I am buying a new laptop with Windows 10 and have been using MS Office 2013 however my new computer does not have Office. Will Libre Office work as a replacement for Office. Will it be able to read files docx ? I am in a quandary whether to purchase
MS office Home or not at a cost of $150. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Ron
It depends upon how you define 'replace'. If you're a heavy Office user, like you live and breath in it, you may want to try the free online version of MS Office. If you just do a .doc here and a spreadsheet there, yes, LibreOffice is really nice.
Yes -- you can open and edit actual MS documents and spreadsheets. And export them as MS or .pdfs. I persuaded my wife to switch to it years ago and it saved us a fortune. I give them $20 once in a while and they never ask for it.
Agreed, LibreOffice is quite good, can open many more file formats than the also free Apache OpenOffice. Both programs have been around for awhile, came from the old WordStar. The most difficult part is with Macros in Microsoft Office files, may not be full compatible and they do not include comparable programs for Outlook and Publisher.
You can find some quite cheap licences for Office on eBay. Confirm with the seller that you are given a MS download link.
Hi folks
IMO WPS office is a lot better and almost 100% compatible - certainly for EXCEL.
WPS office is rarely mentioned but it works very well indeed -- (And also on Linux too). - No email client though but Thunderbird is a good free one.
Free Download WPS Office 2016/2019 for PC/Android/iOS & WPS PDF to Word, Data Recovery Master - WPS Office Download
The freebie will do most things a typical user wants --- you won't get VB macros though -- I think you either need the full Ms Office suite or the paid version of WPS office.
Cheers
jimbo
The big, annoying disadantage of WPS writer is its oft-complained about insistence on using Simsun font- it's not so good at copying text from the web for example. Tried it over a long period, contacted support on that and gave up.
In later versions of it, it frequently updates and presents ads (free version).
Otherwise excellent.
Libre Writer- terribly slow by comparison opening a longer text document (rtf in particular- may be better with other formats) and then slow on closing.
Hi there
Most of my Office stuff is usually with EXCEL or Powerpoint so the word stuff isn't a problem.
As far as copying text from the web goes what's wrong with using a browser, cut and paste the appropriate text into your word document --or have I missed something here.
Firefox (and Imagine other browsers too) should have no difficulty in copying text from web pages via the standard cut and paste mechanism. This is where Touch screens though are a nightmare -- nothing beats a mouse for that purpose.
Cheers
jimbo
The question is the accuracy of the rendering of text particularly in mixed font from a web page. Some office software is more accurate than others in that respect. And typically WPS writer uses this wretched Simsun font for at least part of what's pasted as formatted. That's despite changing everything in sight that's feasible and after interaction with their support. It's been a problem for years.As far as copying text from the web goes what's wrong with using a browser, cut and paste the appropriate text into your word document --or have I missed something here.
Hi Ron. I am using Libre Office portable in W10. You wont have any issue opening docx, xlsx or pptx files with Libre. You can set it up to have that type of files open automatically with the corresponding Libre program when you click on them. This is the link for Libre Portable.
LibreOffice Portable | PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB, portable and cloud drives
Read this. Even if I had a license for Microsoft Office, I would still choose to use Libre.
Bo
It really depends on what you do. For basic stuff, Libre office is ok.
If you use advanced features eg Macros, then frankly pay for Office.
The personal lease of office365 is a good deal as it contains all office tools, gets updated regularly and you get 1 TB space. For business use, it is really a no brainer.
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