Office for Mac get docx converter - finally

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At long last … an OOXML (docx, xlsx, pptz etc) converter for Mac finally appears.

At long last … an OOXML (docx etc) converter for Mac finally appears

Microsoft has released an ‘Open XML converter’ for Office 2004 and v X for Mac users. This means users of those ‘Office for Mac’ versions can now open and save documents in the ‘new’ Office 2007 / Open XML formats.

I say ‘new’ – in fact the formats went public almost 2 years ago with the release of Office 2007 in late 2006. The string of broken promises and delays from the Microsoft Macintosh division is something that all concerned should hang their heads in shame (but they won’t).

The ‘Open XML converter’ is a free download but requires an update to Office 2004 to be installed first. It will handle Word (docx etc), Excel (xlsx etc) and Powerpoint (pptx etc) as well as batch conversion of multiple documents (something the equivalent Windows pack can’t do).

Before you get the Open XML converter you need to ensure your version of Office for Mac is up to date:

Office 2004 for Mac needs to be v11.4.0 or later. Microsoft suggests you install the latest patch to v11.5.0 available here.

Office v X for Mac needs to be v10.1.9 or later.

Once you’re up to date then go here to get the converter.


Office 2008 for Mac update

Released at the same time, but otherwise unrelated, is an update for Office 2008 for Mac to fix various bugs. The update will take the version numbering to 12.1.0