Microsoft introduces Apple Silicon support in beta build of Excel for Mac

Microsoft has updated a beta build of Office for Mac to support upcoming but unreleased Apple Silicon devices.

Although Apple has yet to release a consumer-facing Apple Silicon device, the company is expected to debut new models with first-party processors at its Nov. 10 "One more thing" event.

Ahead of that date, Microsoft appears to be introducing some Apple Silicon-compatible features in its Office Insider beta testing program. A new build released on Nov. 2 contains support for Apple-designed processors for SQL Server connectivity settings.

More specifically, the built-in SQL Open Data Connectivity (ODBC) provider in Excel for Mac now supports Apple Silicon devices. Microsoft also added support for the TLS v1.2 communication protocol.

"This feature provides support for SQL Server ODBC data connections to work properly on new devices that have Apple Silicon processors, as well as support for SQL Servers that require secure connections via the TLS v1.2 protocol," Microsoft wrote in its release notes.

The Excel feature is one that allows users to access data from SQL server databases using baked-in ODBC drivers. Since the feature is in beta testing, it may be a while before it arrives on Apple Silicon devices.

Apple's first Macs with its own processors are rumored to be a 13-inch MacBook Pro, a 16-inch MacBook Pro, and a 13-inch MacBook Air.

18 Comments

zimmermann 340 comments · 9 Years

About 4 years ago

Well, that solves any questions I might have on Apple silicon. No hesitation on my part to buy into this new line of Apple.

JinTech 1056 comments · 9 Years

Raises the question, how much Apple software will be ready to go by November 10?

djames4242 654 comments · 14 Years

JinTech said:

Raises the question, how much Apple software will be ready to go by November 10?

I'm waiting to find out if there will be any way to run x64 software virtualized. I run a lot of server tools within Docker containers, and losing this would likely force me (and a lot of other developers) on to commodity hardware running Linux...

vannygee 61 comments · 7 Years

djames4242 said:

I'm waiting to find out if there will be any way to run x64 software virtualized. I run a lot of server tools within Docker containers, and losing this would likely force me (and a lot of other developers) on to commodity hardware running Linux...

Virtualisation is a need for professionals. Hopefully they won't be discontinuing Intel based pro models until everything that I can do an Intel CPU can be done on Apple Silicon

M68000 873 comments · 7 Years

JinTech said:

Raises the question, how much Apple software will be ready to go by November 10?

That would be good to know. But, also how long will current hardware be supported with OS updates, etc. Wonder if Apple will make a statement on it? If they did, sorry I missed it.