Configuring SPSS for Mac to look and feel like SPSS for
PC
The default settings for SPSS for Mac make it harder for
students to use the program, so Mac OS users will want to
make a set of one-time changes to the program's
settings/options. These changes are specific to the SPSS
program and will not alter any other program on your
computer or its operating system.
Why do you need to make these changes? SPSS for Mac's
default settings make it hard for students to make the
most of methods textbooks' “how-to” instructions, online
tutorials, and instructional screencasts. Without changes,
your program's menus will be a different place and
sometimes not work the same way that they do on the PC
version. Specifically, with the default settings, the SPSS
menu displays nonsensical icons, none of which work;
instead, in the default mode, everything runs from a
second set of menus located at the very top of the screen:
Also, important command options (including the ability to
paste SPSS-generated syntax) are missing from some
point-and-click menus when SPSS for Mac runs in default
mode.
To make SPSS for Mac look and feel like SPSS for PC,
open up a blank SPSS dataset like the one in the image
above and select the edit option on the menu at the top
(in the image, it is circled).
From there, select "Options." In the options menu, select
the tab that showing "General" options:
On the left-hand side of the General options, make sure
that Application Mode is set to "Classic (Syntax &
Output).
On the right-hand side of the General options, go to the
section labeled "Windows" and:
(1) Uncheck the box that says "Display native mac OS file
dialogs), and
(2) Change the "Look and Feel" setting from Macintosh to
"SPSS standard."
That's it. Going
forward, your SPSS for Mac should display working SPSS
menus and work just like SPSS for PC every time you open
an SPSS file (i.e., dataset, syntax, or output file). The
image below shows what a dataset will look like when
opened with the altered settings. The program's menus will
all have labels and will operate as they should:
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