Microsoft office 365 alternative?

[flatbutt]

MS continues to nickel and dime me. I use excel and word alot. I have so many files that I can't use until I send MS more money. So, any alternatives out there? I know Google has something but the security on G leaves me wondering where my docs are.

TIA

[Scott Douglas]

I got tired of having to do the monthly dues thing too.
We don't have any super sophisticated files either.
We now use OpenOffice for our word and excel files. Not fancy but works for us.
YMMV, as they say.

[Paul T]

I don’t have the answer, but I’m in same boat. I live in Excel and have no choice….

[GH85Carrera]

We use Office 365 and it is annoying to pay 24 bucks per month for myself and my business partner to have all of Office suite. We mostly use Outlook, and One Drive for our email and file transfer. We use Excel and Word on occasion. It is all just a business expense we have to have like hangar rent.

[id10t]

OpenOffice or LibreOffice

[Dixie]

Another vote for Open Office. I've been using it for at least 10 years.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Capt. Carrera

Another vote for Open Office. I've been using it for at least 10 years.

This?

https://www.openoffice.org/

Can I transfer Word and Excel into it?

[id10t]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

This?

https://www.openoffice.org/

Can I transfer Word and Excel into it?

Yup.

Biggest trick is to remember to save in Office file format when sharing docs with others (docx, xlsx, etc)

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by id10t

Yup.

Biggest trick is to remember to save in Office file format when sharing docs with others (docx, xlsx, etc)

Thank you! Sweet!!

[Evans, Marv]

I still get by on Microsoft Office Pro from 2007 - given I don't have to use it for business. I hang on to it because it's from the old days when you bought it & it was yours. If I ever need to, I can just install it on anything I want.

[fanaudical]

Open Office works well.

If you just have to have Excel, you can still buy older versions of Office. I think the latest that is still compatible with Office365 (but doesn't require monthly fees) is Office 2019. I have had good luck purchasing that through mychoicesoftware.com .

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

I still get by on Microsoft Office Pro from 2007 - given I don't have to use it for business. I hang on to it because it's from the old days when you bought it & it was yours. If I ever need to, I can just install it on anything I want.

I'm not so sure about that. Once you go online and try to send a file you can hit a wall, At least I did and gave in. I've tried Google Docs and the Linux stuff.

I guess I'm just not clever when it comes to software. More than that, my wife can't manage changes now with the onset of Alzheimer's. Things go way more smoothly as they were.

I mean I can't buy a new car. She can't learn it. Same with new phones.

[Scott Douglas]

Zeke, you should give OpenOffice a try if you're still needing a program like that. It's not like learning a whole new Word. The similarities amazed me when I downloaded it a couple years ago.
I'm sure I've got an old copy of MS Word somewhere around here but I may have tossed it in one of my wife's 'why are you keeping this' moments.

[Zeke]

Scott, it's been a few months since I gave in so details are fuzzy. I seem to remember that I could not open an existing document and add, alter or edit. I went through this with a vendor of electronic parts that has his order form in Excel.

I could not fill out his form. Would have been great for me and him as it tallies the total and shipping as you go.

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by Capt. Carrera

Another vote for Open Office. I've been using it for at least 10 years.

May work for some, but if you have very complex spreadsheets with a ton of VBA, API’s and multiple add-in’s, it most likely will not work. The more complex you get, the more you are stuck with Excel. I can’t even run my stuff in Excel for Mac (which SUCKS), has to be windows version.

[id10t]

Originally Posted by Paul T

May work for some, but if you have very complex spreadsheets with a ton of VBA, API’s and multiple add-in’s, it most likely will not work. The more complex you get, the more you are stuck with Excel. I can’t even run my stuff in Excel for Mac (which SUCKS), has to be windows version.

As a coder type, I'd be looking at exporting raw data to csv and importing to a real DB then working off either all SQL or a combo of SQL and some language like Java or PHP depending on what exactly you are doing( ie if doing stats I'd go towards PHP and the R libraries, which Java doesn't have).

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by id10t

As a coder type, I'd be looking at exporting raw data to csv and importing to a real DB then working off either all SQL or a combo of SQL and some language like Java or PHP depending on what exactly you are doing( ie if doing stats I'd go towards PHP and the R libraries, which Java doesn't have).

Oh, I completely agree and I do that for large data sets.

[flatbutt]

My spreadsheet usage is mostly limited to household budgeting. I generate my info using exported credit card data.

[Tobra]

Libre here, does everything I need it to do.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

I still get by on Microsoft Office Pro from 2007 - given I don't have to use it for business. I hang on to it because it's from the old days when you bought it & it was yours. If I ever need to, I can just install it on anything I want.

Exactly. Mine is a bit newer, but I've got an old one, and I keep getting updates on it.

Originally Posted by fanaudical

Open Office works well.

If you just have to have Excel, you can still buy older versions of Office. I think the latest that is still compatible with Office365 (but doesn't require monthly fees) is Office 2019. I have had good luck purchasing that through mychoicesoftware.com .

Yep, if you can buy an older one, especially if you know someone in college or school that can get a student discount, that's the way to go! Buy it outright on disk, install it, keep the disks, and you should be good to go for MANY years.