How can I get MS Office for free?

Microsoft Office alternative

Just another vote for LibreOffice. Works well on Mac and Linux Ubuntu.

usingmac said:

Don't know if this is the forum to ask in, but we just got a new Dell laptop and it doesn't come with Office. I read somewhere that you can use it for free with an online version but I need some advice. Any help appreciated.

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I doubt that you would get the same reaction if you went onto a Microsoft forum and asked for answers about a MacBook??

Just goes to show what great guys are on here don't it!!

I use Open Office and it's great. Frequent updates and all for free!!

tk369 said:

Just for giggles: i thought this forum was for MAC users! The dude has a new DELL!

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FYI I'm a Mac guy. The Dell is my daughter's. People here are so knowledgeable and helpful that I brought my PC questions here.

I for ne wasn't knocking the question. Just making a comment about how great the guys are on here mate!!

Seriously. Open Office is well worth a long look for either/any OS

usingmac said:

FYI I'm a Mac guy. The Dell is my daughter's. People here are so knowledgeable and helpful that I brought my PC questions here.

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little did i know. i'm a MAC guy. and i made sure my son was one too.

Just for information sake...

We have very knowledgeable folks in our forums who are dual qualified: they use their Macs at home and PCs at work. We have an IT professional who works with PCs as a living as one of our staff. And several of our staff are professional programmers. ;D

I realized that if I uninstall Works, I have some files in that format that wouldn't open. Is there another way to open them after I trash this stupid program? The reason I hate it is because it forces itself on you. You have to choose to save in Word and then it still creates a Works version. Lately, it won't even let me save in Word. Seems like I am, but then when I try to open the Word version of the document the computer claims it can't recognize it and then opens it in Works, and with a weird file name to boot. What's going on? I think this program came automatically with my 64 bit Vista.

chscag said:

Just for information sake...

We have very knowledgeable folks in our forums who are dual qualified: they use their Macs at home and PCs at work. We have an IT professional who works with PCs as a living as one of our staff. And several of our staff are professional programmers. ;D

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Office

Why not try OpenOffice (it's free) or Libre Office (also free). Cheers.

Another vote for LibreOffice [free], it opens and saves to just about every format, just has a rather crude User Interface by Mac standards.

At least it is getting improved steadily unlike the iWork suite which after being trashed by Apple is only getting minor and ever more incompatible "upgrades".

Jonzjob said:

I for ne wasn't knocking the question. Just making a comment about how great the guys are on here mate!!

Seriously. Open Office is well worth a long look for either/any OS

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Forget OpenOffice.

The Open project forked several years ago and the active, better fork is for LibreOffice.

I've tried LibreOffice and iWorks as replacements but because I regularly have to edit documents with complex layouts, they both caused problems when I exported to MS formats and sent to colleagues. Formatting was different and I was forced to do the work again on several occasions in Office, so I ended up paying the £6 a month for 365.

This was earlier this year, so not too long ago.

If you edit documents or spreadsheets with simple layouts though, LibreOffice is more than sufficient.

usingmac said:

I realized that if I uninstall Works, I have some files in that format that wouldn't open. Is there another way to open them after I trash this stupid program? The reason I hate it is because it forces itself on you. You have to choose to save in Word and then it still creates a Works version. Lately, it won't even let me save in Word. Seems like I am, but then when I try to open the Word version of the document the computer claims it can't recognize it and then opens it in Works, and with a weird file name to boot. What's going on? I think this program came automatically with my 64 bit Vista.

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Can someone help me with this?

usingmac said:

Can someone help me with this?

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One of the first things I did when buying a new PC was to remove the included MS Works program and replace it with my copy of MS Office. For some stupid reason, files saved with Works can not be opened with Office. The only thing I can suggest is before you uninstall Works, open the files you need and then save them as text (which Works will do). Once they're saved as text they can be opened with Word, either the Windows version or Mac version. The problem with doing it that way is you lose all formatting and graphics. That can be a pain especially if the document is lengthy and complex.

Thanks for that. No real important documents to save, but can you explain what you mean by saving it as text?

Open the document with Works then use the "Save As" option, select plain text, rename the document if you wish, and save it in your "My Documents" folder on your PC. The document will get saved with a *.txt extension. Then you can directly open it with Word, and save it as a *.doc or *.docx. Like I said though, you will lose document formatting. But if that isn't a problem, it's the easiest way to convert documents from Works to Word.

I don't know which version of Word you're using, but my Office for Windows 2010 has a filter in Word that can be installed which will automatically convert Works documents to Word. I don't remember which versions of Works it's for though. I'm using my Mac Office version now and no longer have the Windows version running.

Free (open source) alternative to MS Office.

I've used Apache OpenOffice for many years on Mac without any problems. There are free versions for Windows 7, 8, 8.1, XP, etc.

AOO component programs are 'Writer', 'Calc', 'Impress', 'Draw', Base' and 'Math'. These directly parallel MS Office component programs e.g. Excel, Powerpoint etc.

I believe AOO will do everything that MS Office can do AND there is a free forum that users can ask any questions about using AOO on various platforms. To my knowledge, AOO will
open all MS file formats (.xls, .doc etc.) and will save files in those (and other) formats to allow full cross-software accessibility.

One point I make is that the AOO download should be taken from the Apache home site to ensure all components etc. are included and no adware etc. in secretly included in the download, such as apparently occurs with a download from CNET among others.
Visit <https://www.openoffice.org/> and investigate yourself.

Why pay for MS software when an equivalent or superior program is available for free.

Hope this is helpful.

Regards, PaulRanger 1.

usingmac said:

Can someone help me with this?

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LibreOffice will open just about anything.

Also try zamzar which will convert just about anything to anything else.

I agree. Why pay when there's free stuff out there?
I am using the online MSO. Do you guys think Open Office is better then? Is that actually software you download onto your computer with folders you can keep stuff on your computer in? If so, I would prefer it to the online Office stuff. That stuff is too counter-intuitive. It's one of the reasons I find the ipad so annoying. I like to have folders where I can find everything in front of me.

Yes and don't trust the iPad or iCloud. Apple's forums are full of people asking where did my files go?

I just don't get how Apple can have the history it has then come up with such bewildering, malfunctioning and dangerous software.

LibreOffice not OpenOffice is better, but be aware that Open Source usually means aesthetics created by engineers and that only a mother could love.