How To Enable Solvertable In Excel For Mac

Mac Users Using Excel 2016 or Excel Online

Running SolverTable

Get the new Solver App for Excel 2016 and Excel Online this free Solver app works equally well in desktop Excel 2016 and Excel Online – and handles the smallest to the largest, most challenging optimization models. Users can obtain Solver immediately from Microsoft AppSource. Over 100,000 existing “cloud Solver” users will receive the new version automatically. When your model gets to big for the free add-in contact us about upgrading.

Solver is a free add-in for Excel 2013 with SP1 and later. For more information, search for Solver in the Office Store. The Solver add-in from Frontline Systems isn't currently available for Excel on mobile devices. To enable Solver, click ‘Tools’ then ‘Addins’. Within the Addin box, check ‘Solver.xlam’ then hit ‘OK’. To use Solver, start Excel 2011 and create or open your workbook. When you're ready to use Solver, click the Solver button on the Data tab (the bundled version of Solver doesn't use the menu Tools Solver.).

If you're still using Excel 2008 for Mac, you can download Solver for Excel 2008 here -- but we highly recommend an upgrade to Excel 2011, for many reasons including a better Solver!

Using the Excel 2011 Solver for Mac

Starting with Excel 2011 Service Pack 1 (Version 14.1.0), Solver is once again bundled with Microsoft Excel for Mac. You do not have to download and install Solver from this page -- simply ensure that you have the latest update of Excel 2011 (use Help - Check for Updates on the Excel menu).

To enable Solver, click ‘Tools’ then ‘Addins’. Within the Addin box, check ‘Solver.xlam’ then hit ‘OK’.

To use Solver, start Excel 2011 and create or open your workbook. When you're ready to use Solver, click the Solver button on the Data tab (the bundled version of Solver doesn't use the menu Tools Solver.) . The Solver Parameters dialog should appear, in the language of your Microsoft Excel 2011 installation. Click here for Solver Help, applicable to both Excel 2010 for Windows and Excel 2011 for Mac.

Use the Solver Parameters dialog to select your objective, decision variables, and Constraints. Then click the Solve button. Solver will seek the optimal solution to the problem. When it's finished, the Solver Results dialog will appear, and the final values of the decision variables will appear in your workbook in Excel. To pause or stop Solver while it's solving, press the ESC key, and click Stop (or Continue) when the Trial Solution dialog appears.

Caution:Don't make changes yourself in Excel or your workbook while Solver is solving. Changes in Excel while Solver is solving, will have unpredictable results, including crashes in Solver or Excel. See the FAQ about Solver as a Separate Application.)

If You Updated to Excel 2011 SP1 and Installed Solver from Solver.com

If you've previously updated to Excel 2011 Service Pack 1 and after doing this, you've also downloaded and installed the Solver package formerly available on this page, you'll be fine, but you can encounter a problem (involving which version of Solver gets loaded and used) which we can easily help you solve. Just email us at at support@solver.com.

Read the FAQ to learn how Solver for Excel 2011 was developed, special considerations in using this Solver versus the one in Excel 2008, and what to expect in the future.

The History of the Excel 2011 Solver for Mac

Before Microsoft began bundling the Solver with Excel for Mac, Frontline Systems worked with Microsoft's Mac Business Unit to bring you a faster, easier to use, and more powerful Solver. The version that we provided was free and 100% compatible -- your existing Solver models would work without any changes, whether they're from Excel 2004 or 2008 for Mac, or Excel 2003, 2007 or 2010 for Windows.

Matches New Solver for Excel 2010 for Windows

Solver for Excel 2011 for Mac has the same new features and user interface as Solver for Excel 2010 for Windows -- which is greatly enhanced over Solver for Excel 2007.

Includes New Evolutionary Solving Method

Based on genetic algorithms, this method complements Solver's linear programming and nonlinear optimization methods. Use it to find solutions for models with IF and LOOKUP functions.

Global Optimization for Nonlinear Models

Automatically run the GRG Nonlinear Solver from multiple, intelligently chosen starting points, to find better solutions when the old Solver would be 'trapped' in a local optimum.

New user interface matches Excel 2010

You may also be interested in:

  • Try our Solver Tutorial to learn more about building Solver models and getting solutions.
  • Premium Solver Platform for Mac offers far more power, speed and flexibility than the Standard Excel Solver while allowing all your existing models, even your VBA code, to be used as-is.
  • If you are a developer of optimization or simulation applications, check our Solver SDK Platform. It's available for Windows and Linux -- but contact us for news about availability of the SDK for Mac OSX.

Analytic Solver Cloudwill work with Excel for Mac, but an Office 365 subscription is required.

