You're so right. Using that stinks so much of basic computing literacy (and common sense) lack that makes author suspicious of being universally hopeless at almost anything else.
I've used both OpenOffice and LibreOffice but always tended to suffer from annoying formatting issues, as per the ones raised in the video. I resorted to firing up a VM of Windows 7 with Office 2003 to avoid these problems in the past so thanks for pointing out the availability of WPS Office, Christopher. And as always, a well-produced and easy to understand video.
In addition to WPS Office, there also exists OnlyOffice and Softmaker FreeOffice, both of which offer better compatibility with MS Office compared to Libreoffice. :)
“Probably it was written by Mr Scissors with help from Stanley the Knife, and neither of them know a great deal about typography.” Love it! This video has very useful information for aspiring and collaborating writers. Thanks CJB!
This video was the missing link in my migration to Linux. I had not head of WPS office before watching but I have installed it and have been using it for a few weeks now. I have found it to be fully compatible with Microsoft Office file formats and I now actually prefer using WPS in comparison to Microsoft Office. I really appreciate the time and effort put into making well informed and well produced videos such as this.
Virtualbox actually has an interesting function called seamless mode that displays Windows programs running as if these were native to Linux (or macOS if one is running that instead). So if one wishes to have a semi native experience a small Windows8 or 10 VM with Microsoft Office or Adobe's software suite should do it.
You're right about Wine but it's worth mentioning it has been improving at an amazing pace lately. It might well be a proper alternative to a VM for many scenarios in a year or two. They're fixing many 10 years old bugs a month.
There's an easier way to install fonts in Linux. Go into the root of your home folder in whatever file browser you like (in Mint's case, Nemo) use the command ctrl+h to show hidden files, make a new folder with ctrl+shift+n, name it .fonts, and copy all of the TrueType and OpenType fonts you'd like in there. If you have dfonts from your Mac, you can use a command line tool called fondu to convert them to TT format. Once you're done, send ctrl+h again to make the dotted files hidden in your home folder. The double clicking method is great for a few fonts, but if you use a lot in your work, this method is way faster.
This is an incredibly USEFUL video. Most all of your videos are at the very least informative and entertaining, but this one definitely can be helpful to EVERYONE who prefers running Linux. I had never considered running Office 365 online through a Linux browser! Eureka! Thank you, Chris.
SoftMaker Office (The FreeOffice version) is the best Native Office Suite for linux for creating Presentations from Scratch or Documents..it is Free. the paid version just adds a few saving formats....it makes PowerPoint like presentations smoother than any office suite on linux...WPS Office though is more compatible with presentations already made on Windows...and allows embedding Videos in its PowerPoint clone very very well....something SOftmaker Office lacks. I have all 3 though and use them interchangeably as needed....why not? all Free
VirtualBox is a very versatile solution that works well here. Having said that, a PC with a reasonably recent set of hardware is required for it to work best.
I am very thankful for your excellent video on tips on giving Linux users tips on handling the little issues that crop up converting from MS Office to Linux Office suites. Your suggestions are welcome and well presented. Like several commentators, I hadn't thought about using Office 365 on a computer running Linux. As always, I am looking forward to your video next week and keep up the good work!
Forgot to mention - I got my RaspNAS up and running, thanks to your excellent instructions. Now I can access my files quickly and easily from any Linux VM, physical device, Mac or PC. Very happy!!!
Thank you so much for the WPS Office and TTF Font tips!!! I have a complex Excel workbook, that Libra Calc did an "OK" job displaying and editing. But WPS Spreadsheets does a virtually seamless job managing. My Ubuntu laptop now does virtually everything my Windows Laptop does, but faster! Much appreciated! Got my Mr Scissors mug in the mail last week. LOL
bg4tification Oh yes, Mr. Shotgun is so very useful for those times when one desires the maximum results for the minimum effort. No frustrated computer user should be a stranger to Mr. Shotgun. I have yet to meet Mr. Cannon.
Thankyou for this. Been trying to get my grandmother converted over to Linux, she hates Windows 10. She prefers the look and feel of XP and I made a visually near identical copy of the XP desktop. Anyway she has been a heavy MS office suite user over the years and I am glad you uploaded this. I also was a heavy user of Windows MS office products so getting Linux to be close to Windows in that regard has been a learning curve. Thank's for uploading!
