LibreOffice: Alternative to Microsoft Office? After upgrading my computer to a 2017 iMac (27in), I discovered my 2011 version of Microsoft Office will not run. I am looking to upgrade...

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

After upgrading my computer to a 2017 iMac (27in), I discovered my 2011 version of Microsoft Office will not run. I am looking to upgrade, and discovered that Microsoft Office has become very complicated. The latest versions appear to be 2016 and 2019 (soon to be released) and Office 365 which is subscription based. Both the 2016 and 2019 versions will not be supported after 2025. This is getting complicated.

I am a casual office user, and don't need the most expensive version. I have read about LibreOffice, which is free and seems to get good reviews.
I would like to hear from anyone who has tried LibreOffice. It is important that I can open my old Microsoft documents, so I would like to know if microsoft documents can be opened in LibreOffice.
Thanks Steve

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Steven, I use Open Office on my iMac, but Libre Office would be very equivalent. It works quite well. Libre Office runs on my Fedora Linux workstation.
--Bob

StevenG wrote:

After upgrading my computer to a 2017 iMac (27in),... (show quote)

Rose42

I've used it and not had any problems opening documents. However, I'm also not using the latest version of Microsoft office. I'm using version 2007 and 2011.

Download it and give it a try. Copy the documents before you open them just in case something goes wrong. If it doesn't work then you can get rid of it.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

StevenG wrote:

After upgrading my computer to a 2017 iMac (27in),... (show quote)

I have used Libre Office on all my Macs for years now. Never ran into any issues, and am able to do whatever I need with the software.

In most cases, MS docs open in the latest version of Libre Office.

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

rmalarz wrote:

Steven, I use Open Office on my iMac, but Libre Office would be very equivalent. It works quite well. Libre Office runs on my Fedora Linux workstation.
--Bob

Thanks, Bob.
Steve

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

Rose42 wrote:

I've used it and not had any problems opening documents. However, I'm also not using the latest version of Microsoft office. I'm using version 2007 and 2011.

Download it and give it a try. Copy the documents before you open them just in case something goes wrong. If it doesn't work then you can get rid of it.

Thank you, Rose. I will give it a try. I’m running Office 2011, so hopefully all documents will open.
Steve

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

Dngallagher wrote:

I have used Libre Office on all my Macs for years now. Never ran into any issues, and am able to do whatever I need with the software.

In most cases, MS docs open in the latest version of Libre Office.

Thanks. Good to hear! I’ll give it a shot.
Steve

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I had that problem a few years back. Teaching my wife to keep up with software UI changes was nearly impossible so I was using Office 2003. Eventually it wouldn't load any more. I had tried Office 2007 but gave up because of user incompatibility (wife). Tried LibreOffice. It worked OK but trying to load some of the old office documents didn't work well. No problems with text and formatting but when it came to images and text boxes they jumped all over the page to random locations. I finally went back and got MS Office365. That was a couple years ago and I haven't used LO since so I don't know if the problem had been fixed. Never tried loading documents from Office2007 or 2011.

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

DirtFarmer wrote:

I had that problem a few years back. Teaching my w... (show quote)

Thanks DirtFarmer. I have Office 2011 so perhaps that will work.
Steve

Hammer Loc: London UK

I have used this and had no problems. The only issue has been that opening .csv files has been a problem . However , Microsoft Office is free for iPad so I open them there .

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Why wouldn't you use the built-in Mac office suite?

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

StevenG wrote:

After upgrading my computer to a 2017 iMac (27in),... (show quote)

I've been using OpenOffice since before I retired (the office had MS Office) , has all of MS Office and free, in fact it opened some spreadsheets that MS couldn't when they had been corrupted while saving, saved us a lot of time and effort. Try it, you'll like it!

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

I hated Open Office. Not compatible with the other 99% of people who use Microsoft office. Switched back to Microsoft office subscription and all is well.

bobmcculloch wrote:

I've been using OpenOffice since before I retired (the office had MS Office) , has all of MS Office and free, in fact it opened some spreadsheets that MS couldn't when they had been corrupted while saving, saved us a lot of time and effort. Try it, you'll like it!

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

Hammer wrote:

I have used this and had no problems. The only issue has been that opening .csv files has been a problem . However , Microsoft Office is free for iPad so I open them there .

Thanks Hammer. I’m not sure what a .csv file is.
Steve

pumakat

I'm a casual user. It's all I use. Normal stuff like documents are fine. I like to get creative and make name tags and charts, and it's alittle unwieldy then.