MacBooks and Microsoft Office

In September, I sent out some communication that you shouldn't upgrade your staff MacBook to the newest operating system - Catalina - due to some changes that Apple is implementing with installed software. Thanks to a majority of you that followed those directions and have stayed the course for now.

As we look at the future, there is one major roadblock that needs to be resolved to move forward with where Apple is going with their operating system. Microsoft Office. We have licenses for an older version of Office that will not work any longer on Apple's new operating system. Thus being the case, a decision needed to be made on what will we do... As we are a "Google School, you all have access to a free solution to do word processing, spreadsheets, etc... Google Drive, Docs and Sheets. Being that these tools are free, very operational, and collaborative, we will not be providing Microsoft Office to teaching staff unless they can demonstrate a significant need for those tools. A few factors that will be taken into consideration, are these tools used in daily instructional use? Are these tools necessary for significant data analysis?

With that being said, you can use Google to upload and convert all Office documents that you have and use. Here's a step by step guide that will not only allow you to upload them, but also convert them into a format for editing and further use. https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-convert-microsoft-office-files-to-google-docs

At this time, feel free to update your operating system if you understand that Office will no longer work. If you wish to request Office on your computer, please email me with specifics of the reason you need it for your job.

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