Apache Open Office

[User]

 

[captain nemo1701]

I use both. Microsoft at work, Apache at home. In fact, our IT department installed it as backup on all company laptops. Can't say there's much of a difference as it's still early days but I like it. It does what it says on the tin, so try it. It should do what you want, spreadsheets and word processing are OK.

 

[Tommy2]

Don't have much need for it or paying for Microsoft office so I downloaded it, my wife has more experience than me with them (not loads though) and she said she prefers it to Microsoft and will be using it for her university work.

 

[steve50]

Apache OpenOffice is easy to learn, and if you're already using another office software package, you'll take to OpenOffice straight away. Our world-wide native-language community means that OpenOffice is probably available and supported in your own language. And if you already have files from another office package - OpenOffice will probably read them with no difficulty.

That is the only problem I have found with open office, it is NOT completely compatible with microsoft office so sending documents from one source to the other is not always possible.

 

[steve50]

If you are planning on importing microsoft office documents into apache office the chances are they will not open. You may end up having to copy and paste the contents of documents from one office document to the other, unless of course they have made the programmes more compatible than they used to be.
It might well be a case of try it and see.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I got Microsoft Works on ebay a couple of years ago for a tenner (Brand new). It runs on Win 10 and I've had no problem opening Office files, though obviously it does not have all the bells and whistles of it's big brother. Perfect for home use though.

This one on Amazon -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-...=1473363214&sr=1-4&keywords=microsoft+works+9

 

[Ian H]

You're much better off with Libre Office which a fork of Open Office, but much better maintained. Much better at dealing with docx files and other Microsoft stuff.

 

[numbnuts]

I've been using Openoffice for some time now very easy to use and it's free

 

[Shut Up Legs]

You're much better off with Libre Office which a fork of Open Office, but much better maintained. Much better at dealing with docx files and other Microsoft stuff.

Yes I've been using Libre Office since I switched my home PCs to Linux only, and it seems to work pretty well.

 

[simon the viking]

Used open office for years, no problems... Even saved files as word files and emailed them people with ms word and never had compatibility problems.... 100 percent recommended

 

[Bazzer]

Can you get it through a school with your reference to homework? IIRC students and/or teachers get it a knockdown price.
Through child 2's school, earlier this year we got a free upgrade from basic Office 2007 to the full Office 2016 suite.

 

[Ian H]

Used open office for years, no problems... Even saved files as word files and emailed them people with ms word and never had compatibility problems.... 100 percent recommended

Saving as .doc is fine. The only problem you can have is with opening highly formatted .doc or .docx files. They sometimes won't display properly. Libre Office is in my experience (I use both) much less likely to cock-up in such cases.

Another advantage of Libre Office is that it will edit PDFs.

 

[MontyVeda]

Same here... Open Office is fine but can struggle with lots of formatting from MS Office.

The only down side of Open Office is i can't find a decent grammar checker... but saying that, MS Office's grammar checker was far too picky for my liking.

 

[John the Monkey]

As the others have said, it doesn't like the fancier formatting elements of Word, but it's perfectly serviceable. I like Libre Office, and have it on my home desktop.

 

[Old jon]

Last I looked, both Libre Office and Open Office had limited conditional formatting for the spreadsheet. Unfortunately for me, my two most used spreadsheet files rely on more conditional formatting than the freeware supports. Unless anyone on here can display chord diagrams for fretted instruments for various tunings and number of courses dynamically.