MS Office for Mac doesn't use system settings for measurements

Anonymous
2023-11-30T02:59:43+00:00

I am using MS Office for Mac, and recently, all measurements in PowerPoint, Word, etc have suddenly changed to inches instead of centimeters.

I checked the system settings through System Settings > General > Language & Region > Measurement system, which is set to Metric. Changing it to US and then back to Metric did not re-trigger MS Office to use the correct measurement system and it continues to show in inches.

Can someone help? I would like to show all measurements in MS Office in centimeters like I had before.

For context, I am using:

  • MacBook Air (M1, 2020)
  • macOS Sonama 14.1.1 (23B81)
  • MS 365 subscription
  • MS PowerPoint/Word/Excel for Mac, version 16.79.2 (23112723)
Microsoft 365 and Office | PowerPoint | For home | MacOS

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John Korchok 236.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2023-11-30T16:31:52+00:00

This is a bug that only affects some measurements, like paragraph formatting. To let Microsoft know about the issue, choose Help>Feedback>I don't like something. Describe the problem, being specific about which dialogs display the issue, so they can reproduce the problem. Submitting sends the report to the Mac programming team. They are unlikely to reply.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-07-10T09:36:35+00:00

    Thanks, but unfortunately not a solution if you want to use English (US) with centimeters (my use case, I am German, but I create documents in English, and I am used to all menus and formulae in Excel in English).

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-04-01T02:28:16+00:00

    There is a workaround for this problem: change your language settings to English (UK) instead of English (US).

    That fixed the problem for me on:

    • Macbook Pro (M3, 2023)
    • MacOs Sonoma 14.4.1
    • MS 365 Subscription
    • MS Powerpoint Version 16.83 (24031120)

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-02-23T06:48:03+00:00

    Experiencing the same issue. I have set up Mac OS to use English language with metrical units and German number and date formats, yet MS 365 applications show inches instead of centimeters and American number and date formats.

    This is highly annoying since I have to switch my OS language to German to use proper units. Any help appreciated.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-11-30T06:18:06+00:00

    Dear respected Jeroen Vaassen,

    Welcome to Microsoft Community and we are glad to offer support for you.

    Based on the description, it seems the measurements in the Office apps are showing in the inches instead of centimetres. Please correct us if there is any misunderstanding.

    In this situation, as you already set the correct settings in the Mac Preference with no success, I would like to suggest you to change the Mac Preferences to UK> Restart the Mac> Now change again the Mac Preferences to US and set it to Metric> Restart the Mac> Open your Office apps and check the outcome.

    If still the same problem, does the problem happens only with the Office apps?

    Appreciate your patience and understanding and thank you for your time and cooperation.

    Sincerely,
    Mia | Microsoft Moderator

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