open office

[screwy]

Has anyone used this software, it seems to be a rival to windows office. any comments.

[Peter D]

Used to use it a long time ago. It is very good and cheaper, actually free. There used to be one you could put on and run from a USB Stick.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I've used it and while it works well and is free I didn't like it as much as Office. But that may just be a matter of familiarity.

[Manoverboard]

As the others have said .... it's free so what more could you possibly ask for ?

I believe that it depends on what you wish to do with it and what you used to use previously.

If, for example, you had the MS Works package then it's a great alternative but if you are used to specialist Database Software or MS Office Professional then you'll find it a bit light.

[oldbluefox]

Has anybody tried Microsoft Office online. I had a quick look at it but as I already have Office 03 I didn't dabble too much and I no longer need the more advanced features.

[screwy]

Thanks all, used to have ms office but of course it doesn't come with windows 8.I only use it for letter writing.(word) and excel for doing my shift pattern etc so it is only light usage andas such I didn't really want to buy the ms product. Think I will download it and give it a go, after all, what have I to lose.??

[Barb44]

I used to use Microsoft Office Professional at work and also on my home 'Windows' laptop but after retiring I purchased an Apple MacBook and started to use Open Office. I have now been using it for 6 years, mostly for word processing and spreadsheets, and have found it quite adequate. So far I have been able to do everything that I used to do on MS Office. As has been said, it is free, so give it a try. I don't think you will be disappointed.

Barbara x

[screwy]

Downloaded, looks good.

[Raybosailor]

I think I have Microsoft Office Online on my windows phone but don't use it much,on the laptop I have both Office Professional and M/S Works, the reason for this is yes Professional is good but the database on M/S Works seems to best suit my needs.

[Silver_Shiney]

I used to use it as the version of Orifice in play at the time wouldn't write to .pdf, so I'd open the .doc in Open Office and then convert it to .pdf. It's got its own macro programming language, but I don't know how good it is. I'm using Orifice 2003 at home but, when that is fully incompatible (as Outlook now is) with modern systems, I'll be adopting Open Office as a replacement for MS (I hate the ribbon bars that they have adopted).

[Quizzical Bob]

I hate the ribbons too. i downloaded an Office version a few years ago which had them and they drove me up the wall so I uninstalled it. The ribbons are supposed to adapt to your usage but that realy irritated me. Also they have hidden the 'power user' keys for the top menus so I would have to use the mouse, which I hate.

[Silver_Shiney]

Orifice 2007 would only let you have a tiny button which showed "all available" macros. At least Orifice 365 allows you to customise the ribbon bars, so I've been able to create a ribbon just for the many macros I use in the office. It's nothing like as flexible as the menu bars that 2003 and earlier had. I've not heard of them adapting to the user's usage though. If they would, I'm sure the "styles" section in Excel would have disappeared long ago... As I said on the Windows 10 thread, it's style over substance. Someone at Redmond has clearly thought "I can make it do this, therefore this is what you will all have" irrespective of whether we actually wanted it or. It wouldn't have been as bad if installation gave us the choice. At least Open Office (the last time I looked) still has/had the "professional" menu and tool bars so sadly missed.

[Peter D]

I use Offce 2013 and have done so with Win 7, 8 and now 10 and for one I quite like the ribbon system. The only problem I have had is with Outlook where after the upgrade found I could not send e-mail, but could receive. However, since I have run the scan everything is OK.