Are you looking for a free, modern and efficient alternative to Microsoft Office? This little-known office suite will give you everything you need for work or study.
With the start of the school year and the return to the office, the need for a complete and efficient office suite is once again felt. In this area, the well-known Microsoft applications reign supreme: Word, Excel and PowerPoint are in fact omnipresent and essential tools, whether in business or at school.
But this famous software is not free and is even sold at a high price by the Redmond firm, whether in the form of a subscription or a single purchase. Certainly, it is possible to use some of these applications online for free, but in limited versions that require being permanently connected to the Internet, which is not always possible.
Among the free alternatives to Microsoft software, the best known is undoubtedly LibreOffice. But despite its undeniable qualities, this office suite suffers from several flaws that put off users. Its aging graphical interface and its compatibility problems with Microsoft Office files are two major obstacles to its use.
Fortunately, other free office applications exist, and one of them has been gaining momentum in recent years, although it remains relatively unknown to the general public: OnlyOffice. This open source office suite, developed by the company Ascensio System, indeed presents several significant advantages to pose as a serious alternative to Microsoft Office.
First of all, OnlyOffice offers a modern and elegant graphical interface, with a grouping of tools in tabs at the top of the application, and the choice between several light or dark display themes. The ergonomics of the different software is therefore very familiar, and it is easy to find its marks when you are used to Microsoft applications.
Next, OnlyOffice offers very good compatibility with files created in Word, Excel or PowerPoint, because the application uses the DOCX, XLSX and PPTX file formats by default. Thus, display problems and loss of layout when opening Microsoft Office files are much rarer than with other office suites.
Finally, OnlyOffice natively integrates real-time collaboration and co-editing functions. The application allows several people to work at the same time on the same document, to leave comments, to track modifications using a history and to give differentiated access rights to each user.
The suite consists of four modules, a text editor, a spreadsheet, a slideshow tool and PDF form editor, which cover the office needs of the majority of users. It is also available free of charge on all devices (computers, smartphones and tablets) and all systems (Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS).
Even if OnlyOffice does not yet offer all the most powerful functions of Microsoft’s suite, this application is definitely worth taking a look at. Whether you are a middle school student, high school student, or already employed, you will find a complete set of tools and modern functions, which will undoubtedly meet most of your needs, even professional ones.