The worst approach you can take to Linux is to try & make it be like Windows, It's not Windows & isn't trying to be like Windows. Embrace the Linux way & you'll love computing again. 12 years on Linux here, used Windows for 17 years previously. I wasted a year of my life trying to replicate my Windows setup on Linux when I started out before becoming so frustrated & finally it started to sink it, it was me who was the issue, I needed to change, Linux doesn't. Never looked back, from that day forward I only used software available on linux, abandoned Dreamweaver, Photoshop & MS Office & these were the days when the options were limited, today there are a plethora of options. I don't even use Wine or Virtualbox & my machine is every bit as capable & more than most Windows machines.
I think the main point, for these people migrating, to consider is that they should move away from proprietary formats ASAP. Once you start using Libre Office, or Open Office, or WPS; stay away from Microsoft products. They started with an expensive office suite, which is now being turned into a subscription service. Eventually you'll get to the point where if you don't pay your Microsoft bill, they'll cut off your access to the documents you wrote. Further, they could change the ToS to take ownership of any content produced under their software platform, thereby giving them copyright control over your content. I'd rather keep using something that I have complete control of. Something that doesn't need an internet connection is also a desired feature, since I might want to work on something in the middle of nowhere. I also don't like telemetry systems.
I ripped the HDD out of my laptop and installed an SSD with Linux Mint 19 after watching one of your videos ref Linux distro's a while back. i did succeed in loading MS Office using playonlinux, but found it was just as easy to use Libre Office and export as PDF. I might try WPS Office just out of curiosity one day. Great Videos, Keep em coming
I find the best way to maintain compatibility of layout between documents created in Microsoft Word and LibreOffice Writer is by creating and opening all documents in _Open Document Text_ (.odt) format (after making sure that all fonts that you intend to use have been installed on both platforms). In other words, stop using the proprietary Word formats altogether; since Word understands ODT, there is no longer any real need to use them. Once you do this, you will find, that you no longer have this compatibility issue when opening documents created on the opposite platform.
The only problem with this is the fact that certain places will not accept .odt files. Amazon's self-publishing platform, KDP, will only accept .doc and .docx files. (I believe B&N's publishing platform, NOOK Press, is the same way)
@@BeckyAnn6879 So open the ODT document in Word, and export it to DOC or DOCX. However, the problem with these formats is not only the fact that they are proprietary; they also depend on your installed printer for document definition data. So if the recipient of your Word document has a different printer connected to his/her computer, even if s/he uses Word, it *still* will not look identical to the way it looked to you when it was created. For this reason, I prefer to export my text documents to PDF for submission, which both Word and Writer are now capable of doing; it's the only way to guarantee their fidelity.
@@worldhello1234 Formats like what? ODT? It's supported by LibreOffice, OpenOffice, and Word. PDF is also supported by *all three,* in that it's possible for them to export into this format.
Something else that can be done while running MS Office in a VM wich is the best hassle-free option is that you can mount your linux home folder using samba into windows so that Documents and Downloads folders are easily acessible from windows and you avoid having duplicate files
Leo Brusselman I wanna give it to my parents to make it more familiar to Windows. For me, I'll take either KDE or XFCE. I'll have to see how intense the other software will be and if I will buy a Ryzen and a new GPU.
I came across an older abandoned Lenovo Thinkpad ultra book (SSHD) and installed Mint and swapped it with the wife’s kitchen counter low end Windows laptop. There were no question / problems until there was an ask regarding scanning.
Libre Office can read more versions of Office documents than Office can, and it can save to open file formats. If It doesn't use Comic Sans, think of it as anti-malware. :-)*
Wine has been around for well over 20 years now -- I can remember looking into using it in a production environment back in 2000, as the organization I worked for at the time had something like 500 computers and was tired of paying Windows licensing fees. So they figured they'd switch to Linux and run some of their irreplaceable Windows apps with Wine on a Linux system. Needless to say, that idea was squashed relatively quickly. Wine has never been a reliable option -- which is not their fault, of course. They're trying to replicate the Windows API *precisely,* and that's simply not possible given Microsoft's lack of documentation on much of its low-level Windows API stuff.... And with every subsequent version of Windows, Microsoft makes more undocumented changes, so Wine is constantly playing catch-up. If you have a Windows app that doesn't change, and is, say, more than 2 or 3 years old, then maybe you can get it running on a Wine installation reliably, but that's a pretty rare situation. For most people and businesses, Wine just isn't a viable option, unfortunately.
@@velanrama yes RTF is about 3 times larger than docx format, twice as large as ODT and about 30% larger than doc format. I primarily use RTF when sending documents to people who can't open a document I've sent them instead of guessing which format will work. For "small" documents works well.
Hey Chris your style of presenting these videos and the content is world class. Very informative, well written and presented. It is like watching a BBC production. Keep up the good work and keep these gems coming.
