OT Microsoft alternatives

C

CGP1

Well-known member
Hi everyone

Technophobe here. Can anyone advise how we can get access to things like Excel and Word without having to buy the full MS Office please?

We've just bought a new laptop, it has this ridiculous MS365 idea and a 30 day trial, but we only really use Excel and occasionally Word. Seems daft to pay for the full whack when you don't need it.

I've heard of Google Sheets, can you use those with existing Excel spreadsheets? And is there a Word alternative on the same principle?

Thanks everyone
 
Google Docs is the MS Word alternative - we use this for sons home schooling on his chromebook, as didn't want to pay extortionate amounts for MS Office - it's just as good as Word but may take a tiny bit of getting used to as it's cloud based, so far though it's been good.
 
Yes use Google Workspace it has most of the things you’ll need and you can edit ms word/excel docs too. I use it every day.
 
LibreOffice reads all my old Office docs with no problem. I tried switching and saving between the two before I finally got rid of office, I found no problems at all. The only program I didn't try was the presentation program.
 
I keep reinstalling Office Home 2007, it does enough for what I want. Why would I want to pay again, if it were a dictionary & I was happy it didn't contain all the new words I'd not buy a current one. ** rip off merchants. Otherwise as has been suggested Open Source.
 
Agree. LibreOffice is free and very good if you like proper apps. If not, just use Google Docs and Google Sheets. They work brilliantly, are free, and all your files live in google land, so you can access form anywhere though a browser.
 
One other thing though - many people don't know, but if you have a business Microsoft365 license, you can install it on up to 4 other PCs - so if you have it at work, you can install and use it at home quite legitimately using your work credentials.
 
Groupon sell 2019 Home and Student for £17.99, basically you are buying a second hand licence(which is perfectly legal).

www.groupon.co.uk

Microsoft Office Home and Student, Home and Business or Professional Plus 2019 for PC or Mac

Containing multiple programs, this software features popular elements like Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote and Powerpoint
www.groupon.co.uk www.groupon.co.uk

the other alternatives are all valid as well.

I didn't know what TT says about 365 though as although I am semi retired I still get it through work
 
If you must use windows, use google docs, or if your company uses Azure AD for their staff email, that includes office apps.
 
I don't understand the pricing for Microsoft. I bought Office suite on Ebay for £6. Is it legal? I've no idea.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top