Updates to Excel for Mac 2016

[tygrrboi]

Like many Mac users I was excited when 2016 was coming out. Reading reviews online, however, soon left me disappointed as apparently all of the Macro capabilities of 2011 were missing from this update. I decided not to make the switch...

Now I am facing a situation at work where a new version of Excel needs to be purchased for a different computer. I could not find any available official purchases for 2011 so I emailed a question. I was informed that 2016 has made significant progress with its updates since the release (in addition to Mac's updates) and most of the issues have been resolved.

What I am wondering is... does anyone have experience with the updated version of Excel for Mac 2016? Are macros (user forms, class modules... the full power of the Visual Basic Editor...) back in play? Is it now worth switching to this version?

Please let me know!

 

[ping_pong]

I've used it long enough to know I don't want it - running the Windows version through Parallels on a Mac is good enough for me. Microsoft has taken a form > function approach with the significant changes they've made to the editor – things are intuitive and simple but not everything is there. Including userforms. There are no userforms in Excel for Mac '16.

Microsoft oscillates between scrapping VBA on the Mac entirely and implementing the full editor, object model, etc. As the future of VBA is still unclear, especially so is its development on the Mac. And although some Googling tells me they've made significant improvements on the Mac side, things are headed towards Javascript last time I checked. There's a lot of stuff about this online. Tons.

Windows is the way to go for Excel in my opinion. Do you use the Mac a lot at work? What sort of things are making you consider the switch?

 

[tygrrboi]

I use a mac at work because I prefer it to Windows. Additionally I've become more adept at incorporating apple script into my VBA, calling on terminal and Automator as part of the code...

The reason for the switch is that the computer I will be switching to has Excel 2011 in Japanese. I would prefer an English version (even though it is just the menus...) and was looking into buying it but it is no longer for sale. While I am personally fine with getting a version of 2011 through more questionable sources for my personal use, I do not think I should be doing this for a company computer... Since the only thing officially available is 2016 I was just wondering if it was useable... but based on your comments it seems like its not.

The prospect of macros heading toward javascript is pretty exciting... I look forward to that!

 

[RoryA]

The VBE in Mac Excel 2016 does indeed still have a long way to go, unfortunately. It is not true to say that Microsoft has plans to scrap VBA on the Mac - unless you are privy to some information I am not. Their stated intent is in fact parity between Windows and Mac and, although it is true to say that Javascript add-ins are their future focus, VBA will not be going away in the foreseeable future.

And just to clarify, userforms do work on the Mac, you just can't create them there.