Microsoft Announces Native 64-Bit Office for ARM

Microsoft today announced the public availability of the first 64-bit version of Office that runs on Windows on ARM. Yes, you read that right: It’s ARM64 native and it uses WOA’s emulation to run Office add-ins.

“This new version of Office is designed specifically for the next version of Windows on ARM,” Microsoft’s Mike Smith writes, alluding to Windows 11. “It has been recompiled for the ARM architecture to run fast, bring greater memory availability, offer better support large documents, and maintain compatibility with existing 64-bit add-ins using the new x64 emulation capability provided by Windows.”

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To try out this product today, you need a supported Windows on ARM PC, which is all of them, and it needs to be rolled in the Dev Channel of the Windows Insider Preview program, which will give it access to today’s Windows 11 build. If you’re already using a 32-bit version of Microsoft Office (emulated), you will need to uninstall that first. Then, reinstall Office from office.com, join the Office Insider program, and update to the current Beta channel build.

The Office applications that currently run natively as ARM64 include Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word. Other Office applications will still run in x64 emulation mode.

 

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Conversation 12 comments

  • winner

    28 June, 2021 - 1:16 pm

    <p>Was Windows RT 32 bit?</p><p>How did Office run on that – native ARM with 32 bits?</p>

    • christianwilson

      Premium Member
      28 June, 2021 - 1:38 pm

      <p>That is correct. Windows RT was 32-bit and Office 2013 was native ARM as there was no Win32 compatibility.</p>

  • bschnatt

    28 June, 2021 - 1:45 pm

    <p>So, it’s pretty clear by now that Microsoft has no intention of giving up Windows on ARM. Interesting. Intel won’t be happy with today’s announcements…</p>

    • anoldamigauser

      Premium Member
      28 June, 2021 - 1:52 pm

      <p>But they should be pumped that only 8th gen and above chips are supported. That should drive some sales.</p>

      • bschnatt

        28 June, 2021 - 3:18 pm

        <p>Unless Microsoft backs off on that…</p>

    • winbookxl2

      Premium Member
      28 June, 2021 - 11:45 pm

      <p>I think it’s a win-win. Most of the arm computing offers Intel Pentium and Celeron speeds in terms of performance. I have a ARM laptop and Intel 11th gen laptop and both serve their own unique purpose. </p>

  • davehelps

    Premium Member
    28 June, 2021 - 3:18 pm

    <p>Does it include VBA support?</p><p><br></p><p>More importantly, is it compatible with Surface Pen Loop? ?</p>

  • bkkcanuck

    29 June, 2021 - 12:34 pm

    <p>This is an important step, Microsoft has to make sure all their Office/Teams/Visio etc. apps are available natively on the platform. I think you will find a lot of customers – those get the platform closest to being usable (i.e. 80/20 rule). You need certain key apps for a majority of the users to make a platform an option, and once you hit critical mass you will eventually get the stragglers (that have not been abandon)… For abandonware, if something is abandon or badly maintained – the first thing I do is put a plan together on ridding it. </p>

    • paradyne

      29 June, 2021 - 3:57 pm

      <p>Teams has been Arm64 native for a while. Office 365 has been ARM native too, but only 32bit I guess. VS Code is ARM64 along with .net 5. With this new ARM64EC technology they seem to be accelerating the move.</p>

      • wright_is

        Premium Member
        01 July, 2021 - 3:20 am

        <p>No, Teams is an Electron app. It isn’t native on any platform…</p>

  • Greg Green

    30 June, 2021 - 12:02 am

    <p>Windows on arm needs a better arm, Qualcomm isn’t it. Maybe apple has some suggestions.</p>

  • Fredboulanger

    01 October, 2021 - 3:19 pm

    <p>With the new office releasing in a few days, Does anyone know if the arm64 version is anywhere near ready? </p>

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