Thanks very much, that was both interesting and helpful. For someone like me, who only uses a computer for browsing, communication and office software for work, the jump to Linux (Mint 20) need not be painful after having made classroom materials for about 12 years in MS Office (which of course I wish to be able to edit / repurpose at my convenience). Provided I have a reliable 'net connection at home, I can keep on using Word and Powerpoint both at home and at work while slowly moving myself over to Libre Office for materials I make new from now on. Very helpful video, thanks.
Installing Windows apps on Ubuntu, which is itself a Virtual Machine on my Windows laptop. Next step: Run Windows on a VM in Ubuntu on a VM in Windows.
Indeed it's true that switching OS from Windows to Linux can be hard because some apps or process doesn't the same. I personally want to fully pass to Linux but what it stops me it's just some exams I have to do which requires to use Windows application. Linux is getting the love that deserves and I can't wait to be a full Linux user.
I agree that linux can be over-hyped. An OS is only usefu; if it can run the program you want to run. By the ways have you run into non chrome use websites yet?
@@billfusionenterprise Hi. I cannot give you specific answer because I only use Firefox and I don't know how you can know if the webpage is a non-chrome webpage. I hope this answer your question.
@@simonestarace5249 when certain functions do not work. Oracle doesn't always work and certain HDMIs do not work. And several other fill out forms don't
@@simonestarace5249 has nothing to do with fonts. Has to do with just the raw HTML code. What is causing it . I am not sure but shows just another problem with webpages. (outside some sites which you need a engineering workstation to view)
Great video, interesting stuff, I have been using libre office in office in Windows for years, I think Microsoft needs to sort out it's compatibility, with its own version of office. If I have a finished document and it doesn't need to be changed, I save in a pdf format, then everyone should get to see practically the same thing.
Everyone does, they use MS Office. MS actually contribute a lot of code to Linux and have worked hard on compatibility- they don't make money from Windows really, they make it from Azure which is platform agnostic. Libre Office is still well behind MS Office, although if you don't have great demands it's fine, so is Google Docs.
@@twmbarlwmstar I have old versions of ms office bouncing around somewhere, then I installed libre office, I never looked back, most people I know use it, ms office might be better, but I have such little issue with libre office I would never change, I can use it on a pi zero out side on a solar charger, in the middle of nowhere, great efforts to ms, but hat's to the guy's libre office, bringing computing to everyone.
@@williamrutter3619 While I don’t doubt you run Libre Office on a Pi Zero over solar power on a Pi Zero I do question how productivitesuch an undertaking is. What posable achievement have you made? You are stuck on a dessert island and must finish that novel? For myself If I can’t easily read it then I won’t go to work trying to, that means some Libre stuff will just get bounced back to sender. People can avoid that by using online Office which is free. I think we must accept that MS Office is the lingua franca and given there’s a free version you just bite the bullet and speak it or are disadvantaged.
The online office apps are slowly gain the features of the desktop app. Although I hope they don't discontinue the the desktop app when the web apps match feature wise.
Thanks for this, I remember a few months back in one of your videos (and indeed good discussion in the comments also) regarding the 'one step forward two steps back' in modern computing. My mum who is a pensioner finds the nature of modern Windows to be very frustrating, due to the constant changes, the their desire to push cloud services among other things. Personally myself as well has kind of had enough of it, and indeed when she needs an upgrade, I think it will be time to take the linux plunge, she loves dual screening, uses it for a lot of writing and emailing and is a lot more literate than she gives herself credit for. I will of course take the plunge at the same time as using a raspberry pi has given me my first proper exposure to the OS basics. I dislike not feeling like I am in full control (which Windows OS does to me these days), almost as much as a dislike a phone I can't change the battery in or use an SD card in. Thanks for always seeming to make really informative videos that I want to watch and learn from. Hope you have a great week
I changed my Nan's pc to Linux, it's a lot more responsive and she's more secure online now she can't install any adware or bloatware when she's surfing the web. I tried out WPS and I think it provides the best of both worlds for people used to MS Office and Google Office Apps
Now that I'm semi-retired, I'm spending some time working as a "computer buddy" in my local library, when I help other people to use computers. This throws a whole range of different challenges at me, so of which turn out to be easy and some less so. For anyone who really only needs a PC as an appliance for internet access and needs it to be as easy as possible, I'd recommend trying a ChromeBook. I now own about four of these, if I include the broken that I was given for nowt, in its broken state. For anyone changing from Windows to a ChromeBook, there is a short learning curve, mostly because the keyboard is not the same as a Windows PC one. Some of the latest ChromeBooks can also install and use Andriod apps, which might be an advantage for some. Next in line for ease of use I'd rate Endless OS. This is a free (but proprietary) Linux distro that gives a look and feel very like Android, but using a desktop based on Gnone 3. After that, I'd recommend a conventional Linux distro, such as Mint or MX (etc......). Sometimes the choice of distro will be influenced by the target hardware or software. For example, when I need decent Open GL support i prefer Mint to MX, but MX works better than Mint on my 14" HP Stream netbook.
