Thoughts on LibreOffice and FreeOffice

[PapaPiccolino]

Hi all. I'm just wondering if there are any users of LibreOffice and FreeOffice, which are free alternatives to MS Office ? I'd be keen to hear your opinions, experiences, how they compare to MS etc.

Many thanks.

 

[jamietshaw]

I use LibreOffice but I’d recommend using MS Office if you can afford it.

LibreOffice is quite buggy – not enough to stop you doing your work (generally), but enough to be annoying. Font rendering is all blurry, so it does your eyes in after a while. And while they have added a few features of their own, they have also copied all the worst bits of MS Office. It’s like a fake rip-off of a brand-name product.

Generally I quite like Apple’s Keynote, Pages and Numbers as long as you're not constantly needing to share files with Office users, as long as you accept that they sometimes work in different ways (not necessarily inferior/superior), and in the case of Pages and Numbers might not have all the features you need.

 

[PapaPiccolino]

Thanks for that reply jamietshaw. I must say, it doesn't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement.

 

[MBAir2010]

I used Libra office for several years and never had a problem.

 

[sracer]

Hi all. I'm just wondering if there are any users of LibreOffice and FreeOffice, which are free alternatives to MS Office ? I'd be keen to hear your opinions, experiences, how they compare to MS etc.

Many thanks.

I heavily use MS Office, LibreOffice, Google Docs, and Apple iWork daily. As for how well LibreOffice will work for you as an alternative to MS Office depends upon what you'll use the software for.

If you will use it primarily for exchanging documents with MS Office users, then I would recommend MS Office. If you're looking primarily for collaboration, then Google Docs is the best option.

If you're looking to create documents that you'll be using for yourself and are satisfied with the Apple ecosystem, then iWork (Pages/Numbers/Keynote) are excellent (and free).

If you're wanting to be a bit platform-agnostic but want a desktop-strength suite, then LibreOffice is an excellent option.

Keep in mind that often any inconsistency in file formatting between MS Office and something like LibreOffice comes down to non-standard fonts, and hokey document formatting where paragraph and character styles aren't used.

MS Office does a poor job of standardizing how it internally stores styles that are manually and individually set for strings of text rather than using the style functions.

 

[chscag]

If I had to choose between LibreOffice and FreeOffice, I would go with FreeOffice. FreeOffice has a much smaller foot print and is closer to what you would expect from MS Office.

Neither app opens complex MS Office documents without having to redo margins, fonts, and in some cases document layout.

My personal opinion is that Apple Pages does a better job and is a much nicer app especially in layout mode.

 

[Runs For Fun]

I would say LibreOffice is ok for most things. However if you’re sharing documents with people using MS Office you’re almost certainly going to encounter formatting problems with anything other than the basics. Even after all these years LibreOffice still struggles with formatting between MS Office.

 

[PapaPiccolino]

Thanks to all respondents. I appreciate those replies. I don't really collaborate with anyone as such. I mainly create documents for my own use, but my wife works in a PC only workplace (like most people) so having something that is compatible with PC versions of MS Office is essential.

Thanks.

 

[millerj123]

I use OpenOffice on my Mac for personal information, but if I need to share my data with anyone, I'll set everything up with MS Office on a PC.

 

[ian87w]

Thanks to all respondents. I appreciate those replies. I don't really collaborate with anyone as such. I mainly create documents for my own use, but my wife works in a PC only workplace (like most people) so having something that is compatible with PC versions of MS Office is essential.

Thanks.

Just use Google Docs. It's simpler and do what most people needs.
Also, MS Office on the web is actually free to use.

 

[Partron22]

I use Libre Office on Mac, Windows, Ubuntu, Raspberry Pi OS. Docs shift around nicely. For Android, it's Open Office.

 

[jamietshaw]

Thanks for that reply jamietshaw. I must say, it doesn't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement.

Just thought I'd add a few other problems I've had this week!

I had drawn a diagram yesterday, grouped it altogether and it was fine, then this morning it's completely messed up. (Word is also pretty poor at things like this and I always find it's better to make a multiple-component diagram somewhere else then insert as one complete image, but this was especially bad)

I use paragraph styles so it's easy to change formatting. I just edited a style from 12pt to 10.5pt and random bits of text haven't changed! (See the word 'Measure').

I have a different text style for text in tables. Sometimes, when I press Tab at the end of a table to create a new row, the formatting of the whole table reverts back to the body style!

In association with that table problem, I had underlined a few things and the underline disappeared yet was still turned on. Turned out that LibreOffice had changed the underline colour to white!

Basically, use this software for low-frequency simple work. Otherwise, try something else!