![]() This is SoftMaker’s Excel equivalent, and SoftMaker is not only unconcerned about the comparison with MS Excel, but it also seems to be counting on it. It also supports edit sharing and comments, as well as various design options. ![]() SoftMaker’s FreeOffice 2018 Linux office suite is a high-end product that provides performance and compatibility with Microsoft Office and other office suites.įreeOffice 2018, released this spring, is a free version that is nearly identical to the features and user interface of Softmaker’s commercial flagship office suite, SoftMaker Office 2018.TextMaker also comes with a spell-checker which supports over 75 languages, a word-counter, and a thesaurus. I recently reviewed the beta commercial version. The FreeOffice line is distributed under the Mozilla Public License. The Germany-based software developer offers an impressive and very usable line of open source and commercial products. The FreeOffice 2018/SoftMaker Office 2018 products are Windows/Linux cross-platform applications with integrated modules for word processing (TextMaker), spreadsheets (PlanMaker) and presentations (Presentations). If you are thinking, “Gee, why not keep the Maker moniker consistent by calling it ‘SlideMaker’?” I totally agree. Office suite compatibility is one of the major selling/rejecting points when consumers and enterprises consider migrating to the Linux OS. The Linux OS has its share of free lightweight word processors and a few worthy standalone spreadsheet apps. Generally, Linux office suites lack a really solid slide presentation creation tool, however. Many of the Linux word processing packages are little more than glorified text editors. Graphics compatibility in page design are often their fail point. That trend has been changing for the better with applications such as SoftMaker’s FreeOffice, The Document Foundation’s LibreOffice and Ascensio System SIA’s recently released free office suite upgrade OnlyOffice Desktop Editors, which I recently reviewed. The FreeOffice 2018 suite has much to offer. It is a capable alternative to its commercial upgrade. It poses little trouble reading and writing to other document formats such as. docx, pptx, xlsx and provides very accurate page rendering when importing/exporting file formats. Except for the ability to save as earlier MS Office document formats, all that is missing from the SoftMaker commercial edition are a few dictionary-based and related tools. I tested FreeOffice 2018 using the same process. Since some of the documents I create or edit require printed copies by a client using Microsoft Word, I also routinely check for compatibility between FreeOffice and LibreOffice outputs. Sometimes, a bit of tweaking resolves display issues. I almost never have issues with the way FreeOffice 2018 prints documents. Compatibility Without Compromises – Not Quite This latest release of FreeOffice proved itself to be very adept at opening, displaying and saving documents with a high degree of fidelity - that is, as long as I wanted to use the latest Microsoft file format, as in. ![]() SoftMaker claims that you not only can open but also can save documents in the Microsoft file formats docx, xlsx and pptx. The company also boasts that users can share files directly with Microsoft Office users without first having to export them. That catch can be a mild inconvenience or a deal breaker, depending on your file interoperability needs. Depending on the module involved, you can *only* save documents as docx, xlsx or pptx files. If you want to save files in the older MS Office formats, you must buy the commercial version of FreeOffice. For instance, in TextMaker You have options for the. rft formats along with a few other formats. However, there is no support for the Open Document Text (odt) format used in LibreOffice and other open source applications. This can cause difficulties in exchanging documents with those who use these cross-standard formats. If your office suite needs are limited to working with documents only you create and print out, or deliver as attached files, then go for it. Typical real-world document usage goes far beyond being limited to just the latest Microsoft Office file format, though. Many small businesses and even large enterprises work in the realm of. doc /.xls /.ppt formats.įor example, in the case of one client, in-house copy exchanges are done in. txt format filed on the company’s servers. I must save blogs and article submissions I provide to other publishers in a preferred file format of the editor involved. In most cases, editors, publishers and my freelance clients care less what application I use to create or edit the documents we exchange. They only care if they can not open the document or its rendering is messed up when displayed on their screens or printed output.
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