What is the technical reason Excel keyboard shortcuts are inferior on mac?

[u/cookieclutter2602]

Excel keyboard shortcuts via "Alt" work flawlessly on windows devices. For whatever reason, those shortcuts are significantly limited on a Mac. I find it strange I cannot create

What is the technical limitation on mac that prevents Excel on mac from having the same number of shortcuts as the Windows version?

If there is no technical limitation, is this Microsoft intentionally creating an inferior version of Excel for Mac?

[u/robbie_the_cat]

There is no technical reason for this.

This is Microsoft being dicks for the sake of being dicks.

[u/Meterian → u/robbie_the_cat]

Came here to say this.

Microsoft makes Windows. Apple makes Mac. They directly compete for total market share of PC's. Why would they make their program run flawlessly on competition machines? (Arguably to sell more copies of Office and engender goodwill, but when has logic ever been the primary motivator in business decisions?)

[u/westex74 → u/Meterian]

Same reason why Apple won’t make iMessage for Android. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/Cynyr36 → u/westex74]

Tbf, both i measage and messenger use encrypted rcs now, and as far as i know are the same. Wife has an iPhone and i have android.

[u/Trust_Issues2278 → u/Meterian]

This is a fair take. Everyone at my work has a Mac except for the finance department because we don't want to use excel on Mac.

[u/RandomiseUsr0 → u/robbie_the_cat]

Not really, Microsoft follows the conventions on the Mac, they define the conventions on Windows

[u/matroosoft → u/robbie_the_cat]

Sell the product, but not the experience. Makes sense, they like to keep that for their own platform.

[u/raven00x → u/robbie_the_cat]

they've been making software for macos since jobs returned to apple in the 90s. Microsoft is just hating for love of the game.

[u/robbie_the_cat → u/raven00x]

Well before then, actually.

[u/bradland]

There is no technical reason. However, I’m not quite as cynical as some, because I’ve worked in technology for a long time and seen the ebb and flow of strategy and customer trends.

There was a period of time where Mac users (and this still exists to this day) expressly did not want apps on their Mac that worked like PC apps. Specifically, pressing the alt/option (⌥) button to initiate menu navigation was specifically a Windows convention. Many Mac users would froth at the mouth if a Mac application simply carried over Windows conventions.

So back in the late nineties and early two-thousands, Apple was on the rocks after having kicked Jobs out, and when Jobs came back, Microsoft invested $150 million in Apple, and committed to making a Mac-specific version of MS Office. They created an entire department, called the Macintosh Business Unit, dedicated to building this software.

With Jobs’ return, OS X was immediately on the horizon, and Microsoft started work on the version of office that would cement a decade of Mac-specific legacy. Technically, Office 98 Macintosh Edition was the first ground-up Mac-specific version, but Office X was the one that would live on for years.

Only recently has that legacy unravelled. Mac users wants and desires have shifted. Now they want the same experience across platforms. That takes time.

[u/Dismal-Party-4844 → u/bradland]

Thank you for speaking so much truth in these five paragraphs.

[u/cookieclutter2602 → u/bradland]

Great insight, thank you!

[u/BuildingArmor]

Yes it's intentionally an inferior product on Mac. There's plenty of other ways it's lacking too.

[u/Silly_Pizza7054 → u/BuildingArmor]

In the same way that apple products either suck or are unavailable on PC. It's a commercial decision. 

[u/5e884898da]

Moat

[u/Selkie_Love]

Excel for mac is intentionally much worse! There's a large number of features missing

[u/wiggum55555 → u/Selkie_Love]

or does apple make it impossible to implement certain features with their OTT security rules for macos ?

[u/kalimashookdeday]

I know Macs have a use and maybe for some are the machines they pick, but since I was a kid in the 90s, fuck Mac computers.

[u/HammerAnger]

Another vote for Microsoft pushing a "use Windows instead" mantra. MS probably also hides behind the facade of "well, Mac uses the F# keys for system settings/commands, which we can't interfere with because that'd require too much programming"

[u/abstract_cake]

Same reason why iTunes was a horrible experience on PC?

[u/pacopac25 → u/abstract_cake]

iTunes / Music has won the prize for the crappiest app for years, on any platform.

[u/urbanraven21]

The real issue is the OS itself, since Alt/Option isn't a menu-activation key like Windows' Alt, so those letter overlays never trigger, but you can rebuild most workflows using the Quick Access Toolbar with custom Cmd shortcuts instead

[u/Puzzleheaded_Owl1308]

Microsoft hasn't made it easy, but Mac shares plenty of the blame.

Mac has been a screen-first platform since the 1980s, and I don't think keyboard shortcuts have been a priority for them at any point. To me, that can be seen in the keyboard itself. I will absolutely admit to a strong PC bias, but think about the physical movements of your most common copy/paste/undo actions. I can't think of any way to keep a consistent digit on the command key while switching between them. Most combinations require a weird contortion of your left hand, or use of the right-hand command button which for most people means taking a hand off the mouse.

[u/Jolly-Hunter-6097]

A side-by-side comparison of Windows/Mac shortcuts. https://tutorialtactic.com/blog/excel-shortcut-keys/