I like that they give an option for Libre Office and Only Office right out of the install and set up process, makes it just a little bit easier than having to download separately. My suggestion would be to not auto install Libre Office from boot and only install the one the user selects. As of my install, I would have to uninstall Libre Office from my desktop if I select Only Office but not the other way around. I'm not sure how many more use Libre vs Only, but my preference is most certainly Only at this time and having to go through to uninstall Libre seems counterintuitive to what the purpose of having a selection really means. Small gripe and is really not a big deal, just seems odd the way it was provided to the user. Not sure if maybe it was the ISO I downloaded as this was my experience with both installations on my laptop and desktop, maybe I'm wrong and used an outdated ISO.
You can get Free Office (SoftMaker Office free version) It won't be as fully functional as the full paid for version but it is still a great piece of German software:
I love FreeOffice - it does everything I need.
I'd love to hear what either of you like about FreeOffice compared to the other two. I am always looking for a better mouse trap when it comes to Office suites it seems. In particular the spreadsheets.
zGnOmaha - well, many things led me to FreeOffice. First, I use pivot tables extensively! Bringing over large spreadsheet pivot tables from MS Office into LibreOffice did not work very well. The conversion is NOT 100% compatible but on FreeOffice I have yet to have a problem. And second, I like to have a familiar tool bar or ribbon. I used MS Office for so many years I don’t want to relearn where the functions are. FreeOffice lets you change the toolbar look to whatever version of Office bar you want.
I could keep going but just go try FreeOffice and see if it fits your needs. It did for me . . .
Thanks for sharing your insights. Since you made me aware of FreeOffice, I have downloaded it and have done a quick perusal of it and LibreOffice. One thing I noticed for the first time in LibreOffice and then also in FreeOffice is I cannot find the Data Validation buttons. At least not under the Data tab. Of course, it is possible I am just blind and it is just staring at me. Do you know where data validation is at in either one of these?
FreeOffice has limitations regarding the paid version, but decide by yourself that this is ok for you.
https://www.softmaker.com/en/comparison-freeoffice-softmaker-office
FreeOffice is the free version of Softmaker Office. That's why it lacks a lot of features and every time you open a document, you get a reminder of upgrading to the paid version (which I don't like). Personally, I have used almost all office suites...MS Office 2007, 2010, 2016, 365(web); Google workspace, LibreOffice, OnlyOffice, FreeOffice, Apache OpenOffice and WPS office; but the one that I liked the most and was the closest to MS Office was (drum rolls).
WPS office.
All microsoft fonts are also available....But there are lesser plugins available for WPS Office. Otherwise it is perfect for a user who just came to linux and can't survive without MS Office.
Another thing is that it (WPS) is less compatible with LibreOffice and OnlyOffice but more compatible with MS Office as compared to LO and OnlyOffice.
I've been using FreeOffice for about 4 weeks and have never seen a reminder to upgrade. Did you register your copy and enter the product key?
I think registered but I replaced it with OnlyOffice soon after that so I did not get a chance to check if I got the reminder again or not.
I agree the free version does not have all the bells and whistles of a paid for version but if you register your copy, it works just fine with no reminders. At least it does for me . . .
Interesting discussion like many always looking for the perfect Microsoft alternative, on windows started with open-office then Libre-Office finally settled on WPS. After my switch to Zorin was pleasantly surprised to find WPS available in the software store along with Only-office. I find that WPS does not run as smoothly on linux (seems to be a delay in loading spreadsheets) but it's ok for my needs. Libre-office is a fantastic set of tools and with a bit of tweaking can look more modern than the out of box experience.
Onlyoffice is a fine office suite and I like the tabbed interface to allow all 3 functions to be open in one place.
I did try Free office another brilliant piece of software but like somebody else said gave up after the nagging.
I did dabble with Google docs which is also fine but as an old fashioned fuddy duddy like to keep my documents out of the cloud.
I keep all 3 office programs on my system for different situations, I'm still using Base which WPS and Only-office don't offer, never used Microsoft office on my home computer only at work, but it isn't nice that we have the choice on our personal computers as I don't need to collaborate with anybody.
It will never happen but wouldn't it be good if the whole world adopted an open document format so it wouldn't matter what office suite you chose to use.
My conclusion is there is no perfect solution you choose what suits your personal objectives are as everybody needs different things, I'm just grateful there is choice.
Yes, you are right...the .deb version and the flatpak version is not smooth at all....
But the snap version of WPS 2019 (no internet) works the best.
I think @storm wrote a great tutorial for how to eliminate SNAP.
Some people prefer not to have SNAP (including myself). And that will bring us back to Libre Office...
Thanks for the tip much appreciated
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