Wikipedia describes it thus: 'LibreOffice is a free and open-source office productivity software suite, a project of The Document Foundation. I needed to find an alternative to Excel and found one alternative that was Chinese (which shall remain nameless) so I didn't go that route and found LibreOffice. Give it a try and you might never pay for office software again.Those of you who follow my posts know how much I LOVE free things and this product is one of the most amazing free products I've ever seen! I'm so excited to report a free and extraordinary alternative to Microsoft I can't hardly stand it. There are also plugins to add features like advanced grammar tools, extra language packs, improved accessibility options (such as export for braille embossers), and plugins for other programs like mind-mapping tool Freemind.

LibreOffice's selection of templates might seem a little limited compared to Microsoft's, but this is easily remedied by the huge collection of downloadable options available in the project's online repository. The open source suite lacks Office's built-in cloud storage option, but that's easily remedied by installing the Dropbox desktop software, which gives you instant access to your account as though it was a folder on your PC. Both have their advantages the NotebookBar will make switching from Microsoft Office more natural, while the old-school layout means everything is visible at a glance, and you can navigate easily using a keyboard rather than a mouse if you prefer.īeyond that, there's little difference between Microsoft's productivity toolkit and LibreOffice. LibreOffice offers a choice of interface styles: a traditional system of icons and toolbars, and an optional NotebookBar (similar to the ribbon used in Microsoft Office since 2007). One that makes it very hard to justify paying a lot of money for the competitor. That makes it not so much a free alternative to Microsoft Office, but an actual rival.

Libreofficeorg