Microsoft adding support for Apple silicon to Office for Mac beta

Office on the Mac (Image credit: Microsoft)

What you need to know

Microsoft is adding Apple silicon support for Office for Mac.
The company is releasing a beta version of the software today.
It is unclear when the new version will be available to the public.

Reported by 9to5Mac, Microsoft has announced that they will be releasing a beta version of Office for Mac that includes support for Apple silicon.

Today Microsoft announced that it will launch a new Universal build of its Mac Office 2019 beta today that includes support for Apple Silicon.

Erik Schwiebert, Microsoft's principal software engineer for Apple products, shared the news today on Twitter. Schwiebert noted that the build was a sneak peek and did not say when support will launch for public users.

"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... :)"

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... :)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 November 11, 2020

As noted in the report, Apple will support x86 apps running on Apple silicon through Rosetta but encourage developers to add native support for Apple silicon.

While Apple says in some cases x86 apps run on Apple Silicon through Rosetta better than natively on Intel Macs, that won't always be the case, and many users will want to know if there is official support for Apple Silicon, especially when it comes to critical apps.

Apple announced its first Apple-silicon based chip at the company's "One More Thing" event on Tuesday. In addition to the announcement of the new M1 processor, the company also revealed a new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini powered by the chip.

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.