LibreOffice
A full office suite: documents, spreadsheets, slides and more, offline
Alternative toMicrosoft OfficeMicrosoft 365
LibreOffice is a desktop office suite with Writer for documents, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for presentations, plus Draw, Base and Math. It is the open source alternative to Microsoft Office, works fully offline and uses the open ODF format by default.
Best for when
- you write documents and spreadsheets and want to stop paying for Office
- you want your files in an open format you will always be able to read
- you work on Linux and still need to open DOCX and XLSX
Watch out for
- complex Office layouts, animations and some Excel features do not convert perfectly
- Excel VBA macros usually need rewriting
- there is no real time co-editing in the desktop app
The whole suite on your machine
Writer, Calc and Impress cover what most people use Word, Excel and PowerPoint for: letters, reports, CVs, budgets, invoices and slide decks. They open and save DOCX, XLSX and PPTX, export to PDF with good control, and do not need an account or an internet connection.
It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and supports right to left text, so Arabic documents work, including mixed Arabic and English. Its native ODF format is an open standard, which means your files stay readable without depending on one vendor.
What switching really costs
Compatibility with Microsoft formats is good but not perfect. Complex Word layouts, tracked changes from several reviewers, PowerPoint animations and some Excel features like certain charts, pivot tables and Power Query may shift or break. If your clients send you heavily formatted Office files, test real examples before you switch.
Excel VBA macros do not run reliably as is, because LibreOffice uses its own Basic dialect and Python for scripting. There is no real time co-editing in the desktop app the way Microsoft 365 does it, and the interface feels older, though the tabbed layout option helps people coming from Office.
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