Microsoft Office Alternatives On Linux ...

[@DlxyRekt]

It's funny everyone watching this already knows the alternatives but continues watching anyways

[@MrDowntemp0]

Speaking for myself, its cause I'm really hoping to find something better. Google Docs and Libre Office get me by, but I don't use office softwaere as much these days as I used to. Still, it would be nice if there was something out there SUPERIOR to MS Office. Well I guess there's Emacs, but I'm still learning :)

[@BenitoiteBaTiSi]

[@noel_curray]

Haha. You are right. Maybe i just like to support people who promotes Linux.

[@curious_banda]

Loool

[@philosoaper]

nah, just two seconds...I don't use office at all

[@vaisakh_km]

i would say, the issue with libreoffice interface is just theming issue, in my opinion they should provide a really good looking mordern default theme , and add a option for user to prefer desktop theme, like how browsers does it..

[@MichaelNROH]

Most likely yes. The icons in particular need to be swapped to a modern and very important, coherent design, regardless of light or dark mode

[@MinaSchloch]

The icons use the system theme afaik, so Adwaita in your case. On KDE, even when using the Flatpak, they use Breeze by default. The Flatpak has like every icon theme out there preinstalled, I use some colorful one forgot the name

[@vaisakh_km]

@@MichaelNROH i meant, currently it's using your system theme, and icon, my icons are colorful and clearly visible...

[@skelebro9999]

i just changed my gtk theme and libreoffice respects that theme.

[@Kris-od3sj]

@@MichaelNROH The icons very much need a splash of color. They blend together too much when they're all greyscale. Gimp also suffers from this. _Yes, I know both include additional icon themes, which are.. decent_

[@GugureSux]

ONLY-office really is the MS Office in everything but the name. It's only real "downside" I've found is that it cannot animate GIF files in slide shows, something both MS and LibreOffice have been capable of for a long time now.

[@MichaelNROH]

Really? Haven't tried this one yet. It sounds like something that should work though.

[@PeakKissShot]

Yeah that and videos

[@MrDonCoyote]

Does it come with AI integration yet to help me write things and solve budgets and so on? Can I generate images directly within onlyoffice yet? Can I search for images directly within onlyoffice to use in documents and presentations? Can I insert audio into presentations yet? My point is that for some people, these apps might be enough. But both Microsoft 365 and Google Docs now have features that make the other ones seem old and dated by comparison. And for most people, time is money. If I can cut my time in half by using Microsoft 365 or Google Docs, I'll just use either of these tools.

[@Azure_dragon0]

​@@MrDonCoyoteYup, that's the case. Normal users can do with alternatives, professionals need pro stuff which is especially tailored with their use case in mind. I like google docs and have been using it for many years, but I can easily shift to libre or other alternatives because I am a basic user. And another thing, if MS office came to Linux, many people would use it.

[@sebastiangonzales46]

ONLY Office is great, I'm surprised a large excel file ran perfectly fine on only office

[@NADEEMKHAN-sj5hn]

Onlyoffice is my favourite and i like the tab feature that opens multiple files

[@jernaugurgeh451]

I like OnlyOffice too - nice and simple and self-contained in one attractive tab-based desktop app that is reminiscent of MS Office. I do wonder if it’s an Electron app though.

[@hansreynders6853]

I too like the design of OnlyOffice. Since I have a large Font base installed, I use a font manager to activate or deactivate fonts and OnlyOffice is the only program that can't handle that.

[@MrMayaFx]

Onlyoffice does not support Arabic language

[@nawantabahpangestu1973]

​@@jernaugurgeh451 Not Electron, but Chromium Embedded Framework. Te core part is written in C++ but the UI is written with HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

[@swh77]

There's a mention that WPS Office is from China, it's worth noting that OnlyOffice is from Russia.

[@gaudaddy]

Office 2013 works perfectly fine using wine on linux btw. I feel like that's a pretty good option that a lot of people seem to completely skip when talking about office suites on linux

[@amigaworkbench720]

I can't activate it? Can you run legal version?

[@gaudaddy]

@@amigaworkbench720 huh. Never really thought about that tbh. I'm running a pirated version, not really sure what activation shenanigans Microsoft is up to if you have a legit copy tho

[@ShayneHartford]

I don't think running 11 year old unsupported software in wine is really a good solution...

[@kelownatechkid]

@@ShayneHartford Not for a business, but for a person sure it is

[@recurser.]

Can I ask you about how did you managed to install it? I ran through the installation process only after trying an every single wine/proton-ge option I had in Lutris (and only 32 bit prefix with proton-ge had worked in the end) and then it crashes after a licence window would appear. Also I tried every single activator I knew and non of them worked. And I can't understand what's going wrong... So it's not that easy, I would say it really depends.

