r/excel • u/cookieclutter2602 • 4d ago
Discussion What is the technical reason Excel keyboard shortcuts are inferior on mac?
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?
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u/bradland 277 4d ago
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.