Office Suite for the budget conscious

[M.Chapman]

While consolidating my DACS report I've been using an excellent alternative to MS Office. 

 

https://www.softmaker.com/en/softmaker-office

 

Its user interface is very similar to the ribbon interface of recent MS Office Excel, Word and Powerpoint and its compatible with the MS Office files.

In the case of spreadsheets (which I've been using) the "Planmaker" program (their equivalent of Excel) has opened all my .xls and .xlsx files some of which include complex graphs and conditional formatting perfectly.  It also runs more quickly and does a better job than Libre Office.

 

There is a free version of this suite, or you can currently buy a lifetime licence to SoftMaker Office Standard 2021 for just £12.99*

It's compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux and allows installation on 5 computers (non-commercial use) or 1 computer (Commercial Use).

 

NB. Excel VBA Macros aren't supported.

 

*Update: the special offer price of £12.99 has now gone. But a Free Version with slightly less functionality is available here

https://www.freeoffice.com/en/

 

Mark

Edited February 22, 2023 by M.Chapman
Updated pricing

[M.Chapman]

Further to my post above I've now been using TextMaker (the SoftMaker equivalent to MS Word). That's really good too. Only problem I've found so far is that the built in spell checking dictionary for UK English is rubbish (for example missing words like fridge, grandad, HDD, iPhone, iPad, hooray, gneiss, fulmar, broch, BBQ, Anglesey). Possibly because SoftMaker is a German company? You can teach it the correct spellings, but there are so many word missing it's a pain.

 

However, fortunately SoftMaker also allow installation of alternative Hunspell dictionaries from here

https://www.softmaker.com/en/dictionaries

So I installed the UK English Hunspell dictionary and it's now loads better.

 

The SoftMaker equivalent of MS PowerPoint (called Presentations) is good too 

 

Mark  (very pleased to have found a very decent non-subscription offline low cost MS Office alternative)

 

 

Edited February 19, 2023 by M.Chapman

[Bryan]

I've been using this software since discovering that my legally purchased copy of Office had run out of installs, due to changing computers and disc failures. It took a bit of getting used to but I'm now very happy with both the spreadsheet and word processor. On one occasion I had a problem and contacted help and was pleased to receive a speedy and useful reply. Happy customer. 

[M.Chapman]

11 hours ago, Bryan said:

I've been using this software since discovering that my legally purchased copy of Office had run out of installs, due to changing computers and disc failures. It took a bit of getting used to but I'm now very happy with both the spreadsheet and word processor. On one occasion I had a problem and contacted help and was pleased to receive a speedy and useful reply. Happy customer. 

 

Yes I've noticed the manuals and online help are very comprehensive and there's an active forum too. Seems to be a well designed and supported product.

 

Mark 

[StokeCreative]

On 17/02/2023 at 07:58, M.Chapman said:

While consolidating my DACS report I've been using an excellent alternative to MS Office. 

 

https://www.softmaker.com/en/softmaker-office

 

Its user interface is very similar to the ribbon interface of recent MS Office Excel, Word and Powerpoint and its compatible with the MS Office files.

In the case of spreadsheets (which I've been using) the "Planmaker" program (their equivalent of Excel) has opened all my .xls and .xlsx files some of which include complex graphs and conditional formatting perfectly.  It also runs more quickly and does a better job than Libre Office.

 

There is a free version of this suite, or you can currently buy a lifetime licence to SoftMaker Office Standard 2021 for just £12.99

It's compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux and allows installation on 5 computers (non-commercial use) or 1 computer (Commercial Use).

 

NB. Excel VBA Macros aren't supported.

 

Mark

 

Thanks for this, prior to retirement starting to look at main vendor alternatives (I currently get Office and Adobe stuff free....)

[M.Chapman]

17 hours ago, StokeCreative said:

 

Thanks for this, prior to retirement starting to look at main vendor alternatives (I currently get Office and Adobe stuff free....)

Mmm... I notice the special offer price of £12.99 which I got has now disappeared, it's gone back up to £69.99.

 

But the Free Version, which also works very well is still available here

https://www.freeoffice.com/en/

 

Once that's installed, I imagine they offer upgrade pricing at £43.99. (I think the Free Version doesn't have the spell checker).

 

Mark

[MDM]

Mac users can have Apple’s own free office suite which does the job for anything I need nowadays. Pages is a decent word processor and  Numbers a decent spreadsheet. They integrate really well with other Apple devices and take advantage of all things good about macOS, including excellent dictionaries and excellent user interface design. Files can be imported and exported from Office formats and others. I’ve not used Keynote, the Apple equivalent to PowerPoint but expect it performs well. 