[@NADEEMKHAN-sj5hn]

Softmaker FreeOffice is also a office suite available for linux, which is also look similar to Microsoft just like WPS Freeoffice is a close source software from Germany

[@nawantabahpangestu1973]

I recently bought SoftMaker Office Professional 2024. It have tab, Zotero integration, advanced PDF export, SmartText, and many other.

[@hermespymander9167]

Onlyoffice is nice when you are dealing with multiple documents (tabs)

[@zerkovic]

I use Softmaker's Textmaker, Planmaker. Love It.

[@MinaSchloch]

You know Libreoffice supports Icon themes right? I switched away from Breeze to something more colorful, which I find more usable. You can also remove buttons or add custom buttons.

[@samuelsurfboard9887]

Haven't found one that makes it look better than Wps, and also I can't force it out of Dark Mode without changing the entire system theme 😮‍💨😮‍💨

[@TheMetaldudeX]

A good open source PDF editor is on my foss wish list. The ones that exist don’t have no where’s near the functionality.

[@NikiDaDude]

I use MS Office at work and OnlyOffice at home when I'm on Linux. Compatibility is excellent, but I don't like some choices, for example Writer only shows you the word count of the whole document but not for the selected text like in Word.

[@kanagawa8964]

There is an official plugin for that purpose, but it’d be better to have that as the default.

[@MichaelNROH]

Hah, wondered what that was for

[@v-PairOfNines]

Unfortunately, none of the spreadsheets alternatives have a proper substitute for the Power Query within Excel. It is one of the most powerful features it has for manipulating data and almost no MS Office alternatives videos mention this

[@ingoatd]

And the modern array formulas

[@radioxerox7698]

Funny story about WPS being kind of suspicious. At my last work, some guy sent his resume as a WPS shareable link instead of attaching the file to his email. When the HR person clicked the link, it downloaded the installer for WPS office and automatically changed all the default apps from MS to WPS. She was very confused why "word changed how it looks" and also didn't realise it was caused by the email so didn't explain this to IT for a while. Now WPS is banned there ahah

[@spartv1537]

China apps are ALWAYS suspicious, they seem to have a lot of trackers and strange activity going on in backrooms...

[@jcfawerd]

WPS office was discovered to lock users‘ files once specific words are discovered and its latest user agreements stated that it would upload users’ documents for AI training, I would be highly against it

[@nico1337]

Office 365 works perfectly fine for me, but only with Crossover

[@FengLengshun]

VBA doesn't work at all, last I tried. It was super laggy, more than using Excel on a VM at times. And dependencies can be a mess to grab depending on the distro, and if any of them is missing or the app didn't interface correctly with it - well, at best you have a case where the entire Layout tab is greyed out because of issues with lib32-sane, and worst case the Install just fails.

[@nico1337]

@@FengLengshun Yeah, I should've written "for my use case". Word, Excel and PowerPoint all work to that extent that I don't experience any issues

[@hansreynders6853]

​@@FengLengshunlib32-sane? Is that a Linux library? (sane refers to scanning and lib32 sounds to me more Microsoft than Linux)

[@FengLengshun]

@@hansreynders6853 it is. It's 32-bit library, making it annoying to get in certain distro. Arch, for example, required building using an unmaintained AUR package (at least at the time).

[@thieftheodore]

In my experience, softmaker free office have the best compatibility with ms office files

[@arnaudbeux3734]

Personally, I use Office 365 desktop with WinApps. It uses a little VM (for my needs tiny10, 2 threads and 4gb RAM) running in background and you have access to all installed applications of the VM directly in Linux. It's overkill but for school projects and collaboration it's the only solution I found.

[@tubeDude48]

LibreOffice has been around for a long time, and reads M.S. version of files with no problems.

[@no_name4796]

Pptx files have some bad things on libreoffice, like text not rendered all in the slide, or in wrong positions, or other bugs. But it's probably just microsoft adding some intentional bugs here and there to make their file types only fully compatible on windows

[@FengLengshun]

Hahahaha. I literally got reprimanded because I gave an xslx file edited via LO to my boss and all the PivotTable formatting are messed up and many of the colors are otherwise different after I saved them. LO is not "no problems." Source: someone who actually works with a lot of docx and xlsx files (don't even get me to xlsm and xlsb).

[@MichaelNROH]

Yeah, formatting is a problem. If someone truly wants to switch then the Office file formats need to go. Shouldn't be a huge problem if given enough time. File exchange usually happens via PDF, and "special" files with Macros should not be exchanged anyway. These things can be rewritten but yeah, it takes time

[@nadtz]

No it doesn't, I've been checking some of the excel files I get in libreoffice on and off for years and it will mangle complex files. A lot of people can probably get away with it if they aren't dealing with complex word/excel files but if you do none of the FOSS office suites 100% work.

