Microsoft Office 2011 Mac 64 bit upgrade

Sorry Jim, I don't know.  I have not tried parallels, but on my old iMac I ran Windows 7 in virtual machine and everything worked, but it was a bother.  A friend of mine runs parallels and it appears to work well, but I do know that he now runs Catalina and he has no 32bit programmes running under macOS.  Doesn't help you much, sorry.

Office 2011 HAS been upgraded to 64-bit. First it was upgraded to Office 2016, which was 32-bit. Then it was upgraded to Office 2019, which was also 32-bit.

Office 2016 and Office 2019 are both still supported. Microsoft has provided a free upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit for both applications.

All support ended for Office 2011 on October 10, 2017.

Every version of every software application ever made has a set of system requirements. I am sorry that I made the assumption that this is obvious and that everyone knows this fact. Software runs within the specifications. If you try to run the software outside of specifications it may run, but most likely will fail, but whatever happens is not the responsibility of the manufacturer when specifications are not followed.

Every product, no matter what it is, has a product life cycle. It's made for a given period of time and then no longer. Product manufacturers offer various levels of support from no support to whatever support the manufacturer promises at the time of sale. The product life cycle of Office 2011 was 12/9/2010 through 10/10/2017. This time frame was extended from a much shorter 3-year time frame that was announced when Office 2011 was introduced. You can find the life cycle policy for all Microsoft products here:

Microsoft Lifecycle Policy

Microsoft's OS support policy has been consistent for Microsoft Office on both Windows and Mac for more than 30 years. The current OS version plus 2 back are supported at any given time during the product life cycle. For Office 2011 that means that Mac OS versions 10.5.8 are supported through whatever version of Mac OS was the latest on 10/10/2017. Apple has kept Mac OS going in such a way that Office 2011 continues to run in all versions of Mac OS up to and including 10.14. Apple decided to dump support for Office 2011 and all other 32-bit applications, drivers, software and hardware with Mac OS 10.15 Catalina. Personally, I don't think Apple did a good job explaining to ugraders the ramifications of that policy in terms of what will no longer run in Mac OS.

Even within Office 2019, the introduction of Catalina has ramifications for support. Version 16.30 and later requires Mac OS 10.13 and newer.

Thank you for the humorous reply.

I don't work for Microsoft or Apple, so I appreciate the satire.

Pretty soon we'll be facing the same sort of situation when self-driving cars become mandatory. Car makers know this will be an eventuality. They should be prepared to make all previous model cars work with the roads that have no traffic lights, speed limit signs, etc. and do it at no charge, right?

Office 2011 works on all the hardware and operating systems for which is was originally sold. Microsoft supported it through many versions of Mac OS that didn't even exist at the time it was released. They didn't charge anything extra. No one says you have to update your hardware or Mac OS. It's your option, and if you do, then there's a cost.

A key factor in the decision of Microsoft to require subscriptions for Office 2019 is just this scenario. You will always be kept up to date regardless of what Apple does with Mac OS. However, there will almost certainly be a trailing edge of support for older hardware and Mac OS versions, which will result in the opposite situation - you will be forced to keep your Mac OS and hardware up to date in order to use Office 2019 and later.

Wow,

Your condescension knows no bounds.

Why would anyone need subscription? A rip off. The 2011 still works fine and there is no need for any update. Why would I be paying monthly subscription if I use it every now and again. Maybe once a month? If you travel by train or tram once a month or so, would you be happy to pay monthly ticket? I don't care if they upgrade trains or buses. I'll pay for usage. Upgrade it up to 64 bit and ask for a small fee. Sounds fair to me.

Use the free version of Microsoft Office at OneDrive.com.  It’s more up to date than Office 2011 and it’s free. If you need the full feature set or want the latest features, get an Office 365 subscription.

Please also see:  

How to Set up Your Catalina Mac to Run 32-bit apps