Learn Why. If you are using a Mac, your best option is Analytic Solver Cloud. Students: Learn about free Office 365 subscriptions. If for some reason you can't get an Office 365 subscription, you still have options:

Excel

Using Windows on a Mac • Using Solver under Mac OSX • Using AnalyticSolver.com (Old)

Using Windows on a Mac

If you can't use Analytic Solver Cloud, the best option for using our software on a Mac is to install Microsoft Windows, either in a dual-boot setup on your hard disk, or running under VM (virtual machine) software such as VMWare Fusion or Parallels. This is recommended for students who for some reason cannot use an Office 365 subscription -- it is the only way to use Analytic Solver Desktop for Windows on a Mac desktop or laptop, since this software won't run directly under Mac OSX. (But an Office 365 subscription and Analytic Solver Cloud is better!)

Any of Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7 is sufficient. Once Windows is installed, you can install Microsoft Office (or just Excel) 2019, 2016, 2013, or 2010. You can then download and run any of our Setup.exe programs to install our software. Used this way, a Mac or MacBook makes an excellent computer for Frontline Solvers -- we often run our software on MacBooks in this way at our company.

Excel Solver Download

Using Solver under Mac OSX

You can use the Solver included in Excel for Mac to define and solve basic optimization problems. But you won't be able to use Monte Carlo simulation and risk analysis, solve optimization problems involving uncertainty and risk, or use the forecasting, data mining or text mining features of Analytic Solver Cloud, Analytic Solver Desktop or AnalyticSolver.com. You can define a basic optimization model using Solver in Excel for Mac, save the workbook, open that workbook in AnalyticSolver.com (see below), and solve it there and extend it further.

The basic Excel Solver is included when you install Microsoft Excel 2011 or later for Mac. This has been true since Excel 2011 Service Pack 1 (Version 14.1.0). You do not have to (and should not try to) download Solver from this website. If you are still using Excel 2008 for Mac, we strongly recommend an upgrade to Excel 2011 or later. But if you absolutely cannot do this, you can download Solver for Excel 2008 here.

Why Doesn't Analytic Solver Desktop Work with Excel for Mac OSX?

Excel for Mac OSX may be called 'Excel' and load and save Excel workbooks, but internally it is a radically different piece of software from Excel for Windows, since it uses OSX standards and APIs, rather than Windows standards and APIs. None of the internal interfaces (connections) to Excel that Analytic Solver Desktop uses in Windows exist in Excel for Mac. Essentially, 'Analytic Solver Desktop for Mac' would be a new piece of software that would cost a lot to develop, and (based on our real-world experience) would have almost no commercial market. In any case, the software industry has moved on to embrace Web technologies (HTML, JavaScript and REST APIs).

We first developed AnalyticSolver.com, which all Mac users, iPad users, Android and even Windows users could use equally well. It has served the market for several years. Its main drawback is that its underlying spreadsheet is 'not true Excel', and is less familiar and less powerful than Microsoft's latest version of Excel Online. But now we've done better: Over several years culminating in 2019 -- once Microsoft released 'Office.js JavaScript APIs' that we could use -- we developed Analytic Solver Cloud using Web technologies. It works in Excel Online, and also works in Excel for Mac and Excel for Windows -- the same on every platform. Frontline Systems is the first, and currently the only analytics software vendor who has made the investment (over the last five years) to create software like Analytic Solver Cloud.

University

Using AnalyticSolver.com

An Office 365 subscription is better -- but if for some reason you can't get or use one, and you can't use Office for Windows on a Mac or the basic Solver for Excel for Mac (as described above), your remaining option is to open a web browser to AnalyticSolver.com, our older cloud-based analytics platform. Please note that we are phasing out AnalyticSolver.com in 2020, in favor of Analytic Solver Cloud.

If you're a student, AnalyticSolver.com is designed to enable you to complete all of your class exercises, and even use a textbook that has screen shots and instructions using our software in Excel for Windows, on your Mac. It has essentially all the features, and the same user interface as Analytic Solver Cloud and Desktop, with a Ribbon that has the same tabs and icons, and a Task Pane on right with the same tabs and most of the same options. It offers a spreadsheet-like grid that works much like Excel, and you can open Excel workbooks (with extension .xlsx) and save models to Excel workbooks.

At AnalyticSolver.com, just click the Login button at the top right, and enter the same email address and password you used to register on Solver.com. If you cannot login this way, just register at www.solver.com/student or analyticsolver.com/student (registering again won't hurt). Registering on either site gives you an account on both sites. This assumes that your instructor has given you a Textbook Code and Course Code to register -- if he/she hasn't done this, ask him/her to call us at 775-831-0300 x141 and speak to our Academic Liason.

How To Enable Solver In Excel Mac

Two strong hints: (i) READ THE HELP on differences between Excel and the AnalyticSolver.com spreadsheet, and other minor differences in the analytics software, at AnalyticSolver.com/Home/About. (ii) If you already registered without a Textbook Code and Course Code, your license may expire on AnalyticSolver.com. To remedy this, get the Textbook Code and Course Code from your instructor, go to AnalyticSolver.com, click the Login button to login, then type https://analyticsolver.com/student in the browser address bar. This displays a short form where you can add your Graduation Date, Textbook Code and Course Code and click the Register button.