I have a number of personal spreadsheets and notes that I have maintained for many years.
I've been subscribed to MS Office for years and honestly, it's a far better deal than iCloud - $70 or so (Home Use Program) gets you the entire Suite and 1TB of Onedrive.
However, I need an iCloud subscription for the family, and I don't really need to pay for O365. It's a waste to pay for both.
So, I tried to go all Apple - iCloud, Numbers, Notes.
The biggest issue is Numbers. I don't need to access Notes on my Windows laptop or at work, and if I do I can use the phone. But I do need to access my spreadsheets, and doing it on the phone is often a royal pain. Logging into Web iCloud apps from another device is s..l..o..w... And Numbers documents can't be used anywhere outside of Apple ecosystem (LibreOffice opens them but the formatting and tables are all over the place, it's only good for emergencies).
I assumed I'd just stick with Numbers because I didn't want to buy Office for Mac, and when I tried Libre Office for Mac several years ago, it was... special.
However, I just tried LO for Mac again, and it's a whole lot better than what I recall. I also have a lifetime MobiOffice for iOS that works well with Excel format.
So, the option to use Excel files instead of Numbers is back.
What I gain is cross platform compatibility, the ability to use my spreadsheets on any device, long term compatibility (don't need to have access to Apple device if I need to open a spreadsheet 10 years from now and I have switched in the meantime).
The question is, what do I lose if I go back to Excel?
Free placement of tables on a sheet is one thing.
Entry forms on iOS is another.
Anything else that I haven't thought of?
I've been subscribed to MS Office for years and honestly, it's a far better deal than iCloud - $70 or so (Home Use Program) gets you the entire Suite and 1TB of Onedrive.
However, I need an iCloud subscription for the family, and I don't really need to pay for O365. It's a waste to pay for both.
So, I tried to go all Apple - iCloud, Numbers, Notes.
The biggest issue is Numbers. I don't need to access Notes on my Windows laptop or at work, and if I do I can use the phone. But I do need to access my spreadsheets, and doing it on the phone is often a royal pain. Logging into Web iCloud apps from another device is s..l..o..w... And Numbers documents can't be used anywhere outside of Apple ecosystem (LibreOffice opens them but the formatting and tables are all over the place, it's only good for emergencies).
I assumed I'd just stick with Numbers because I didn't want to buy Office for Mac, and when I tried Libre Office for Mac several years ago, it was... special.
However, I just tried LO for Mac again, and it's a whole lot better than what I recall. I also have a lifetime MobiOffice for iOS that works well with Excel format.
So, the option to use Excel files instead of Numbers is back.
What I gain is cross platform compatibility, the ability to use my spreadsheets on any device, long term compatibility (don't need to have access to Apple device if I need to open a spreadsheet 10 years from now and I have switched in the meantime).
The question is, what do I lose if I go back to Excel?
Free placement of tables on a sheet is one thing.
Entry forms on iOS is another.
Anything else that I haven't thought of?
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