I am using a Macbook from (early 2014) and just bought the latest 2019 Macbook. I have a lot of Word docs that I don’t want to lose. I have been using Word 2008 and I have not yet switched on my new Macbook. When I start using it, I plan to subscribe to the MS Office Suite. I have backed up this MacBook and will transfer docs to the new Mac. Will I have any problems opening old Word docs that I have saved over the last 6 years when I try to open in the new Mac (using El Capitan 10.11.6 now…and will move to Catalina). The 2008 Microsoft Office app (that I care about) is the only old app that won’t work with the new MacBook.
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Melissa
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How Can I Not Lose Word Files When Moving From My 2014 Mac To New 2019 Mac?
Comments: 2 Responses to “How Can I Not Lose Word Files When Moving From My 2014 Mac To New 2019 Mac?”
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That old 2008 version of Word is 32-bit You simply need the latest version Word to work on a Mac running Catalina. Word and all of Microsoft Office has been 64-bit for some time, it is just that you haven't upgraded. You can get the latest version from Microsoft or at the Mac App Store (free download, subscription to really use them). These require an annual subscription rather than buying them, but you don't have to worry about upgrades as those are included. It costs $70/year and is called Microsoft 365 Personal.
Or, Microsoft has a special one-time payment version for $150 for "Office Home & Student 2019." But eventually there would be a new version and you would have to pay to get it. That's the difference between $70/year and $150/on time. You also get more Microsoft apps with the subscription and some cloud space too.
All of those details are spelled out here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products-b
But you have other options as well. You say you just don't want to "lose" these files. Well upgrading to Catalina doesn't take them away. You still have them. You can view them in Quick Look, TextEdit and Pages, though the formatting won't be perfect. If these are simple documents or things where you care about the information in the files and not the design, then no problem. You don't need Word to open them on a Mac. And you can use Pages to create word processing documents and export them as Word .docx files that you can send to people who are on Windows computers. Or, keep them as Pages documents if they are just documents for yourself.
There are many other apps you can get that handle Word documents as well, most of them for free. See https://macmost.com/8-ways-to-handle-microsoft-word-documents-on-your-mac.html
Thanks for the response Gary