Microsoft Excel natively adapts to Apple's M1 series Mac

IT House January 18 news, according to MacRumors, Microsoft released a new version of the Office for Mac productivity suite, including an updated Excel app that provides native support for Apple Silicon's Mac devices.

According to the release notes that accompany version 16.57, Excel will now run natively on Macs powered by Apple's M1-series processors without using the Rosetta 2 translation layer, which means that any Mac user with an M1, M1 Pro, or M1 Max processor can expect better performance and energy efficiency when working with Excel spreadsheets.

"Excel is fully supported on devices equipped with Apple Silicon CPUs. Power Query for Excel for Mac is now natively supported on Apple Silicon processors. If you used the Rosetta emulator to run Excel, you can now disable it and run Excel natively on your device. ”

The latest updates are available for Office 2019 for Mac, Office LTSC 2021 for Mac, and Office 2021 for Mac, which can be purchased once from retail stores or through a Volume Licensing Agreement. Users can get the new version from Microsoft AutoUpdate (MAU). To use Microsoft AutoUpdate, start an Office application, such as Word or Excel, and then select Help-> check for updates.

Here's what's new

Excel

Import data from a local file with Power Query. You can now use Power Query to import data from local Excel workbooks, text, and CSV files.

Screenshot protection: Office can now prevent screenshots and screen sharing for sensitive files that are protected by Microsoft's information policy.

Excel is fully supported on devices equipped with Apple Silicon CPUs. Power Query for Excel for Mac is now natively supported on Apple Silicon processors. If you used the Rosetta emulator to run Excel, you can now disable it and run Excel natively on your device.

Outlook

File Answers in Mac Outlook

PowerPoint

Protect sensitive information: For sensitive files that are protected by Microsoft's information policy, Office can now prevent screenshots and screen sharing.

Word

Faster return to work when collaborating: When you disconnect while collaborating with others, Word automatically refreshes your document with the latest modifications.

IT House learned that Apple has established the Rosetta 2 translation layer to enable Macs to run x86-64 code written for Intel Macs. In contrast to OG Rosetta, the version that allows PowerPC applications to run on Intel-based Macs, the code is not interpreted in real time. In contrast, the translation process for Rosetta 2 occurs entirely at first boot, despite a slight performance shock during the initial x86-64 instruction translation process.

Apple says Rosetta 2 is a temporary solution for developers to run their existing Intel-based programs on Arm-based Macs, which means they'll eventually need to create native apps for Apple Silicon devices. Notably, Apple ended support for OG Rosetta three years after its release.