![]() This free suite is aimed at small business, educational and home users. If you’re looking for a simple Office alternative, FreeOffice from SoftMaker may do the trick. An HTML5-based cloud suite is in development but not yet available - so if you want to collaborate with co-workers in the cloud, Zoho Office (see below) is a better option. There’s currently an Android viewer available, but no mobile apps for making edits, so it’s not a good option if you have users who need to work on smartphones and tablets. LibreOffice is used around the world with millions of installs and is available for Mac, Windows and Linux. The file needs to be in a shared location each user can access. Multiple users can, however, use its spreadsheet program, called Calc, at once. (Click image to enlarge it.)Īs with Apache OpenOffice - and unlike with G Suite or Office 365 - you can’t simultaneously work with colleagues in LibreOffice’s word processing, presentation and graphics files. ![]() LibreOffice can work with Microsoft Office, ODF and other standard file formats. You can save files with a password, but only in the native OpenOffice format. But overall the suite works and plays nicely with Office files. Like OpenOffice, the suite uses the OpenDocument Format standard by default, which means an extra step when saving to Office file formats or else a trip into the preferences to change the programs to save to the current Office formats (.docx. LibreOffice has a low-fi look, but like most of the tools here, it’s easily navigated by anyone who’s used Office or G Suite. Like its cousin Apache OpenOffice, the open-source suite includes six programs, for word processing, spreadsheets, multimedia presentations, illustrations, databases, and creating math equations. LibreOffice is a fully featured, completely free suite, without catches. Both suites are available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and they’re used by millions around the world. But it’s not part of the official offering.Īpache OpenOffice and LibreOffice are both descendants of, which came from the same codebase, StarOffice. Since it’s open source, some developers have ported it to, for example, Android. Unlike Office 365 and G Suite, OpenOffice doesn’t let multiple users work on shared documents simultaneously, except in Calc, its spreadsheet program - which means it may fall short for business users who need real-time collaborative tools.Ī dealbreaker for some businesses may be the lack of mobile apps this is a desktop-only suite. (Click image to enlarge it.)Īnother welcome feature: If you choose, a checkbox lets you save your document as an encrypted file with a password. Paul Heltzel / IDGįrom any OpenOffice app, you can start a new file in any other OpenOffice app. ![]() Likewise, from the main start-up screen you can open any type of file it can handle - its own formats or those of other productivity suites - without first launching into one of the apps. So you can begin a new presentation from the spreadsheet program, for example, and vice versa. One nice feature is the ability to start a new file in any of the apps from the File menu. pptx types aren’t available.) Tip: You can go into the OpenOffice preferences and tell it to save to the (older) Microsoft Office formats as a matter of course. But if you’re sharing with Office users, you can choose a Microsoft Office file type such as. Go to save a word processing document, for example, and the file will save with an. Like LibreOffice (see below), the suite uses the OpenDocument Format standard. ![]() You won’t have trouble opening or editing Office documents, spreadsheets or presentation files. That said, the tools are full featured and robust. The look and feel won’t win over Office users, as the suite looks a bit less polished than the others here. The software is open-source and developed by volunteers, so there are no paid upgrades or add-ons. Available for Windows, Mac and Linux, the suite includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, illustration, database and math equation applications. Available in one form or another for more than two decades, OpenOffice features free, unlimited licenses for home and business.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |