, created new, modify existing files ]]

any tips/tricks from experience?

 

[GoMan]

Which specific version of Microsoft Office are you attempting to install?

 

[SurfaceDude]

2016
eta 64-bit

 

[GoMan]

Office 2016 cannot be installed on Windows 11 running on ARM, because the Office 2016 installers aren’t compatible with the Windows on ARM environment.

A safer choice is to upgrade to Office 2024, which does run on Windows on ARM. While Office 2024 isn’t a native ARM64 build like Microsoft 365 and instead runs in emulation mode, it works fully offline once activated.

I’m in a similar situation: I currently subscribe to Microsoft 365, but I’m considering switching to Office 2024 for its offline capabilities and one‑time purchase model.

 

[SurfaceDude]

ah, ye' olde Installer issue . . . ran into that will old(er) version of AutoCAD.... (installer is 8-bit; other machine... yadda yadda)

(again) if I understood correctly.... once upon a time, MS offered an ARM install utility for Office.
found the link,
went to the link,
"This download is no longer available"
gosh, what a company . . .

the Surface tablet is not my primary computer - I use it for travel/away from home events - simply because it is smaller/lighter/easier to tote around. hence my 'need' for transparency between desktop and tablet is infrequent, but essential.
I bought the Pro11 based on RAM available, was not happy with small SSHD size - but I carry an xcopy version of my primary computer data on a SS external drive, problem solved - by brute force, but solved.

I'm looking at other pseudo-Office software packages that can read/write in the ARM environment. Excel is actually the 'most' critical as I use it to track/record data 'on a daily basis'

an internet tethered Officer version is simply not a workable solution for me.
thanks for the help - if you have further tips - most appreciated.

 

[bradavon]

Office 2016 cannot be installed on Windows 11 running on ARM

This is wrong.

Office 2016 32-Bit is compatible with Windows on ARM. This is how Windows 10 has Windows on ARM support circa Surface Pro X. Office 2013 32-Bit onwards.

While Office 2024 isn’t a native ARM64 build like Microsoft 365 and instead runs in emulation mode, it works fully offline once activated.

This is also wrong. Office 64 bit is also ARM combined from Office 2021 onwards.

It isn't emulated but native. The reason there is no dedicated ARM release is to provide backwards compatibility for things like COM Add-ins but the 64-Bit release has native ARM code through ARM64 EC too. See this here:

Arm64EC for Windows 11 apps on Arm

Learn how Arm64EC empowers you to build and incrementally update apps that benefit from native performance on Arm devices, without interrupting your current x64 functionality.

learn.microsoft.com