Remote Desktop uses Microsoft’s free Windows App (formerly Microsoft Remote Desktop) to show a real Windows PC or VDI on your Mac, so Excel Alt shortcuts work. It needs a PC that is on and reachable, and every keystroke crosses the network. Accelerator Keys adds the same Alt sequences to native Excel for Mac for $39.99/year, offline, with no second machine.
| Accelerator Keys | Remote Desktop to a Windows PC | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per year | $39.99 (Excel) or $59.99 (Excel + PowerPoint) | Windows App is free on the Mac App Store. The Windows PC, its Windows license, its power, or your firm’s VDI/Windows 365 seat are the real cost |
| Setup time | About 2 minutes: install, grant Accessibility permission, done | 10–30 minutes if you already have a PC and login: install Windows App, add the PC or workspace, sort out VPN or Remote Desktop Gateway. Longer if IT must provision a VDI |
| Keystroke latency | Native — the app sends the ribbon command directly to Mac Excel | Every keystroke and every screen update travels over the network. Fine on office Wi-Fi to a nearby PC; visible lag on hotel or airplane Wi-Fi |
| Battery and CPU | Negligible — a 20 MB menu bar app | Light on the Mac — the PC does the work. But the PC must stay on, and video decoding still costs some battery |
| Needs a Windows license? | No | Yes, on the remote PC or VDI. Usually your employer’s problem, not yours |
| Works offline? | Yes | No. No network, no Excel |
| Alt shortcut coverage | 900+ Excel and 380+ PowerPoint ribbon shortcuts, plus legacy Alt+E / Alt+I / Alt+O / Alt+D sequences | 100% — it is Windows Excel, with a few Mac keyboard mapping quirks (see below) |
| Windows-only Excel features (Power Pivot, Power Query editor, some VBA, some add-ins) | No — you are still in Excel for Mac | Yes |
| Files stay in native Mac apps | Yes — Finder, Spotlight, iCloud, Mac fonts and printing all work as normal | No — files live on the remote PC or VDI. Copy and paste of text works; moving files needs folder redirection or a shared drive |
Out of the box, Excel for Mac does not respond to the Alt key. On Windows you press Alt, letters appear on the ribbon, and H, O, I autofits a column. On a Mac, the key in that spot is Option, and macOS uses it to type special characters. Your Alt muscle memory stops working the day you switch.
Remote Desktop and Accelerator Keys fix this in opposite ways. Remote Desktop puts a Windows PC on your Mac screen. Accelerator Keys gives Mac Excel the missing key.
Microsoft’s Mac client is now called Windows App. The Mac App Store lists it as “previously named Microsoft Remote Desktop”, free, from Microsoft Corporation. It connects to a remote PC you own, or to a desktop your firm provides on Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Dev Box, or Remote Desktop Services.
You open a window, and inside it is a real Windows machine running Excel for Windows. Every Alt shortcut works, because your keystrokes go to Windows Excel. Nothing about Excel is emulated.
What it needs, as of August 2026:
Windows App also does light keyboard translation. Microsoft’s docs say Command maps to the Windows key, common Mac shortcuts such as Command+C and Command+V pass through as copy and paste, and the right Option key acts as AltGr. That is why the left Option key is the one to use for Alt sequences.
Latency. On a wired office network to a PC down the hall, the lag is small. Over VPN from home, hotel Wi-Fi, or to a VDI in another region, you feel it in typing, in scrolling a large sheet, and in the half-second between a keystroke and the ribbon reacting. There is no fixed number to quote; it depends on your link.
Keyboard quirks. Microsoft’s docs note that some Mac layouts and non-US locales do not map exactly to what Windows expects, so characters can come out wrong. Windows App has two keyboard modes, scancode and unicode, and a Control+Command+K / Control+Command+U shortcut to switch. Scancode is the mode Microsoft recommends for shortcut combinations. Expect to fiddle once.
Two machines. Files live on the PC. Text copies across, but moving a workbook to your Mac needs a shared drive or folder redirection. Mac fonts, Spotlight, and iCloud do not see the remote files.
Availability. If the office PC reboots for updates overnight, or the VDI pool is full, you wait.
Accelerator Keys is a native macOS menu bar app. When Excel or PowerPoint is in front, it watches for the Option key and drives the real Mac ribbon for you. Press Option and KeyTip badges appear on the ribbon, just like Windows. Type the same letters and the same command runs, on your Mac, with no network in between.
Be clear-eyed about this. Accelerator Keys makes Excel for Mac behave like Windows for shortcuts. It does not add Windows-only features. Choose Remote Desktop if:
If none of that applies and you would have to buy and babysit a PC just to get Alt shortcuts, Remote Desktop is a heavy answer to a light problem.
Many people use both: the firm’s VDI for the add-in-heavy models, Accelerator Keys for everything else.
Remote Desktop works because it is Windows. If your employer hands you a PC or a VDI, it is free and it is the right answer for Windows-only Excel features. But it needs the machine on, the network up, and it puts a round trip between your fingers and the ribbon. If the only thing you miss from Windows Excel is the Alt key, Accelerator Keys gives it back in native Excel for Mac, offline, in two minutes.
Yes. The Mac App Store lists Windows App, previously named Microsoft Remote Desktop, as free from Microsoft Corporation. It connects to remote PCs and to admin-provided desktops on Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Dev Box, and Remote Desktop Services. The app is free; the Windows machine on the other end is not.
Yes, because you are typing into Excel for Windows on the remote machine. Microsoft’s docs say Windows App maps Command to the Windows key, passes Command+C, V, X, A, Z, F and W through as their Windows equivalents, and treats the right Option key as AltGr. Alt ribbon sequences work with the left Option key. Some Mac layouts and non-US locales can mismatch; Microsoft offers a scancode and a unicode keyboard mode to fix that.
It depends on your network and distance to the PC. On a wired office network to a PC in the same building, lag is small. Over VPN, hotel Wi-Fi, or to a data center in another region, you feel it in typing and scrolling. There is no fixed number to quote; try it on the network you will use. Accelerator Keys has no network hop at all.
When your firm already gives you a Windows PC, VDI, or Windows 365 Cloud PC, and you need Windows-only Excel features such as Power Pivot, the full Power Query editor, or a Windows-only add-in. Then Remote Desktop costs you nothing extra and gives you all of Windows Excel. Accelerator Keys does not add those features.
Yes. Many bankers and analysts keep the firm’s VDI for the models that need Windows-only add-ins, and use Accelerator Keys in native Excel for Mac for everything else, so they get the same Alt shortcuts on both without waiting on the network.