I’ve recently switched to Linux (Debian Bookworm) because I was tired of all the bullshits I had to deal with when using Windows, especially when developing software.
Now I really have to use MS Office applications for my school. Libreoffice is good but not completely compatible with MSOffice, like I can’t use the log graph in the template provided. And their web apps are nearly unusable (especially with Firefox and its variants) , so I need desktop versions.
I can use VM maybe but I don’t want to pay for the Windows license.
How do you guys manage to open MS files appropriately?
Edit: 2024/12/26 I ended up using Windows inside KVM. It worked without license, and office seems to work fine
I don’t have experience with this because I use Google docs for simple documents and latex for anything serious, but it may help.
https://gist.github.com/eylenburg/38e5da371b7fedc0662198efc66be57b
Thanks. I’ll try when all linux native solutions didn’t work for me
It sounds like the only problem is that you can’t edit a graph in a template, is that true? Any chance you can post the file, or perhaps just the graph section of the file? If it’s rendering properly in LibreOffice then I suspect someone can figure out how to edit it.
Onlyoffice is said to have better compatibility with MS Office so that may be worth a try.
Hmm. It’s proprietary but I have to get my work done…
I thought it was open
but I could be wronglooking at their website it says the code is available on githubOnlyoffice is under AGPL-3.0-only. It is not proprietary.
It’s actually not. It’s open core (a.k.a. 80% open source with its AGPL licenced community edition and proprietary with the enterprise edition that adds a bunch of stuff on top)
“open core” is pretty much “proprietary, but we won’t call it like that, we will also sue you if you use our code”
I didn’t know that, thanks. I’ll try it out
I can’t trust ChatGPT really
I feel dirty suggesting this, but you can install Edge on Linux to improve the web apps.
Have an upvote. I use Edge on Linux every day for Outlook and Teams. I do not really use Office online to create my own docs but, if there is an attachment in an email, I use Office in the browser to view it. It all works well enough that I hardly think about it.
It used to be that Edge was the only browser that worked well for Teams. Ironically, with the latest update to Edge, my webcam stopped working. I loaded Teams in Firefox and it worked fine. There are other reports online of the same problem and Microsoft posted that they are working on a fix. So, Microsoft managed to break Teams compatibility in their own browser and it seems that Teams now works fine in Firefox. At least, it did for me.
This is something you should have thought about, before doing the actual switch. As far as I know there is no good way of running the MS office desktop apps on Linux.
I did thought about it, but I couldn’t stand with Windows and I made a bet.
Using Windows as my daily driver is not an option for me anyways.
I’m not sure why I got downvoted with that comment. Is it untrue?
Some people like to suffer.
I’ll go a long way to reduce my data exposure, but ffs, Windows and Office are the standard worldwide, for a reason. It’s just naive and foolish to fight this battle while you have enough pressure and time limits as it is.
And I run multiple Linux-based systems in my home lab, but my laptop is windows, because “ain’t nobody got time for that”, as Sweet Brown would say.
You’re not wrong, but switching to Linux is considered better in this community than sticking with Windows, I guess.
I switched to Linux because I hate Microsoft’s monopoly, privacy invasion and their horrible operating system.
But to be honest, I kind of just wanted to do things differently.
Now I really have to use MS Office applications for my school. Libreoffice is good but not completely compatible
Indeed it is not. It all depends the tools you have to use and your level of expectations. But you still may want to some research to see if there is no simple fix available?
How do you guys manage to open MS files appropriately?
I don’t try to ‘manage’.
I mean, if it’s work-related (aka with a deadline and clients waiting for me to deliver) and if I need full compatibility or a very specific set of Office tools and have no alternatives, I simply use a Windows PC with Office installed on it. I would only use it for that purpose, though, as I don’t want Windows to get their dirty hands on my files, but I would use it.
BTW, there is no need to spend a fortune on that machine/Windows key. Office will run fine on older hardware that can be purchased for dirt cheap used and that Often comes with a Windows license. Maybe you PC has its won Windows license you can still use.
Also, since you’re a student, your school should provide you with an Office sub or something like that, or they should not be allowed to require you to use it.
One other thing you may want to do is explain your teacher the issues you and maybe other students are facing by requiring you to use tools that are not relying on open standards. Maybe also suggest alternatives if you know some?
explain your teacher the issues you and maybe other students are facing by requiring you to use tools that are not relying on open standards
I already did that and they said that I should use Windows. I can’t complain because the school specifies Windows as the requirement
Then, I would do as I suggested: either install Windows +Office in a VM on your PC, or find a dirt cheap used one with its windows license, do a clean reinstallation of Windows (to be safe) and then only use it when you need to run Office.
Sometimes, it’s not worth the time to try to find workarounds.
You’re right, I should borrow a random Windows machine from my clubhouse for now
If you need honest-to-god office, then yeah you’ll need a windows installation. Either a VM or a second drive is best.
You can use windows indefinitely without activating, you’ll just have the watermark and default desktop background.
Actually Office on Wine is in a pretty usable state so maybe you could give it a try. What does not work (or didn’t work the last time I tried, like 2 years ago), was the connection to OneDrive and stuff. So you couldn’t work collaboratively.
But otherwise everything worked just fine, just as it did on Windows. One more caveat though, VBA is not available in Excel, in case you need that.
Okay, maybe I’ll try that too
All other Linux native solutions didn’t seem to work for me
By the way, is there any tutorials or something that you’ve followed during your installation?
And their web apps are nearly unusable (especially with Firefox and its variants)
Admittedly, I use LibreOffice, and it works for almost all of my needs. However, I’ve never encountered the above issue, and the web versions have worked for me on Firefox. What’s your particular issue? The solution could be pretty simple; I have my user-agent string reporting Windows, and I’ve never had an issue. Maybe worth a try?
Changing the user agent shouldn’t work, but there’s a stupid amount of times that it does, and so I’ve just kept it permanent.
I can use VM maybe but I don’t want to pay for the Windows license.
It’s free?
Hope you find a solution! I will start school next year and mabey i will search for the same solution as you. Good luck. I use Libreoffice as my main program for documents, writing ect.
WPS office is proprietary but works, so is FreeOffice. OnlyOffice, I think the desktop editors at least is FOSS
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Do you have a school computer lab you can use? If the school truly requires MS Office and gives you a copy, they will have no sympathy for not using it.
I have access to school desktops that I can login with my credentials, but this way I need to go to the campus everytime I want to do something with MS Office. That’s fine though because it’s just 10 minutes away from home with my bicycle
I never had a problem with LibreOffice. But I also never encountered a situation at school where “advanced” MS office features where required. So, pure luck, I guess.
That being said, LO is not the only the only office suite for Linux. All of these have better MS Office support than LO:
- OnlyOffice: for the most part web based, but there is also a desktop app that wraps the web app into a local container. Free & open source, integrates with nextcloud.
- SoftMaker Office: Proprietary, paid solution, that advertises with having the best MS compatibility on the market. Based in Germany. Usually €99, currently €70 (or a €30 annual subscription)
- FreeOffice: Free but proprietary. Feature reduced version of SoftMaker Office (Comparison)
- WPS Office: Free but proprietary. Chinese, I had some problems with it when I last tried it to install years ago. Maybe they fixed them since, IDK
