What software is more compatible with Microsoft Office?

nolan

I got a question and I think this could help newcomers regarding transitioning from Microsoft Office.
What software is more compatible with Microsoft Office?
Taking in account: image placement, fonts, document citation software, shapes (triangles, circles, etc...)

brent

nolan What software is more compatible with Microsoft Office?

remember there is no document on this planet that stays the same (jumps, positions, picas, etc etc) between programs, platforms, and computers when you open it. None. I'm not saying a wild change(s), I'm saying barely noticeable.

that said I vote Libre Office.

Original-Syn

When my business partner and I co-founded our business, we set out to try and be as open-source as possible, beyond a few things that were required due to what we do. One of the big areas was Microsoft Office compatibility. Our team tested our heaviest word documents from clients, which include government, banking, and lawyers. The least issues we had were with OnlyOffice out of it, LibreOffice, and Softmaker. Due to those same clients, we were unable to use WPSOffice. On the Excel side was more problematic and pretty equal between the 3 tested.

We do also have Office 365 for business due to a few compliances we have to comply with, but we rarely use any of the actual Office apps, other than in rare cases.

That said, my favorite project is easily LibreOffice and it actually works quite well for most things.

AlphaElwedritsch

LO is getting better and better here. In my family, we only use LO and have had no compatibility issues. I also think that 99% of all users don't have that complex files that could cause problems. This topic is far too overrated!

As a newcomer, you'll have to get used to LO's GUI. But that's precisely what makes LO so appealing. It's the good oldstyle 😁

In onlyoffice it's 100% identical to Microsoft. This will please many switchers

alfisya

Even with OnlyOffice sometimes there is incompatibility. Especially on spreadsheet as Excel is getting more and more complex. I personally don't feel the compatibility promise of Only Office is worth the sacrifice of familiar-GUI and the feature of LibreOffice. So, I stick to LibreOffice these days. If I need those 100% compatibility, I will use Microsoft Online or boot up my windows partition.

BuzzPCSOS

When saving files for the first time in Microsoft Office or Libre Office you are presented with the option of saving in Microsoft format or Open Office format. I wonder if choosing the Open Office format for saving files on both platforms would improve compatibility?
Gave up with MS Office long ago. If I get sent MS documents now that I can't open in Libre I just ask for them to be sent in a different format. Guess I shouldn't vote because I never felt the need to try anything other than Libre.

AlphaElwedritsch

BuzzPCSOS If I get sent MS documents now that I can't open in Libre I just ask for them to be sent in a different format.

I do exactly the same thing. I'm rigorous about it. It's fine in my private life. Unfortunately, in the business world, it's not always so easy.