[@nadtz]

@@MichaelNROH But then you have a chicken egg problem, if you really need Office you can't just do away with office formats because you either need to generate or work with files in those formats. And PDF doesn't come close for a lot of tasks when you need to do more than superficial editing. We might send the end result to a client as PDF but it's not going to be generated in that format.

[@rafacla]

Something that would improve a lot the Linux Office experience would be some integration with Office 365 from Microsoft. For example, Gnome already maps the OneDrive library, if it went further and opened office files directly in the browser version of Excel/Word, it would seamless work as a native office that relies in internet.

[@w00master]

This is where Linux and other operating systems fail for me. Open office and other products are “decent,” but nothing compares truly to MS Excel.

[@alamk1956]

That's why I install an older copy (Office 2007) on my linux desktop.

[@w00master]

@@alamk1956 need the most current version - that strategy doesn't work for me and a lot of folks who depend on Excel. Again, until there's anything that compete with Excel - Linux will always be relegated to a secondary home operating system for most folks.

[@dingokidneys]

I've found this strange because as a corporate accountant for 30+ years I've had a lot to do with very complex Excel type workbooks and I've not had problems with open source offerings on Linux or Windows. In fact Gnumeric saved me a lot of hassle when our standard SOE version of Excel would not open Excel workbooks created by a tax consultant using a newer version of Excel. I didn't have time to go through the whole process of requesting an updated version of Office suite, waiting a month or more for approval and installation only then for it to be incompatible with the suite used by my other colleges. I picked up a Portable Apps version of the latest Gnumeric and found that it worked fine and I could get my work done and that file then went back and forth between the tax consultant and me with no problems. I often wonder what people are doing with Excel that makes the FOSS office suites, and the spreadsheeting in particular, unsuitable for them. Perhaps macros but I've never needed to use macros professionally and they were totally banned at work because of the vulnerabilities they introduce.

[@bubaks2]

@@alamk1956you can do that?? Is 2007 the latest supported version?

[@DeGoogled0]

Good to know, but Windows sucks, so... I prefer enjoy all the linux features

[@3gsahil]

I use libre office as its pre installed . I use googles workspace too and only office is my go to due to its UI .

[@maxwellkjr]

If you had to choose ONE, what would you choose?

[@raphaelkyembe4407]

Me too. I use all the 3 of them depending on which one does a particular task better. For instance if I'm doing mail merge, then libre office. If I'm opening a document that was developed using MO then I will open it with only office. If I need a lot of AI staff in the work I'm doing, Google suite is the choice

[@Cablur]

Try to create a folder page separation/divider sheet which is like 10×25 cm, and get some vertical text on the lower end of the sheet. That’s one challenge most word competitors fail.

[@asifshamsi5630]

Microsoft Office on Windows. On Linux I didn't find a good alternative until yesterday I tried Only office suite. The best thing I "discover" is it implemented Microsoft fonts better than Libre office, although LO has more functions. Tried WPS Office 2-3 years ago it's free version has lesser functions than LO & MSO.

[@tridens6708]

No one mentions Soft Maker Office paid and Free And my Old windows Licence key works on Linux version 😊 very good has Microsoft fonts and saves and opens Microsoft file format Yesterday I got Microsoft xl document sent to me which didn't open properly format with Libra Office office but was perfect with Soft maker 😊

[@marksulloway5669]

How about Softmaker Office - paid, or its free version Freeoffice? German software. Too bad that RagTime is only available for Mac & Windows as its frame oriented page layout is something special.

[@MichaelNROH]

Looks promising. It's not regularly distributed as it isn't Open Source and they also don't seem to publish it outside their own repo.

[@krid78]

@@MichaelNROH At least manjaro offers it as an alternative when installing the Gnome or KDE version.

[@nawantabahpangestu1973]

​@@MichaelNROHWell, that's how you're supposed to install software on Linux; using a package manager.

[@PaulG.x]

For all the commenters bemoaning the lack of tabs in Libre Office: Open separate windows and switch using the 'Window' option in the menu bar

[@MegaManNeo]

For work I am fine with the online suite, for my own usecase LO is enough but yea, the U.I. is pretty 2006.

[@definitlynotbenlente7671]

softmaker office is also a great alternative and it has profesional dictionaries for spell check and better suport for other languages than English

[@cyclonebee2205]

As another comment said I know all this already but I still like hearing your voice 😄

[@blackchristiangeek]

I have used Linux is my daily operating system (OS) for almost 4 years since leaving macOS after 20 years. Trust me, the office suites you mentioned and the online versions are all you need. I don't tell people I exchange documents with that I'm using Linux and therefore there is no need for them to be concerned. Linux just works (well, most of the time 😅). Thanks for sharing and God bless,

[@RandomNonsense1985]

I love the Libre/Open Office default interface, as it’s similar to the older versions of MS Office that didn’t have the STUPID, STUPID ribbon.

