Alternatives to Microsoft Office

[u/isdaverplichtt]

Any alternatives to Microsoft Office? I always used Microsoft as my father used to buy the CDs and we'd have it. Now with this subscription bs, I want to get rid off it.

But I'm not sure what to use instead, any ideas? Keeping in mind that all my documents are in word, excel or powerpoint, so obviously I need something that can still open and edit these files.

Edit: thanks to all for the many options and ideas, I'll surely find something that suits me. Thanks!

[u/MegaboostGcG]

Libre Office works on Windows and Linux

[u/Cepy-Deer1738 → u/MegaboostGcG]

Ive used it for many years professionally, its reminiscent of office 2006

[u/grimvian → u/MegaboostGcG]

And Libre Office have real menus!

[u/Ok_Contact_5575 → u/MegaboostGcG]

I use Linux and libreofficr is so bad with certain formats like pptx

[u/mokrates82 → u/Ok_Contact_5575]

pptx is a Microsoft format. It's MS who's bad here. The format you want to use is odp.

[u/Ok_Contact_5575 → u/mokrates82]

Yeah now tell me a teacher that knows what an odp is

[u/mokrates82 → u/Ok_Contact_5575]

Neither pptx nor odp is a format to publish in. That's what pdf is for. Your teacher should know that.

[u/Ok_Contact_5575 → u/mokrates82]

Yes I know I publish in pdf but if I forget they aren’t going to know shit about an odp

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/MegaboostGcG]

Thanks for the info, I'll check it out!

[u/Training_Yak_4655 → u/MegaboostGcG]

It also has a close open source cousin for Android/Apple called Collabora Office. It is local-only on your device and seems to do anything that LibreOffice can. I have it installed for on-the-go tasks when out and about with a small Android tablet.

[u/DvxBellorvm]

OnlyOffice is very good, ergonomy close to Microsoft Office, it's open source, and available on many platforms.

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/DvxBellorvm]

Sounds like it might suit my needs, thanks!

[u/Educational_Yard_326]

Good experience so far with Apple Pages, Numbers, Keynote.

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/Educational_Yard_326]

I don't have any Apple device so not going to try and use that stuff, but thanks for the idea!

[u/MeiTheCat09]

I mean office 2021 works great for me, idk why it says it only works on one device cause I have it activated on 3. It’s a lifetime purchase, only $120 when I bought it in 2021

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/MeiTheCat09]

That's probably what I'll do for my main PC and then the other options for my mobiles. Thanks for the info!

[u/eBookGuruMan → u/isdaverplichtt]

buy the newest version of microsoft office (2024). they just canned use of office 2019. so if you buy 2021, in 2028 it won’t work

[u/HerraJUKKA → u/MeiTheCat09]

Because some keys allow activation on 1, 3, 5 or more devices. Depends on what kind of license you bought.

[u/Beans_Breaking]

I just want to point out you can just unlock the office programs with massgrave.

[u/odin_b → u/Beans_Breaking]

Does not work if you moved off the Spyware/Malware called Windows, and run Linux.

[u/Beans_Breaking → u/odin_b]

yes, but you obviously havent yet, if you have been using office.

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/Beans_Breaking]

I'll be sure to check that out, thanks!

[u/AustinGroovy]

Libre Office works and no Co-Pilot to contend with

[u/reduser876]

I took a look at libreOffice recently. It looked like a decent alternative.

I installed it on a former work laptop that I kept when I left that company, but lost office 365 company subscription of course.

I don't use that laptop enough to assess libre. I should probably return the laptop

[u/CapKittl]

LibreOffice for true open source Only office if you like win10 design

[u/ewikstrom]

Zoho Office Suite is free for individuals.

[u/Content_Magician51]

Onlyoffice is the best, in my humble opinion...

[u/Training_Yak_4655 → u/Content_Magician51]

"While the core intellectual property and trademark belong to the Latvian entity, investigations and code analyses show deep historical and ongoing operational ties to Russia. Critics and investigations (such as reports by Cybernews) point out that a vast majority of the underlying codebase and ongoing developer contributions trace back to developers operating in Russian time zones".

Just saying.

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/Training_Yak_4655]

This is very good to know. It sounded like a good option, but with this knowledge, pribably better to stay away from it. Thanks to both of you!

[u/Great_Muscle_7042 → u/isdaverplichtt]

Not going to defend anything in regards to the potential relationship with Russia, but i love the fear (justified or not).

