Microsoft has released a Universal build of Office for Mac that supports Apple Silicon in the beta channel, previously known as Insider fast ring. With this release, Mac users can run Office apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive on the latest Apple devices with M1 chip – 13-inch MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini.
The announcement comes from Erik Schwiebert, Microsoft’s principal software engineer for Apple products in the Office Experiences group via Twitter. In a follow-up tweet, Schwiebert says the executable binaries are roughly 50 percent larger and the overall apps are almost 25 percent larger than before.
Schwiebert clarifies that the Redmond giant doesn’t have an official timeline as to when customers should expect a stable public release. Moreover, he added that the beta release is just an ‘initial peek for customers to test on hardware they may be acquiring this week.’
MSFT plans to push a Universal build of Mac Office 2019 to the Beta Channel (formerly “Insider Fast”) by the end of today.
We don’t have a public date or version for a final release; this is an initial peek for customers to test on hardware they may be acquiring this week… 🙂
— Erik Schwiebert (@Schwieb) November 11, 2020
If you’re interested to try out the latest Office beta for Mac and have an active Microsoft 365 subscription, you will have to enroll in Microsoft’s Office Insider program. You will find instructions to install Office beta on Mac right here.
The development comes just a couple of days after Apple started accepting app updates for macOS Big Sur. “You can submit Universal apps built with Xcode 12.2 that take full advantage of Apple silicon Macs. Your apps will look better than ever on macOS Big Sur, thanks to an all-new interface that’s been finely tuned for the powerful features that make a Mac a Mac,” says Apple.