[@deemuss]

Also, it is worth to mention SoftMaker Office. However, it does not have too many advantages over the other alternative office packages

[@mdexterc2894]

LibreOffice is the base for some enterprise solutions like Collabora Office and CIB's AI and automation tools. It also had Python programming support long before MS Office implemented it.

[@enemixius]

I like LibreOffice because it doesn't force the "modern" ribbon UI on its users. It's good that it's there as an option for those that prefer it, but I want the old school interface where I can actually find stuff.

[@STONE69_]

Me also, love the old school interface.

[@gmt1]

Just tried out MS Office online. It bugs out when I try deleting documents, and refuses to change the autocorrect language to anything except English (US)

[@anthonywalker6268]

I find it weird that you mentioned their file type, but not Open office itself. Also I have found in the past that saving things in other formats will still make them only readable to Microsoft office.

[@CaribouDataScience]

Two words Power Query. For me PQ Is the killer app for Excel and Power BI.

[@Juanguar]

I just finished my switch to Ubuntu today from windows Got my gaming situation all sorted out and as for office I can just use the browser version if needed It’s good enough for the basic tasks that I need Now as for the device specific proprietary software I kept windows on the old drive in case I need them

[@AlanDike]

I still use office. I'll boot into windows or fire up a windows VM and run office natively over using the cloud apps. Libre office gets a bit of use when I dont have to worry about compatibility. I still refuse to use any open source mail client. I find all of them seriously lacking in some manner or another, and Im not going to use a cloud based email client when I can just hit the web interface of my email directly (either owa or google).

[@josebrivera1716]

I have a low regard for dark mode. It’s harder to read using it. Our book don’t have dark pages and white text for a reason. I can’t wait for the dark mode fad to go away. Thanks for the video. I think I will get and use Only Office.

[@berkocan2000]

Unfortunately none of these programs can replace excel. I am planning to install mint on my laptop but my only concern is if it would work good with emulation.

[@ingoatd]

Very very true. All offices I tried did well on the writing and presentation stuff. But man, the spreadsheet programs is where if often walls apart. Modern Excel has so many good things going for it the no one can replace. Especially the new array formulas. Only thing that e.g. Google sheets is better with is database querys

[@GreatKeny]

As a Chinese, WPS existed before GUI was even a thing and was the default application if you wanted to edit documents in Chinese in DOS 😂 How many software companies from the DOS era still exist to this date?

[@dipperpines2793]

I use LibreOffice because of its boot-up speed (granted I'm on windows atm so that may change when I switch), but that's only when I need to work with files which were shared with me. When it's a document I create I just use a text editor.

[@glenby2u]

nice review. for me working with data is usually where I hit learning points. graphing and pivot tables... Excel is pretty hard to beat for data but.. I'm still looking macros are the heart of business. automation for repeatability is a massive time and money saver. so while they are an attack vector... they are no different to other ones. people use python, powershell now and many other languages that rely on 3rd party bits - so they are just as if not more exposed. kind of like perl in the old days.

[@EclipseMints08]

Virtual machine + LTSC of Windows 10 + Windows Office. Have to use that 32 GB of ram for something. LibreOffice is decent for home use, but a lot of work/school isn't compatible with LibreOffice.

[@JoaquinVacas]

Main problem for me is not opening Office files but my work's laptop, where I run Fedora Workstation and use Microsoft Intune. I cannot have access to shared spreadsheets/documents, have an integrated OneDrive folder with the suite, cannot set Confidentiality (C0/C1/C2/C3) on documents and cannot open and/or send them using encryption on S/MIME (which is something I can use through Thunderbird) So my only option is to use MS Office web, at home I use LibreOffice. Well, at least my corp let me use Linux 🐧

[@break_out_]

Don't forget Softmaker Office or the free version Freeoffice! Made in Germany and optimized for MS Office files!

[@chyldstudios]

I just use Google Docs on Linux (Arch, btw).

[@dragonfly8568]

Only office is the best option imo. I love the idea of LibreOffice but its compatibility issues with MS formats is like trying to be a linux gamer without wine or proton. Not very possible.

[@hansreynders6853]

Is that personal experience or just hearsay? Because I don't recognize it. Issues are exceptional and minor.

[@dragonfly8568]

@@hansreynders6853 bit of both, some formatting issues when opening ms documents and that annoying popup asking me to switch to odf just makes it feel more like bloatwear when a distro comes with it

[@DTrackful]

But i need a OneNote clone! Xournal can be considered an alternative, but you can only edit 1 document at a time. I want to have some sort of folder system so I don't have to create 100s of documents. There is simply no OneNote replacement ...