[M.Chapman]

18 hours ago, MDM said:

Mac users can have Apple’s own free office suite which does the job for anything I need nowadays. Pages is a decent word processor and  Numbers a decent spreadsheet. They integrate really well with other Apple devices and take advantage of all things good about macOS, including excellent dictionaries and excellent user interface design. Files can be imported and exported from Office formats and others. I’ve not used Keynote, the Apple equivalent to PowerPoint but expect it performs well. 

+1

 

Good point. But, if decent compatibility with the "industry standard" Excel, Word and Powerpoint (.xls, .xlsx, .doc, .docx, .ppt .pptx) files or sharing with non-Mac users is important, then SoftMaker's Office suite does a much, much better and faster job. It also supports resaving in those formats without having to "Export".  I use Pages and Numbers and really like their rendering of 3D charts, but I also need better compatibility with Excel, Powerpoint and Word files than Apple's suite provides.

 

Mark

Edited February 23, 2023 by M.Chapman

[Brian Yarvin]

How does it compare to LibreOffice? I had been thinking that it was the standard for cross-platform and cross-OS work. 

[MDM]

2 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

+1

 

Good point. But, if decent compatibility with the "industry standard" Excel, Word and Powerpoint (.xls, .xlsx, .doc, .docx, .ppt .pptx) files or sharing with non-Mac users is important, then SoftMaker's Office suite does a much, much and better and faster job. It also supports resaving in those formats without having to "Export".  I use Pages and Numbers and really like their rendering of 3D charts, but I also need better compatibility with Excel, Powerpoint and Word files than Apple's suite provides.

 

Mark

 

I think it has very good compatibility with Windows Mark. It can export in all the modern Office formats - (xlsx, docx, not used Keynote but I presume it is the same). I doubt that many people are still using .xls which has been around since the early 90s but it can export in CSV or TSV  if necessary - similar for .doc). There is no difference for me between Export and Save As except there is no keyboard shortcut for Export. Otherwise the process is the same. Numbers is very good at automatically importing Excel spreadsheets and other data lists. It has that Apple knowse that other apps often do not have. And the apps are available on iPads and iPhones if required.

 

What I don't like is the fact that files are saved automatically without any command to do so as with a lot of Apple software (presumably for consistenct with iOS). It is very easy to accidentally overwrite data in a spreadsheet inadvertently which has happened to me and led to me having to redo the entire spreadsheet. SInce that I back up a copy before I start entering data. 

Edited February 22, 2023 by MDM

[M.Chapman]

14 minutes ago, MDM said:

I think it has very good compatibility with Windows Mark.

 

My experience is not so good. Messages about missing fonts, cells not formatted correctly when opening Excel in Numbers. Graphs look different. Whereas in SoftMaker Office I've not yet seen a problem when opening Word, Excel or PowerPoint files - stuff looks almost identical. Another "tipping point" for me is that I have many years of experience in MS Office and its user interface, so I just don't find Mac Office suite as easy to use, although I'm sure it's just a familiarity thing.

 

Mark

 

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by M.Chapman

[M.Chapman]

58 minutes ago, Brian Yarvin said:

How does it compare to LibreOffice? I had been thinking that it was the standard for cross-platform and cross-OS work. 

I was using LibreOffice which I was pretty impressed with, but I find SoftMaker is even better. Its user interface is more polished and closer to the MS Office ribbon. Rendering of charts and tables is better. Speed of operation is much faster (opening the app, scrolling large spreadsheets etc.). I also like the fact that there are 3 separate apps rather than the combined "suite" of Libre Office. The only thing I've found that doesn't work in SoftMaker (on Mac anyway) are the VBA macros that I developed in Excel and which also work (after a few tweaks) in Libre Office, but not in SoftMaker. Suggest giving the free version a trial. SoftMaker is also cross platform (like Libre Office).

 

Mark

Edited February 22, 2023 by M.Chapman

[M.Chapman]

18 minutes ago, MDM said:

What I don't like is the fact that files are saved automatically without any command to do so as with a lot of Apple software (presumably for consistenct with iOS). It is very easy to accidentally overwrite data in a spreadsheet inadvertently which has happened to me and led to me having to redo the entire spreadsheet. SInce that I back up a copy before I start entering data. 

+1

Yes that's caught me out more than once. Luckily (when at home) have a TM backup running to my network drive which usually saves the day. I have to be careful when using the laptop away from home though.

 

SoftMaker includes a form of automatic versioning/backup which solves that problem, although it appears expensive on disk space (unless APFS is doing something clever behind the scenes).

