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MarilynW
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| Posted: Jan 31 2015 at 8:16am | IP Logged
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Does anyone use one of the free alternatives to Office? Another of my guys needs a laptop - and getting another license for Office is really expensive. I am looking at Open Office - there is google drive, and microsoft online - but they can only be used with internet. I would love to know if you can do the following with OpenOffice:
1. Open Word documents that someone else sends you
2. Create documents that can be read by Microsoft Word - he will have to submit papers to a professor with Word
3. Can definitely be used without internet
Thanks so much.
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Marilyn
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Jan 31 2015 at 9:33am | IP Logged
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For a time, a few years ago, we didn't have Office and used Open Office. It was recommended by the tech guy at dh's work. I don't know if something better has come along since then or if it has changed since then, but as long as you weren't trying to do fancy formatting, it was perfectly fine. For a college student's needs, I would think it would be sufficient.
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ekbell
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| Posted: Jan 31 2015 at 8:34pm | IP Logged
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We use open office and yes, documents can be opened and saved in word format and no you do not need to be hooked up to the Internet. My oldest dd used it for highschool classes with no problem, whatsoever.
The only thing to watch out for is that sometimes very complicated documents change just a bit in conversion, normally not enough to be a concern but it can be annoying. The forms I need to fill out for our school board are emailed to me in word and what with the graphics, columns, checkboxes and different fonts ... things don't always line up properly.
This isn't normally a problem for a simple essay with perhaps a few footnotes and a picture or two inserted.
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stefoodie
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The guys who were working on Open Office stopped working on it so it's no longer supported.
Switched to LibreOffice because of that.
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stef
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Feb 02 2015 at 8:21am | IP Logged
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stefoodie wrote:
The guys who were working on Open Office stopped working on it so it's no longer supported.
Switched to LibreOffice because of that. |
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Thanks for this information Stef. Libreoffice looks great - just what we are looking for. I need to spend time looking at it in detail, but I have a couple of questions for you:
1. If my son prepared his semester reports in Libreoffice - will I be able to open them in Word (all the rest of us have Word)
2. If I send my son documents in Word - will he be able to open them.
3. When he gets an email with a word document, will the document automatically open when he clicks on it, or will he have to convert it into some other format.
4. Will he be able to convert documents into pdf? Right now, we often convert word documents into pdfs so that more people can read them.
Thanks so much for your help.
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Marilyn
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stefoodie
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| Posted: Feb 02 2015 at 9:36am | IP Logged
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No idea about Word. Will need to ask hubby and sons :) I'll come back later when I have answers. :)
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stef
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mylonite
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| Posted: Feb 02 2015 at 10:06am | IP Logged
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Marilyn, I don't know about the word questions but I know that he would be able to convert Libreoffice documents to PDF. There's a button that does it, I do it all the time.
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SallyT
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What about Google Drive as an app on the computer? There is an internet component, obviously -- documents are stored in Drive -- but you can access them offline via the app on the computer. Google Drive will create new documents (via Google Docs), convert them to docx -- you can also use an app called Cloud Convert to convert them to pdf.
I do a good bit of sharing via Google Drive/Google Docs. With my Homeschool Connections students, I've started uploading their writing into Google Docs, making my editorial comments, and sharing it with them via a link that gives them editorial access, too, so that they can rewrite. All of that takes place online, but documents are also saved to Google Drive on my computer, so that I can access them even offline. When I'm back online, the app syncs with the Google Drive cloud, so that things are backed up and updated there as well.
That may be more online functionality than you're looking for, but if you wanted a way to share and edit, plus have your son able to access his work on the computer offline, that's one way to go.
I have to say -- a couple of weeks ago my son was writing college scholarship application essays and sending them to me to edit in Google Docs (he was just creating and writing in Docs, then sharing with me). At one point, as I was finishing up an edit of an essay, I could see him coming along behind me and making changes on the document. In the sidebar comments I asked him, "Are you actually revising this right now as I watch you?" He said, "Yep." At the time, I was at home in my kitchen, and he was on campus at the Abbey. It was amazing that we were collaborating on his essay, in real time, at that distance.
I may need professional help for my love affair with Google . . . :)
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stefoodie
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| Posted: Feb 02 2015 at 12:50pm | IP Logged
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IIRC, documents will be fine -- it's spreadsheets that get trickier going from Google Spreadsheets to LibreOffice to Excel, etc.
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stef
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SallyT
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| Posted: Feb 04 2015 at 8:48pm | IP Logged
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Yes, spreadsheets are trickier. I have Apple Numbers on my new laptop, and I really like it, because it has a checklist form PERFECT for lesson plans to give kids. But it does not translate happily into Google Sheets. Alas.
But documents are great.
Sally
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MarilynW
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| Posted: Feb 10 2015 at 7:55pm | IP Logged
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Thank you all for all the suggestions and advice. I will be looking in more detail at them, and maybe have a couple more questions. Life is just really busy right now - getting all the first semester graded and tidied away and reported, and then getting ready for Lent...
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Marilyn
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Free Alternatives to Microsoft Office?