@@derekp2674 Chromebooks are a great option for people who enjoy the cloud office experience. I used Docs for my dissertation but there are certain things that Chromebooks lack, but Windows and Linux have, which keep me from delving into the products further, but this might change soon now both Google and Microsoft have promised full support in later updates for Linux, in their respective operating systems.
@@amirpourghoureiyan1637 Yes indeed. Chromebooks are limited in what they can do. This helps to make them easy to use for those things, whilst making some other things either difficult or impossible. For example, I believe that playing physical CD's is simply impossible under the native functionality of ChromeOS.
@@derekp2674 that's a shame, a lot of older users enjoy using those features on PCs. I actively refuse PC cases without a drive bay, the amount of times hardware comes bundled with a driver disc - it's just really easy to install the software without having to dig around a website for a while. Nevermind the amount of disc-only games I have as well.
It doesn't help that the Linux Mint repositories have a rather old version of Wine. Much better to go to Wine HQ on the web, and follow the instructions there to install the current version, which will keep itself up-to-date.
I just started learning to use Linux because of you! I've opted for Kali Linux and I'm learning Pen testing. But I've always wondered how I could use MS Office. Looks like I'll be learning to use the VM 🤓
Hello Chris! 👋🏻 Here we go again, EC video brightened my Sunday with useful topic! {thunderstorm & rain, again!} I agree, VM and/or web office are the best solutions. I use VMs in all possible OS combinations so it's easy way to get to Microsoft office. I use wps office few years already, on Android. Google docs are good but lacks some functions I often use. Wine was glitchy and not reliable. Mr Scissors and Stanley the knife may not know typography but they surely know how to unbox successfully.
Hi Elvira! Here we are again. No storms here, but very dull. Well, until I turned the movie lights on to film this afternoon. So maybe it is not dull, and my eyes have yet to adjust back to sunlit normality. :)
ExplainingComputers Rarely dull weather here. Storms here are exciting and interesting. Well sometimes. Until my UPSes start to be jumpy & grumpy because of voltage drop. And occasionally power surges. Then it is not interesting anymore. 😬😅
I used Libre Office for years it’s fine, but my new laptop is Windows 10 and Linux Mint so I am using Office 365. I like having my docs on One Drive. When I am away from home I just use my iPad or phone. I keep everything in One Drive
NoteTab Light... Yaay! I've been using it since 1999. It's the first "Must have" program that I'd install on all of my Windows machines for the past 20 years. Having tabs on one program makes the most sense instead of launching different instances. I also like the "Use as paste board" function where everything I'd copy would automatically be copied to a specific tab. Whenever I'm using Linux, NoteTab Light is the program I'd miss most.
In April 2020, when Windows 7 Pro becomes end of life, I will be transitioning to Linux full time. The distro I prefer is Q4OS. If I need to do any support on Windows I will use AnyDesk or VirtualBox.
I've been using Ubuntu MATE for 6 months now... The switch is painless these days, Pop! OS is the flavour of the month, but that could change by next year, lol.
I'm happy to report that MS Office 2013 Pro 32 bits works flawlessly using PlayOnLinux, before that I tried 2010 Home & Student but I couldn't activate it; VL license versions activates without issues using a KMS emulator and POL handles the file association without any hitches. Now I simply have no excuses to keep using Windows 10 except when I'm playing a certain game that refuses to offer native Linux support
Libreoffice or any other open source office suite is only for open-source enthusiasts. If you want actual MS Office experience on linux, you either use MS office online, MS Office 2010 under Wine or WPS Office.
I don't use LO because it is open-source, and I have few problems using it along with MSO for daily work--Writer and Calc, at least. Mostly it's about getting used to LO enough that you realize how to do any quick fixes. But I don't require letter-perfect translations, either...all in-house stuff that can have a few formatting flaws. Real difference is macro work in Excel, which I do in real Excel. I do want to try WPS, though.
My advice: use an online office suite (GDocs, MSOnline, etc.) and then just export PDFs if you need to print. I luckily don't require an office suite; I just use vim. HTML/CSS can do any styling I require.
I'm using Win7 in Virtual box with Ubuntu Mate on metal. But no problem keeping the Access dB file transfering it over with wsft. But why can't Libre Base convert it?
