Keeping Visual Basic macros in Office for Mac OS X: Microsoft says macros will survive translation
Keeping Visual Basic macros in Office for Mac OS X: Microsoft says macros will survive translation
As previously reported, Microsoft will drop support for Visual Basic macros in Office 2008 for Mac OS X. We subsequently reported that this state of affairs means that Office 2004 with the addition of an official converter for Open XML documents (due in beta form for Mac OS X this Spring) may remain the most cross-platform compatible version of Office in existence.
We have now confirmed with Microsoft representatives that macros will indeed survive the translation process offered by the converter. In other words, users will be able to run an Office 2007 for Windows documents with Visual Basic macros through the Mac OS X translator then open the documents in Office 2004 for Mac OS X and retain the macros.
As such, albeit far from ideal, running Office 2004 (either under Rosetta on Intel-based Macs or natively on PowerPC-based Macs) in tandem with the forthcoming translators will be the only option for users who absolutely need to retain compatibility with Visual Basic macros.
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
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