Microsoft Office performance issues on Apple M1 silicon Mac

Microsoft Office performance issues on Apple M1 silicon Mac

Problem:

When using Microsoft Office 365 apps installed on an Apple M1 silicon Mac the app appears to be operating excessively slowly.

Explanation:

If the Office apps have not been updated recently they may not properly support the M1 silicon instructions and therefore be running Intel code which is being translated by Rosetta; this may cause performance issues which can be resolved by updating and then ensuring the apps open natively as opposed to running under Rosetta translation.

Resolution:

Please try this with one of the Office 365 apps. If you find it works you can then repeat the second portion of these instructions "Disable opening in Rosetta" to make sure that al the apps are not being opened natively rather than in Rosetta.

The first step is to use the updater to update the installed Office 365 apps. Then after this use the “Get Info” window to ensure that the “Open in Rosetta” checkbox is not checked for each app in Microsoft Office.

Update Office 365 apps

  1. Open one of your Office apps eg Microsoft Word.
  2. Then click "Help" and then "Check for updates".
  3. In the interface click the "Check for updates" and make sure that all your apps get updated.
  4. When finished close the updater.

Disable opening in Rosetta

  1. Then open Finder > Applications and right click one of the Microsoft Office apps.
  2. Then either right click and choose "Get info" in the menu or press command+I do the same.
  3. In the information panel and look for a checkbox called "Open in Rosetta" and make sure it is NOT checked.
  4. After making the change close the Get into window and try the app again.

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