Hi, i newby linux user. I'm trying to install my company licence of MS Office 2021, but i'm finding many problems. I've tried with PlayOnLinux release 9, but nothing to do... Is there Someone can help me please? Thanks 
I started with Linux last year and had the same issues. Some people have had luck with Crossover on older versions of Office, but not with 2021.
I eventually decided to run Windows in a virtual machine. I installed Oracle's VirtualBox and it has worked great!
If you go that route, you'll need to get an ISO of Windows, which isn't hard to find. Look up a video or tutorial on YT if you're interested. It takes a few minutes to get set up, but I found it works better than Wine, PlayonLinux, Crossover, or any of the others.
1 Like
Supposedly, MS Office products work better on actual hardware using MS Windows. I have heard many people say Bottles works wonders but I have no actual experience. Let us know how it works out.
1 Like
Personally I find MS Office painful on the eyes. A few months before lockdown I purchased 5 computer licence of SoftMaker Office Pro 2018 for £25. I was so glad I did. What I enjoyed during lockdown was not having to work with Windows (apart from a VM to access shared mailbox). My workflow was far quicker in TextMaker than Word and when saved as .docx work informed me there were no errors and students with low vision I was modifying documents for had no issues. The same for Presentations to! PlanMaker was able to edit Timetables created with Excel had no issues. Have only just recently found out that the subscription version, NX, also includes access to DeepL Translate, the open source language translation software. In addition, files can be exported as .pdf and .epub. (Pro and NX).
2024 version now includes a QR and barcode Template.
Their pdf software cannot compete with Master PDF Editor, or my preferred app, pdf Studio Pro.
4 Likes
I've never heard of SoftMaker Office, but after reviewing their website, that looks promising.
I use OnlyOffice as a Flatpak. Works great and no problems so far after about 2 years of use.
1 Like
That wouldn't work for me as I try to avoid flatpak wherever possible. However, murena.io where I host my unofficial manuals uses Only Office to view the files I created in SoftMaker (17] and LibreOffice (15). I loved using Okular pdf viewer to extract text, tables and images into Text Maker. Once you make the font you choose as default for the document in Text Maker, text extracted is turned into Font and size of font you made default. Tables from Okular drom to basic roman but not a big isdue; just highlight all the cells, press Ctrl+ Space and the font changes to what you made default in the document. Also their Ribbon is better thought out than MS, and if you prefer the same menu bar as Word 2003 equivalent you can change that. Oh, and you know in Word you can only cut tables? In TextMaker you can delete them!
I totally get the aversion to Flatpak, it can be a bit tricky. However, if you're open to alternatives, consider using LibreOffice or OnlyOffice. They’re pretty robust and handle most tasks you'd need. TextMaker is another great tool, especially for those who miss the old Word menu bars.
Softmaker Office is by far more compatible in an environment that is heavily document-based and using Microsoft Office.
Only Office is pretty close in that regard.
Libre Office is solid, but more complex Microsoft Office documents will have formatting and other issues more often.
At home, I would personally use Libre, but since I run a business and have seen the issues with back and forth documents with clients, I use Softmaker Office. It also helps that it is GDPR compliant, since my business is Cybersecurity and Privacy compliance.
In any of these I would recommend setting the default file type to save in the Microsoft format, if you are in a Microsoft Office heavy environment.
1 Like
I did save LibreOffice docs as .docx when working from home and it did not show up correctly at all. It has to be SoftMaker Office Pro for me every time.
I swear to OnlyOffice when I write and I do write alot as an Author.
1 Like
Same experience here : out of LibreOffice, OnlyOffice, WPS Office, and SoftMaker Office, the latter has the best compatibility with MS Office documents, both texts and PowerPoint presentations.
The only (and huge for me) disadvantage of SoftMaker Office is that its linux version has no equation editor integrated. Their windows version does though.
Yes and when they had a poll I voted for similar for Linux. Because Linux doesn't use ASCII code it can't be done. The Windows version has an early version of MathType included but sadly does not work with Duxbury Braille Translator. I just used TextBoxes for making fractions.
1 Like
The difference between freeoffice.com and softmaker.com is that one is free and the other is paid?
I tested freeoffice some time ago, but ended up preferring onlyoffice.
If so, are you using the paid version?
Sorry for the question but I was confused about the versions.
No, unfortunately freeoffice also lacks some of functional options: for example, no Zotero integration. For details, see their web-site :
comparison FreeOffice and Softmaker Office
I'm using monthly subscription version for 4.99Euro/month, because I like integration of ChatGPT text and Deepl translation into this version.
Thank you for the information and the link.
I'll check it out.
I am using SoftMaker Office 2024 Pro paid version. It comes with 5 machine licences so will run on any combinations you have, e.g., 3 Linux machines, 1 Windows machine, 1 Mac, or any combination. I don't need Zotero or DeepL. The Pro version has a QR and barcode template creator, and a big improvement in 2024 is image compression. Previously I had to use LibreOffice Writer to compress images in documents. Whilst not an ideal solution, for Maths you could use LibreOffice Math, or run Windows as a VM using virt-manager to get the benefit of its integrated MathType.
Thank you, this is an interesting advice : I haven't thought about this. I have Softmaker NX paid version, which is also for 5 machines, licnuding both Windows (which I have not) and Linux.
It can be fiddly. Some Tutorials here:
PM me if you want a link on how to change default font (working with low-vision users, Cambrian Math is unreadable, it had to be Arial or Primary/Primary Cheynes for early years students). I had to create tutorial videos during lockdown for Teaching Assistants.
1 Like
But if you're looking to install Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2021 on Zorin OS 17.1, there are a few ways you could go about it. You might want to try using PlayOnLinux or Wine. They can sometimes be finicky but often get the job done for running Windows applications on Linux.