[@Masonicon]

Me: downloaded Libreoffice into my Steam Deck

[@ArefinKarim]

As a student, i can use any office with ribbon ui.

[@hansreynders6853]

But it has to be a ribbon. You're not flexibel enough to adjust to anything other?

[@ArefinKarim]

@@hansreynders6853 Well, my school taught me on ribbon ui, and i find the old layout a bit confusing. I do believe that the old ui is more practical. But yeah, i changed Libreoffice interface to tabbed.

[@hermask815]

Generally I don’t have problems with most programs. The only problem that I start and leave as soon as possible is Libreoffice base. I think I get the general gist of it, but the program seems so unfriendly to me. The other parts of libreoffice are fine don’t generate aversion.

[@ekaterinaburakova8629]

You didn't mention Free Office: another MS Office rip-off, also colsed source with a premium version. It's kinda nice, but I prefer Only office too!

[@AndréBarbosa-z4n]

MS Office is kind of unavoidable if you really do word/Excel on a daily basis. Excel in particular is tough to let go! So, most of us who ditch MS Office (and more often than not, come back to it) are in some sort of niche.

[@bhargavjitbhuyan9394]

I don't understand the reason why libreoffice devs just copy a little from msoffice and make a ui layout option in the settings.

[@konstantinpogorelov8004]

Onlyoffice looks great, but doesn't support rtl languages.

[@MichaelNROH]

From what I read online, the 8.0 version supports it if you enable the Beta

[@1Marimo1]

Hello Why wasn't Softmaker/Free Office mentioned, for me this is the best alternative for MS Office under Linux

[@MichaelNROH]

Tbh, it flew under my radar as its not distributed via the distro's repositories. Feelings are also kinda mixed, so I'm gonna need to collect some data

[@tridens6708]

Soft maker very easy to install terminal clear instructions on the Web page no need for flatpack snaps Ubuntu debian fedora suse all their

[@Totallynotmwa]

I remember i would priate microsoft office on my old windows 10 asus laptop

[@geos_one]

i am more on softmaker office

[@crapphone7744]

Libre office needs a one drive connector. The available auctions are just not very good for OneDrive.

[@tarunroczs]

Hi, I'm a corporate lawyer and I will be typing tons of documents(.docx), surfing internet and editing pdfs. So, could you suggest me right Linux Distro for my usage?

[@MichaelNROH]

I would suggest to rather look at Desktop Environments and their homepage to see which Distribution ships them. Basically all Distros that ship recent versions of them, perform identically and only differ in how they work in the background.

[@docalex1991]

I have to keep a windows dual boot or vm for running the ms office and adobe suite. There was not a single time that any of the linux office suite were able to open an office document shared with me without messing up the formatting

[@hansreynders6853]

Must be very complicated docs, because I've never any issue with regular standard docs.

[@RenderingUser]

man if only onlyoffice has right to left text

[@ratatatuff]

Nobody needs that.

[@RenderingUser]

@@ratatatuff mfw people outside America exist

[@MichaelNROH]

It actually does if you enable the Beta

[@RenderingUser]

@@MichaelNROH well regardless, I'll be sticking to wps office and my temporary access to Web version of ms office for now

[@amigaworkbench720]

I still hope that there is a chance for us in the EU to stop being tech peasants and instead accept Linux and one of the office software alternatives as EU standard. But no, MS will just throw some money and everything will stay same...

[@MichaelNROH]

If the workload and security concerns to disable features become too big than many will switch. When every update brings new features that could be exploited or accessed by the users for "professional" work then the disabling process become very annoying. AI features in particular pop up everywhere, and need to be disabled, before there are rules for them in place.

[@bopcph]

I only have one question here - does anyone know a fair alternative to Excel .... yeah, not just a spreadsheet - anyone can do that, but - graph's with trendlines and choice of type of trendlines, change the color of the graph and trendline easy - I mean real easy, change the type/function of the trendline in 2 second and not rewrite the function and reselect the dataset. I use the MS off. suite 4 hours every day - 90% of the work is in Excel, I have tried Libreoffice and even after building the functions I wouldn't be able to do my daily job in 8 hours. Show me an alternative spreadsheet for Linux that would help me do the job in just 5 hours and I would take it. It seems that programmers of office suites is not heavy users of the same suites and they do not try to listen to the users - sorry I would rather have a VM running win7 and off.03 (because that is actually the best excel for graphs) than any of the alternatives you have mentioned here. Then there is the problem of making absolut error free pdf's. I am responsible for printing posters produced in any suitable "tool". MS learned its lesson back when they thought they could make their own interpretation of PDF, as they thought with HTML, but Adobe called them back in line so out of more than a thousand poster pdf's I have zero error. I have at least 3 out of 10 pdf's with errors that make them unprintable if they are made with linux based tools. If they are pulled into Powerpoint and converted to pdf the are error free. And what do I open the pdf's with - the standard "stick" Adobe Acrobat - Adobe OWNs pdf, their "word" on pdf is law, so if they say there is an error - then there is an error. You can hate Adobe for many things - but their PDF is saving millions of work hours worldwide every day

[@bleack8701]

I have the same problem. I've checked WPS, Onlyoffice, Libreoffice and even Softimaker's Freeoffice. They don't offer the same functionality

[@dozerd42]

The big one for me is Outlook. Is Thunderbird a good substitute? I have heard it's gotten better

[@curious_banda]

Evolution and TB both are good. If you use GNOME then using Evolution would make sense.

