I’ve had problems with frames changing to a white background and losing the frame surround. Mac user forms using frames containing list boxes don’t always work properly. However, even after using the re-sizing code, you’ll need to carefully check the resulting forms on a Mac carefully in case any text, for instance, doesn’t now fit in a text box.Īnd the column widths in multi-column list boxes don’t re-size, although this can be fixed with code.Įditor: Ron de Bruin’s website has some handy code that uses conditional compiler constants to test whether the operating system is Windows or MacOS – this is especially useful if you need to develop an application that is going to be used by both Mac and Windows users.

The result is that without applying any correction, UserForms that come out just right in Windows are only 75% as large on the Mac, making them difficult to read.” Confusing the issue is that VBA in Windows uses points as the measurement unit for designing UserForms, while VBA on the Mac uses pixels. In Windows, screen resolution is 72 dpi (dots per inch) and each dot represents a ‘point’, while pixels are still 96 per inch. On the Mac, it’s 96 dpi, where each dot represents a pixel. “There is a difference in screen resolution between the two platforms. Perhaps if you spend a lot of time working with different colour schemes, colour selection is similar to Excel for Windows but with additional features such as CMYK, sliders, colour wheels, sliders, palettes and pencils. So, if you’re an advanced user, are there any reasons why you’d want to use Excel for Mac rather than Excel for Windows? However, if you’re not a power user and only need to write the occasional macro, there’s no reason not to use Excel for Mac. There is just too much missing functionality and/or niggling problems to deal with. Power users (especially those writing complex macros) should stick with Excel for Windows.įor professional Excel development, it is hard to recommend Excel for Mac. But there is often a lag of many months or years. And then, sometimes but not always, add the new features to Excel for Mac. Understandably, Microsoft will always develop new Excel features for the Windows platform first. Similarly, the number of MacOS installations is much smaller than for Windows for home users. Most Mac business users are relatively small enterprises, with Macs very common in the creative sector. However, there are differences, and the more advanced Excel for Mac users may encounter issues as discussed below. A workbook created in Excel for Windows will usually work fine when opened in Excel for Mac and vice-versa.

There is very little difference between Excel for Mac and Excel for Windows for most users.

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