@@FunNFury All my old databases are in Microsoft Access .mdb format (2003). Libre Base won't read them in unless I drag the data out comma separated text. But then I've lost all my queries and forms etc.
There's also FreeOffice / Softmaker Office (they are the same software, but Softmaker is the premium/paid version). It looks and behaves like MS Office (if you choose the modern layout, because it also supports the outdated LibreOffice-style layout). It has some limitations, but I found it to work better than WPS Office and I haven't had any compatibility issues so far. For me it works better than LibreOffice for most tasks, although it's slightly slower, so it might not be the best choice for an old computer.
WPS Office is an office suite developed by Zhuhai-based Chinese software developer Kingsoft. Note: No software originating from China should be used due to security concerns.
When I first discovered Linux in early 2000, there was really no useful office suite in Linux. With the advent of Openiffice and then Libreoffice, I can use Linux as my daily driver.
My first try at Linux was Mandrake 6 on a Pc Mag CD. It had Kde 1, Linux was still very primitive compared to windows back then. But it has made a quantum leap over the last 20 years.
For me, LibreOffice is the perfect option. Well, it doesn't render MS Office documents perfectly, but if you save everything in the OpenDocument format, and you don't have to deal with docx, pptx, etc. it's fine. I personally wouldn't trust WPS because of its Chinese origins, but you can run MS Office through Wine if you need it.
there is a nice linux program called "fonts manager" available from the softwarecenter if one wants to install more than one. also to mention internet sites like freefonts were one can share and use own fonts with different licenses.
Office users moving to Linux should try SoftMaker Office. There is also free version, FreeOffice. For me, this is the best MSOffice alternative. I have been using it for about a year and haven't looked back.
Excellent tips. Especially the one concerning the fonts. Personally, I would avoid Wine or VM for mission critical work. If you're switching to Linux, go with native apps when possible. BTW Chris, If you love Linux Mint, you'll adore MX Linux. Cheers
I use both MX and Mint. These days, I wonder if Mint is a bit "over simplified for ease of use" when compared to MX. For really old and slow machines, I prefer antiX.
One time I set up Windows 10 in a VM and it worked perfectly. The second time, it was horrible. I wasn't sure if the newer version of VirtualBox did it, if the different install and set up directions I used were the problem... Because I know how well it worked the first time, I think it is worth a try - and just read as many articles as you can for set up options.
@@derekp2674 antiX is my favorite, but I can't get it installed on bare metal - only on flash drives and VMs. But, even on those, I am grateful for antiX. I hope they make a core or base (more minimal) MX, though, too.
A very useful video; some friends enquired about moving to Linux recently, Word-compatibility being their only requirement. Cheers, Prof.! I personally use Groff, *TeX or Org-mode, but I can get away with submitting PDFs.
If you have licenses for Windows and Office to put in a VM, maybe just have another $50 used micro PC and a KVM switch? That said, I use LibreOffice at an institution that doesn't license MSO, and I've been wanting to set up some Linux machines, so this was a great video that hit the nail on the head for me.
I have tried WPS but it has its issues too. I did a review of text with track changes in the WPS and when I sent it back to my customer he couldn't see it in MS Office. So unless there is 100% compatability you can get some nasty surprise. However, for personal use LibreOffice is excellent.
@2:53 Even better, you can search for a github script for MS Clearfonts. Just download and install it. If you need Powerpoint compatibility, you can reformat the text in Libre Office Impress, but do you really need it?
It's OK using wine to install windows applications in Linux but compatibility issues may still be present due to the fact that you won't be getting windows updates that windows users get! No updates which will cause compatibility issues!
About differences in viewing of .docx in MSO and LO - MSO writes .docx and .doc not full .docx standard compiliant, which causes problems in formatting between MSO and LO. Just tell everyone to save in full .docx compilant version when using MSO.
Discovered OpenOffice over 10 years ago and have used it since The LibreOffice fork as well. I use it for home use and nothing work related. L_O works great for me but The MS web apps would work great if I needed a professional office suite.
2:15 not showing comic sans in libre office is a feature, not a bug. Great video. I was looking for ways to create MS powerpoint files on my linux machine. Up till now i've always used impress and converted to pdf, but now i need to use a template, and it doesn't come out like it should. I will give office Web app a go. Thanks for the tip.
@@alvimuka1853 it was there, it just took a few more steps to get there. i use to make signs instruction sheets and such. and 97 made it much easier because the functions where on the one page. In 2003 they move to this tab setup which you had to use to get to those features. Very annoying when you need them a dozen times in a document