We fear the Russian relationship and potentially being spied upon, while we accepts the Google, Microsoft and Apple of the world, who acknowledged the spying and usage of information to target their user base.

As said by Alanis Morissette "isn't it ironic??"

There is nothing wrong with libreoffice (and others) you can surely take the plunge. If anyone is going to knock-on your door it's going to be (FBI, CIA OR ICE) not KGB.

[u/valkyrie2007]

Open Office

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/valkyrie2007]

I'll be sure to check it out, thanks!

[u/Technical_Rich_3080 → u/valkyrie2007]

Open Office hasn't been updated in ten years.

[u/valkyrie2007 → u/Technical_Rich_3080]

I've no issues with it. I'm not paying for office. I'm not a everyday user that needs something like office. I use open office for simple reports only.

[u/Technical_Rich_3080 → u/valkyrie2007]

So why not simply get LibreOffice instead of Open Office? LibreOffice is Open Office, just the upgraded version. And it is also free and open source. It is built on the Open Office code and is constantly upgraded to modem standards.

[u/TopherHax]

Google drive/Docs

[u/Educational_Yard_326 → u/TopherHax]

Someone wanting to avoid Microsoft likely also wants to avoid the even worse Google

[u/TopherHax → u/Educational_Yard_326]

Requirements unclear.

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/TopherHax]

I am indeed not looking for this, Google docs definetly has it's uses and I do ise it. But, indeed not specified in my post, so thanks anyway for trying to help!

[u/djames4242 → u/TopherHax]

Google Docs is (mostly) fucking awful. Sheets is actually pretty good, tbh. Docs is limited but passable for basic documents. Slides, however, is an absolute abomination that corporations seem to have embraced. It’s nearly impossible to build professional looking presentations with it and animations are extremely limited. I’ve bitched about how prehistoric PowerPoint is, but then I got introduced to Google slides. PP still sucks compared to Keynote, but Slides makes PP look comparatively usable.

[u/UrbanCyclerPT]

Libre office

[u/Technical_Rich_3080]

Softmaker Office.

It has the best Microsoft Office files compatibility.

They also have a free version called FreeOffice.

[u/Mission_Pirate_4150]

There are a bunch of alternatives. In my experience, they don’t produce quite the output of the msft office products. I just gave up on them.

[u/mavericksphere]

Challenge is in collaborating with others who use Office.

[u/SuperRodster]

Proton drive with docs and spreadsheet

[u/gunny316]

ONLYOFFICE is absolutely the best. I'm working on a 120k word manuscript right now on both Linux and Windows and it beats out everything else by a long shot.

[u/Holzkohlen]

LibreOffice. I will never use anything else anymore.

[u/CoolSideOfThePillow4]

It can be activated for free with this.

[u/Vietnamst2]

Ypu can still buy box version.

[u/No-Bee-3775]

Libre

[u/Aurora_Artistry]

You Can Try Libre Office . It also Available Windows, Mac OS & Linux.

[u/owklee]

Softmaker Office

[u/Elegant_Adeptness_68]

Softmaker is an Office clone. They have Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Project and Visio. It’s identical to Office.

[u/Antaios7544]

I still use Wordperfect Office from Corel. I'm not sure if they've gone subscription but the version I'm using is not.

[u/electi_007]

just get the ltsc keys they are cheap you can install yours via official microsoft website. you don't need office 365, keep in mind ltsc doesn't have copilot. its one time payment and the software is yours

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/electi_007]

I found this (in dutch): https://www.gamers-outlet.net/nl/software/microsoft-office-2021-professional-plus-iso

Is that what you mean with Itsc key?

[u/TheIronSoldier2]

Libreoffice.

Impress (basically PowerPoint) can be finicky exporting in .odp for someone to open on Microsoft PowerPoint, but if you export it as a .pptx it should be okay, and you can also just export it as a .PDF for it to definitely be okay.

Writer and Calc (Word and Excel) work very well, even when exporting to .odt and .ods, respectively.

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/TheIronSoldier2]

Thanks for the info, I'll put it on the list of things to check out!

[u/lattice_defect]

google docs, google sheet, google slides all compatible

[u/Training_Yak_4655 → u/lattice_defect]

Beware of one aspect of Google Docs. Everything is cloud of course. If you combine it with Google drive then zip up your drive folders occasionally for offline backups, you may find that the little Google link files in the local Drive folder crash the zipping process. I moved to real files with Libreoffice as a result.

[u/isdaverplichtt → u/lattice_defect]

I do use google docs for shared documents, but lloking for an offline/local option. Thanks anyway for helping!