Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
I use LibreOffice quite a bit. My difficulty is, many outside projects I receive are Microsoft (MS) Office formatted (docx, xlsx, etc).
And while LibreOffice is a great office suite, its conversion of anything outside the open document arena is a bit dicey.
That’s always been an issue, and the same issue appears when converting LibreOffice projects into MS formatting. You may think you’ve got it saved in MS formatting, but weird things happen in the conversion process.
You could opt for loading MS Office in Wine, but that’s a failure waiting to happen. Plus, you have to have an MS Office license and that’ll cost you.
How about a Microsoft 365 subscription? You’re using a free operating system so why would you be tempted to pay $69 to $99 yearly for this?
That leaves an existing, but largely ignored (by most) suite - ONLYOFFICE (I’m not shouting, that’s how it’s spelled). You can find it at https://www.onlyoffice.com/desktop.aspx. More on locating and installing it later.
The major difference between LibreOffice and ONLYOFFICE is the protocol.
LibreOffice creates documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc in the ODT (Open Document) format. If users so desire, they can save in Microsoft (MS) or a variety of other offerings such as RTF, PDF, etc.
However, whatever you create starts in the Open Document format and conversions go from there.
ONLYOFFICE deals with MS formats, saves in those formats, but also has the ability to save in ODT as well as PDF, RTF, etc (same as LibreOffice).
As such, OPENOFFICE starts in the MS format and then offers users other format options if they so choose.
I would venture a guess this means MS formatted projects coming in will open better in ONLYOFFICE as compared to LibreOffice.
Is this true?
So far, and my experiments have been limited to run-of-the-mill documents and presentations, ONLYOFFICE does an admirable job of opening without loss of formatting from the original MS office created projects.
However, I had a rather complex spreadsheet that was prepared in Office and carried the xlsx format symbol.
It was legible and readable but anchor points for the columns were out of whack and had to be readjusted. So, it appears, not even MS formats agree with each other on occasion.
But ONLYOFFICE does help greatly. That same spreadsheet opened in LibreOffice required much more effort to make it workable.
Now comes the question, where do I find ONLYOFFICE?
You could go to the website I mentioned above. Or you can use Flatpak or Snap to install a copy.
And for the really adventurous, you can try Linuxfx, it has ONLYOFFICE preinstalled.
My recommendation would be to try the appimage off the website. That makes it portable so you can run it as a desktop program or use it on a USB stick.
Now comes the real test. How does OPENOFFICE work?
Like LibreOffice. In fact, you might confuse the two initially; however, whereas LibreOffice gives names (Writer, etc), ONLYOFFICE dispenses with such formalities.
For example:
Below is what you’ll see upon opening.
Nothing special, just a menu.
Click on Document:
Although it’s barely visible, notice the docx banner on the second tab.
And what about spreadsheets?
And, finally, form templates.
In case you’ve noticed and are wondering, the first tab in any open window will always state ONLYOFFICE. That’s the main menu always lurking in the background.
In short, it’s another office suite, just with different parameters.
But it’s free for personal use, doesn’t take up too much space, and is even cross compatible with just about any OS out there, much like LibreOffice (although OPENOFFICE works in Android and iOS, too).