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When it comes to creating documents, spreadsheets, databases, and presentations, MS Office is the suite that comes to mind. But let's face it: Office is a pricey piece of software. Thankfully, there are cheaper alternatives out there, but they don't always live up to their promise. LibreOffice offers up a free alternative, and we found it on par with its more popular competitor.
LibreOffice opens with a main menu that let us select which application we wanted to use: Base, Calc, Draw, Impress, Math, and Writer. Each application's interface will look very familiar to you if you've used MS Office products. We started with LibreOffice Writer, the suite's word-processing application. We typed up a document and formatted it without any issues. The application saves documents as .odt files by default, which cannot be opened by MS Word. But to solve any compatibility issues, it does allow you to save it as a .doc file. We proceeded to check out Calc and Impress, the suite's spreadsheet and presentation programs. Like Writer, each program introduced a familiar interface. We were able to bypass the default .ods and .odp file types to MS file types and open them without any issues. And the Math and Draw applications were just icing on top of the cake of this capable suite of tools. Should you need it, each application includes a link that takes you to the Web site for support.
LibreOffice installs and uninstalls cleanly. Its tools work just as well as their pricey competitor's, and it's free. What else can we say? We highly recommend the program.
Publisher's Description
From The Document Foundation:
LibreOffice is a open-source personal productivity suite that gives you six feature-rich applications for all your document production and data processing needs: Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math and Base. Support and documentation is free from our large, dedicated community of users, contributors and developers.
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All versions:
4.0 starsout of 137 votes
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Current version:
4.1 starsout of 19 votes
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My rating:
Write review
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"Opens Office documents, formatting unclear"
Version: LibreOffice 3.4.4
Pros
Have 1 PC with Office 1 with Libre due to MS site licenses fees, Libre Opens and edits existing Office docs, familiar tools, handles formulas well,
Cons
formatting, setting margins not obvious, online help not useful, print preview did not show pages, could not set print area in spreadsheet
Summary
Good alternative for cost saving, be prepared to spend time learning differences in formatting, formula usage, etc.
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"Great software but FLAWED"
Version: LibreOffice 3.4.4
Pros
Faster than Open Office and of course than MS Office.
Very easy to learn and intuitive.Cons
Libre Office Draw is FLAWED (so far I have checked only Writer and Calc as well, those two are fine). Draw is BLANKING my new .sxd files. I've checked several times with new files, after I close them they are GONE. I open them right away after finishing the document creation, and only see a BLANK screen. I reopen them again and again, they are still BLANK. Tried with several new files, all GONE. Please SOLVE ASAP.
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"Great Software"
Version: LibreOffice 3.4.4
Pros
Compatible with Microsoft Word documents and it is free!
Cons
None that I have discovered.
Summary
I recently got a notebook with Microsoft Starter installed.
I don't want to pay the big fees to upgrade to Microsoft 2010. I did research and checked reviews for LibreOffice and the feedback was positive. -
"Great program"
Version: LibreOffice 3.4.4
Pros
Familiar, clear, Office 2002-like appearance. Has ninety percent of the commands and functions of MS Office. Opens more recent MS documents. Several templates and add-ons available (such as ability to import/export directly to Google or Zoho Docs)
Cons
Probably should eventually develop a MS "Ribbon" interface, as that is becoming the standard. Some commands and short cuts are different from MS's and is confusing. The number of add-ons is still small.
Summary
Could be a little better, but for free it is an exciting alternative to the "900 lb. Gorilla" that is Microsoft.
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"Great Office Replacement"
Version: LibreOffice 3.4.4
Pros
Does everything MS Office does, at a much better price. Writer, Calc, and Inpress work exactly like their Office counterparts. I love being able to export documents to PDF.
Cons
Importing PDFs a little dicey.
Summary
You need this program.
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"Great product; great price."
Version: LibreOffice 3.4.4
Pros
Easy to use and compatible with the BIG Office product. No import/export problems.
Cons
Wish it had a Publisher and Outlook equivalent that could link into the suite.
Summary
Recommend this anyone who wants a Microsoft Office compatible suite at no cost. Very few limitations and does things Office doesn't.
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"So far, I've seen basic functionality in Writer."
Version: LibreOffice 3.4.4
Pros
Writer seems to be fairly easy to learn. I was happy to be able to set a few of my favorite keyboard shortcuts the same as I was used to in MS Word.
Cons
Some of the functionality is harder to find because of different terminology than I'm used to, such as margins in Writer--had to hunt awhile before finding where to adjust those.
I had hoped Draw would be more similar to Publisher, but am finding it's not. I've had to look for another program to accomplish the same things.
Writer has already crashed often, especially when copying and pasting from the web or other documents. After one such crash, the program would not re-open at all. The next day I tried it again and it opened and I was able to recover the docs I was working on. But this instability is a major inconvenience, to say the least.
Also, once while composing in Writer, the text became unstable and changed size and appearance--some of the lines squeezed together and squished the letters; other letters were unevenly above or below the baseline in the same word.Summary
I opened a password-protected document (created in Word) a few times in Libre, and it functioned as it was supposed to--requesting the password first. However, today when I opened the same doc, no password was required. Not good.
Updated on Dec 13, 2011 -
"Installs easy works well"
Version: LibreOffice 3.4.4
Pros
Works well every time
FreeCons
None at this time
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"Excelent free office suite"
Version: LibreOffice 3.4.4
Pros
Free.
Full of options.Cons
Old 2003 MS-Office like interface.
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"Great product!"
Version: LibreOffice 3.4.4
Pros
This program does everything that I need it for.
Cons
I haven't found any cons yet.
Summary
I love it.
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