opening a macro file on a mac

May 10, 2010 1:00 PM

Any way to open a file with existing macros in Mac Microsoft Office 2008?

I have some study material that grades itself using some type of macro. When I download it off of my iDisk, the macros are lost in opening the file in Windows 2008. I'm not terribly savvy on this kind of thing, and I'm two steps from sending Steve Jobs an email assuming that this is part of his stupid decision making process (along the lines of his hate for flash). The tests are pretty long and detailed so I really would like the option of not grading the whole thing myself.

I don't want to have to wind up the old Dell. It runs slower than molasses uphill.

posted by eggerspretty to computers & internet (6 answers total)

Office for Mac 2008 doesn't support macros written in Visual Basic: here.
posted by 6550 at 1:10 PM on May 10, 2010

Office 2008 doesn't support VBA scripts or macros whatsoever -- it only supports AppleScript for Mac-specific customizations.

To open a Word or Excel doc with macros or a VBA script on the Mac, you'd need to open it in Office 2004. You can also, as you noted, open it in Office on Windows.

Rumor has it that VBA/macro support will come back in Office 2011 in Mac OS.
posted by eschatfische at 1:11 PM on May 10, 2010

Thanks, everyone. I guess I'll wind up the dell...boooooo.
posted by eggerspretty at 1:26 PM on May 10, 2010

Maybe the compatible Office 2004 has a free Word/Excel Viewer for your (unspecified) file, which you can use?
posted by oxit at 1:26 PM on May 10, 2010

I'm not terribly savvy on this kind of thing, and I'm two steps from sending Steve Jobs an email assuming that this is part of his stupid decision making process

This one isn't Steve's doing. Microsoft made the lunkhead decision to remove VBA/macro support in Office 2008/Mac.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:02 PM on May 10, 2010

OpenOffice.org Writer has got quite good support for Word documents, and I have been surprised how many VBA macros Just Work in OOo. So perhaps you might try installing NeoOffice and trying it out.
posted by flabdablet at 7:15 PM on May 10, 2010