[@MichaelNROH]

Thunderbird might be your best bet for the offline client, but why not just use Outlook instead? The Progressive Web App is pretty reliable, even if some features are missing (In my opinion, nothing relevant).

[@dozerd42]

@@MichaelNROH I agree, i think the progressive web app is pretty good. The problem is that I want my parents to adopt Linux...might be a pipe-dream. They like Microsoft desktop apps.

[@dingokidneys]

@@dozerd42 I seem to have the same problem with my 67 year old brother. He can't seem to get his head around e-mail in a browser window. So Thunderbird it is, on his current Win10 install. When Win10 goes the way of the dodo, I'll probably roll him over onto Linux Mint as Win11 is unusable on his hardware, his hardware is likely to die by inches anyway, and I'm not going to allow him to use the new Win11 on new hardware with all the bizarre crap they are loading into that system. Better something I can quietly SSH into and manage remotely without having to disturb him. I've been using Thunderbird myself for as long as it's been available - 20+ years - and I use it with a bunch of on-line email accounts I've collected over the years: GMail, Hotmail, Microsoft Live, Microsoft Outlook, my ISP account and local mbox. It's always worked fine for me but I've never drunk deep of the Outlook Client Koolaid. I was using e-mail clients before Outlook became a thing and I never really liked it that much.

[@CathrineMacNiel]

awww, you forgot Calligra formerly known as KOffice.

[@kevinsteinman8967]

I loved using Calligra and it's simple to use.

[@jaydenhunter7990]

I'm not sure if you have looked at Collabora but I would love a review of their office software

[@MichaelNROH]

Collabora is all cloud hosted if I recall. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure if it's not just a hosted LibreOffice with crosswork

[@ratatatuff]

Never heard of Softmaker Office? Best office suite out there.

[@kevinsteinman8967]

That's a paid suite, free for 30 days and you might as well just bought MS Office. Here he's discussing the free stuff.

[@michaelwright2986]

@@kevinsteinman8967 The title says he's discussing Linux stuff, and as he includes WPS he's not confining himself to free=libre. I see a lot of support for Softmaker Office, enough to make me have another look.

[@djtomoy]

Just create you documents in the command line like a real man

[@dingokidneys]

in the 'ed' editor or, if you must, 'edlin' on Windows.

[@dixieflatline1189]

Real men don't play with "magic boxes". They carve new trade routes through bear infested mountains. Legit

[@repairman2be250]

So, you are a DOS user?

[@James_Byron]

I despise libre, it's awful to use if you used to office and the UI is horrendous, it's basically a badly designed program for xp, something that takes 1 minute in office takes 2 or 3 on any libre application and it adds up.

[@kooky2]

I need ms publisher but there seems to be nothing available like it

[@ahmadkhaled7497]

I have windows license already linked to my email, yet I still use WPS on windows.

[@verko-e]

what linux distribution do you daily drive?

[@catayloprince4772]

MS Office Word can't export docx to png or jpeg natively.

[@harshphysik]

It'll be great if you create a tutorial like program for libre office suite.

[@patocarrasco6266]

I just need 3 things to move away from ms office and all are excel related ): 1) macro API: ok, I can learn a new language, but every program uses its own standard, some use python, others use a vb variant, even js, though excel today also has a js api. 2) the not that new matrix formulas: the `#` notation in excel formulas is amazing and it maintains me away from macros in terms o calculations. 3) dynamic tables (not pivot tables). 4) power query. I know, those are 4 points, but 1) and 2) are mutually exclusive

[@dingokidneys]

Professional corporate accountant for 40+ years: daily user of complex spreadsheets (Lotus 1-2-3, Quattro Pro, and Excel). I've never had to use macros nor wanted to. Plus work banned them as obvious vulnerabilities. On the other hand, Python is a skill you can use outside of a spreadsheet. I've used matrix formulae in LibreOffice and Gnumeric. They are probably available in other office suites. If I understand correctly, the '#' style of cell reference in named tables has been obsolete for years now. Dynamic tables and power query were only just coming in when I retired but I'd never needed them. I used databases (Access and links to SQL databases) a whole lot for big data management rather than Excel. If you stick exclusively to what you already know, you are really missing out.

