Anyone know of free alternatives to Microsoft Word? I have heard of Open Office but wondered whether there were better ones? Is here much conflict between the two when moving files between the programs e.g. opening files at work and then at home?

Use Google docs online. Very similar, free, accessible anywhere.

Open Office is very similar and handles .doc and .docx files but I have had a few glitches with illustrations using the Word drawing tools (embedded photos etc are fine). Also a couple of minor irritations such as pasting a table row into a different part of the table and having to create a blank line to avoid overwriting the existing row – but for free, it’s not bad at all.

Another vote here for Open Office. As Greybeard says, a couple of things are slightly annoying but for nothing it’s spot on.

Is here much conflict between the two when moving files between the programs

the main one to watch is open office will want to save in its own file format rather than .doc so you have to watch that you tell it to save as you want it to.

Open office is free, as is google docs so just try it and see of you like it

Google docs online. Very similar, free, accessible anywhere

except anywhere you don’t have internet access – or when your internet is on the fritz.

LibreOffice.

Long and boring explanation, but you want OpenOffice if you’re a corporate customer, otherwise you’re better off with LibreOffice.

Open Office user here.

Latex, FTW!

Latex, FTW!

+1

But take care to when transferring docs back and forth between Word and Open Office. I stopped using OO after my wife had a couple of important Word docs destroyed when importing into OO. Always have a backup before transferring between one and other eg. Don’t just run off a USB stick. If you are doing stuff that is important and urgent then just buy Word for home

I use Kingsoft Office on my laptop and Tablet it does everything I need it to do and no problems so far.

OK thanks for your assistance. Seems there is no clear winner!

Seems there is no clear winner!

Well, there is: Microsoft Office. It’s still clearly superior to the other offerings on the market. As leffeboy says, if you’re dealing with important documents and need to do any kind of editing, just pay the license.

(If all you’re doing is reading the documents, and the odd emergency modification you could use Open/Libre Office, but be aware neither is 100% compatible with MS Office).

Longtime user of Open Office and not had any disasters despite transfering docs back and forth to work which is MS Office based. Any issues tend to come from Microsofts slightly skewed interpretation of open document standards rather than any intrinsic issues with the Open Office software. Powerpoint/Impress conversion went wobbly until work updated to Office 2010 ( although powerpoint reader worked fine ). There is a bit of learning new tricks involved but the help files anticipate the need to guide MS Office users. I am currently using Libre Office. Limited experience so far but it seems quicker to load and a bit more intuitive. I think Libre Office is a spin off from OO and is where the people who started OO went. Also seen favourable write ups of Kingsoft Office in the press but no personal knowledge.

I have had files eaten by MS Office more than once over the years without them haveing been anywhere near one of the free alternatives. I think the advice on always having back ups is vital whatever program(s) you use.

Given that LibreOffice etc. are free not sure what you have to lose other than the warm glow of knowing that there is an MS Office size hole in your Bank Account.

For word processing OO’s fine.

Can you get a copy of MS Works? It’s sometimes included on the windows disk.

OO Spreadsheet is useless though if you’re used to using more than just +-*/,sum etc in excel. The loss of sumproduct() actualy reduced me to tears.

Ask your company IT department, we can get the full office suite for £9.50 for home use.

. I think Libre Office is a spin off from OO and is where the people who started OO went.

It is, it’s what they call a fork, which means exactly what it sounds like.

LibreOffice is actively maintained and developed; OpenOffice is discontinued, it hasn’t been touched in a few years now. I really don’t know why so many people still use OO, inertia I guess.

Ask your company IT department, we can get the full office suite for £9.50 for home use.

Yeah, it’s called the “Home User Programme”, or HUP. Your company needs to have signed up to it for you to be eligible though.