[@patocarrasco6266]

@@dingokidneys I'm not that sure about your tone, so I'll go the funny way: Yeah, your cock is bigger. Congrats. Surely it is as big as the amount of additional time you take to do the same stuff that I do in no time. If you don't want to work with newer tools, then you must be proud of doing everything the old hard way. I hope you make use of assembler as well, because even I know it, but I know when to use it. Did you work alone? Did you work with tech savvy people? Well, I don't. We don't even have access to SQL like tools, they're banned. Luckily I can use macros. Of course, I could use python outside, but then I couldn't enjoy the office api as much as I do and I'd get a lot of boilerplate. Are your matrices old fashion ctrl+shift+enter? I hope you didn't work with dynamic ranges. What a pain and waste of time and resources it would be today. The `#` is not for named tables. What it does is to automatically detect ranges derived from 1 cell formulas that can spread to more cells. For example, if you write in cell `A1` the formula `= MAP(range_of_cells)`, where `range_of_cells` is a 2x3 matrix, you'll get a new 2x3 matrix, which can be referenced as A1# from other formula. If A1 changes its amount of cells it spreads to, let's say, to a 6x3 matrix, you don't need to update your last formula, because `#` makes it for you, so you don't have to care about boundaries anymore. There are a large amount of new behaviors which change the way you use excel in comparison with other spreadsheet apps, and they've been around from 2017 at least. You've missed a lot. Do you still have fun with lotus? Sorry, I'm just 29, but also I'm fixing old buggy style spreadsheets from people "40+ experience" all day long. Please, just use power query. Also, it's funny when you say stuff like "I'm a complex spreadsheets lotus pro player", "I'm fine with my dinosaur sql", "libre office matrix formulas" and "not to stick to something", all in the same post

[@patocarrasco6266]

​@@dingokidneys Yeah, your cock is bigger. Congrats. Surely it is as big as the amount of additional time you take to do the same stuff I do in no time. It seems like you mostly work alone or with tech savvy people. Direct sql is not an option and nobody has admin level access on its pc. If you use python outside, you are wasting the office api and doing a lot of boilerplate. Are your matrices old fashion ctrl+shift+enter? I have bad news for you: your spreadsheets are not complex, they're just big and inefficient. Today, excel is a turing complete language thanks to functions like `LET`, `MAP`, `LAMBDA`. If you don't know that the `#` operator detects ranges for you (nothing about named tables), then you are the obsolete one. Sorry, I'm just 29, but I'm fixing old buggy spreadsheets from people "40+ experience" all the time. Please, just use power query. Also, it's funny when you say stuff like "I'm a lotus pro player", "I'm fine with my dinosaur sql", "libre office matrix formulas" and "do not to stick to something", all in the same post. You don't know how much you are missing out.

[@patocarrasco6266]

@@dingokidneys Yeah, your c0ck is bigger. Congrats. Surely it is as big as the amount of additional time you take to do the same stuff I do in no time. It seems like you mostly work alone or with tech savvy people. Direct sql is not an option and nobody has admin level access on its pc. If you use python outside, you are wasting the office api and doing a lot of boilerplate. Are your matrices old fashion ctrl+shift+enter? I have bad news for you: your spreadsheets are not complex, they're just big and inefficient. Today, excel is a turing complete language thanks to functions like `LET`, `MAP`, `LAMBDA`. If you don't know that the `#` operator detects ranges for you (nothing about named tables), then you are the obsolete one. Sorry, I'm just 29, but I'm fixing old buggy spreadsheets from people "40+ experience" all the time. Please, just use power query. Also, it's funny when you say stuff like "I'm a lotus pro player", "I'm fine with my dinosaur sql", "libre office matrix formulas" and "do not to stick to something", all in the same post. You don't know how much you are missing out.

[@patocarrasco6266]

@@dingokidneys Yeah, your d1ck's bigger. Congrats. Surely it is as big as the amount of additional time you take to do the same stuff I do in no time. It seems like you mostly work alone or with tech savvy people. Direct sql is not an option and nobody has admin level access on its pc. If you use python outside, you are wasting the office api and doing a lot of boilerplate. Are your matrices old fashion ctrl+shift+enter? I have bad news for you: your spreadsheets are not complex, they're just big and inefficient. Today, excel is a turing complete language thanks to functions like `LET`, `MAP`, `LAMBDA`. If you don't know that the `#` operator detects ranges for you (nothing about named tables), then you are the obsolete one. Sorry, I'm just 29, but I'm fixing old buggy spreadsheets from people "40+ experience" all the time. Please, just use power query. Also, it's funny when you say stuff like "I'm a lotus pro player", "I'm fine with my dinosaur sql", "libre office matrix formulas" and "do not to stick to something", all in the same post. You don't know how much you are missing out.

[@spartv1537]

The only thing i care is it compatible with microsoft office since i use these apps only for university work

[@stephencooper3583]

If compatibility is your main concern, I'd say go with the free Microsoft account. Just make up one for school (which makes sense since you probably want it separate from your main email anyway). Then you can save the documents to the cloud and access them from any computer browser or phone.

[@itsHEART0007]

Brother, Please make a video on downloading Unityhub in Linux ubuntu 24.04. I tried several ways including official website and the application is also showing but when I click it , it doesn't start at all. Please make a video on it.Its an humble request.🙏

[@benmeuker4921]

I just learned that KDE has its own Office Sweet called Calligra. Does anyone know if its any use?

[@epic_journey.]

What! It's just kde being kde lol

[@MichaelNROH]

It has a couple of useful features but feels very limited in contrast to the other ones, so I didn't even consider adding it

[@nandaje]

g doc is enough for me as 3d modeller

[@impersonator4439]

All these are trash compared to ms Office. 365 is subpar as well. I hope proton can someday be used (easily) to run Ms office at least from 2021.

[@italiatroller4793]

one downside on wps office is vietnamese characters on linux version. and i really got annoyed with it and stopped using wps

[@BigOrangeMan]

The real killer in ms office always has been Excel because theres no real good alternative to it

[@laptoplivegaming]

If you have to collaborate with others that use Windows, you are in for a disaster. Messing formatting everytime you change something and send to them, things won't look the same. if you have to collaborate with documents online as things go nowadays you won't be able to unless you use office either. I'd love a MS Office suite for Linux, that is the only way I would make the switch

[@MichaelNROH]

The fix here is just using .odf instead of .docx. Many don't understand, that the open formats are the better choice when collaborating with others. If you know that the others use Office exlusively, then use their formats. For externals or cross plattform, use the open standards. It's a management thing

[@laptoplivegaming]

@@MichaelNROH let me tell my CEO and CFO. Unfortunately it’s not going to happen, maybe when I make it to the top!

[@lenOwOo]

so softmaker is really that niche huh. . .

[@AntiGrieferGames]

I use libreoffice on windows.

[@nemowei5553]

That's not a problem on Linux. There are many good alternatives. The problem with Linux is, there are still no good Outlook alternatives. Thunderbird looks like a 2000 design. Fonts are ugly, Mailspring doesn't work anymore on Linux, Geary, Evolution are also not good. . Wanna switch my office PCs to Linux but how long there is no good email client I cannot not switch and stuck on Windows.

[@dingokidneys]

If you need MS fonts, install the package 'ttf-mscorefonts-installer' or equivalent on non-debian base. I have no idea why people say there is no good Outlook alternative and then complain about appearance. Thunderbird works fine for me. I always found Outlook to be a horrible e-mail client; constantly mashing e-mails up if they hadn't come from another Outlook client. Appallingly incompatible with international standards.

[@ransan]

Onlyoffice 👌

[@Saif_is_1]

do you think snapdragon x elite laptops will run linux greatly?

[@MichaelNROH]

Eventually. ARM is already pretty well supported on Linux, and if the drivers are integrated into the kernel, then they might have an edge over Windows. Depends on the rest of the hardware though

[@Saif_is_1]

@@MichaelNROH will you try a snapdragon laptop and put linux on it and games?

[@MichaelNROH]

@@Saif_is_1 Eventually, but ARM is still not very common, which is why some stuff doesn't work yet. Especially Virtualization, and all that

[@subieasunayuuki]

Can I also get these alternatives on Windows aswell? 🥺

[@dingokidneys]

Yes. Most if not all of them also provide Windows ports so you can try them out without having to switch to Linux. This is what FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) is all about; spreading the love far and wide.

[@BobSockTwo]

I really hate WPS Office solely for the constant pop-ups. I just can't stand it.

[@PixelMotionHD]

Power excel and power bi ... whis is a huge drawback :(

[@application_nerd]

Hey i use Ms office in linux. It's bit old but works like native application. Show that also.

[@MichaelNROH]

Most Office users who "need" it use Office 365, so that's not an option. Generally speaking, even businesses shouldn't rely on old and unmaintained software since they expose internal vulnerabilities

[@application_nerd]

@@MichaelNROH For personal use i think it's ok. You would be surprised to know how many people still use older version of office.

[@Antzdownunder]

Hello, is there a program to replace Publisher?

[@rubenroia7608]

You forgot FreeOffice

[@bharatkumar6458]

freeOffice is what i use

[@Linx_info-po9fq]

WPS is the best and the most compatible

[@Daimo83]

Why does freeoffice never get any attention?

[@MichaelNROH]

The answer is probably distribution. I didn't even know it existed until the comments, since it's neither in official repositories (non-open source) or flathub.