 

Mark

[MDM]

38 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

 

My experience is not so good. Messages about missing fonts, cells not formatted correctly when opening Excel in Numbers. Graphs look different. Whereas in SoftMaker Office I've not yet seen a problem when opening Word, Excel or PowerPoint files - stuff looks almost identical. Another "tipping point" for me is that I have many years of experience in MS Office and its user interface, so I just don't find Mac Office suite as easy to use, although I'm sure it's just a familiarity thing.

 

Mark

 

 

 

Sure. I have had missing font issues but that is to be expected I guess going cross-platform. I only use it for very basic stuff nowadays - no graphs or complex calculations etc. It took me a while to get used to the different interface but the online help is very good.

[Brian Yarvin]

Thanks Mark!

 

[Rebecca Ore]

19 hours ago, M.Chapman said:

I was using LibreOffice which I was pretty impressed with, but I find SoftMaker is even better.

 

Word of advice -- don't try new software on projects due today.  I downloaded SoftMaker, looked at it, and went back to LibreOffice to finish checking copy editing and comments on five short stories for the collection.   I'll try SoftMaker when I'm not in the middle of something.  With what I'm doing, speed of the word processor tends to be less relevant than speed of composition or contemplation. 

 

I think both for cameras and for software, what you're most used to is going to seem easier to use than something new.   LibreOffice came out of the release to open source of the StarOffice suite from Sun Microsystems.   I used StarOffice on Solaris.  Be curious to see where SoftMaker came from.  I found that open source could do some things very well (code editing software, IRC clients, various networking programs) but were not equal to commercial programs for non-programmers -- like graphics and and office suites.   The open source office suites only got good after StarOffice code was released. 

 

I had a period where I wrote but didn't use Windows at all, so LibreOffice feels okay in ways that might not feel okay to someone who was always using MS Office.  But I'm an outlier.  My main tool at one time was WordPerfect on a MS-Dos machine.   Or a typewriter.   I still use a fountain pen or a gel point to do notes for what I'm going to write.  Some writers even write rough drafts with fountain pens.   Notes on my desk to the left of the computer make more sense for me than flipping through screens (and I don't have a second monitor).

 

 

[Bryan]

4 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

 

 

I don't have a second monitor).

 

 

For years I used a single screen, then our younger son left home and I inherited his old desktop, along with its monitor. Fortunately my video card could drive two monitors, so I tried two. It's incredibly convenient, especially for PS when you can have all of the tools on the right screen and the image on the left. My left screen is a decent quality high res unit, the second screen is just a run of the mill job, but they work perfectly together. I wouldn't be without this set up.

[Marianne]

On 22/02/2023 at 13:26, M.Chapman said:

+1

 

Good point. But, if decent compatibility with the "industry standard" Excel, Word and Powerpoint (.xls, .xlsx, .doc, .docx, .ppt .pptx) files or sharing with non-Mac users is important, then SoftMaker's Office suite does a much, much better and faster job. It also supports resaving in those formats without having to "Export".  I use Pages and Numbers and really like their rendering of 3D charts, but I also need better compatibility with Excel, Powerpoint and Word files than Apple's suite provides.

 

Mark

 

I'm surprised. The compatibility seemed good to me - as I often have to send files to PC users and no one's ever had a problem with them. I'm curious, what problems did you have? In my experience, the MAC software opens any Office file - Excel, Word, etc. & whether you hit "Save as" or "Export" to  export your files as Excel, Word,  Powerpoint, or as pdfs, it takes the same time. Keynote (Powerpoint equivalent) also lets you export files in various formats, including video. Last year, I took a few classes requiring me to do various types of presentations and it literally took me no time to learn the program (I last used Powerpoint in 2005 or 6 and all told maybe used it 2 or 3 times in my life, so I was starting from scratch).  I had a video up on Vimeo in no time. And some nice looking pdfs.

 

Exporting to Powerpoint was glitchy due to missing fonts - I'm not sure if that's because Apple has more fonts than Microsoft or because I have more fonts on my computer from the plethora available through Adobe.  

 

With what Macs cost, it's good that they throw in the software and upgrades for free. It must be a pain to work in two ecosystems, Mark. But I guess it's good to know both. 

 

BTW, speaking of free software, if any of you contribute to the other A, they announced earlier this month that, as they have the past 3-4 years or so, they will be giving a year of PS/LR for free to those who licensed 250 files & had 20 new files accepted in 2022.  The blue bar showed up on my account today. I was resigned to start paying for a subscription again for the first time in a few years when my free year from 2021 ran out in April, so it was good news when I popped by another forum last week & saw the news. (If they do it again next year with the same criteria, I'm already over halfway there, but I doubt I'll be anywhere near the all apps - I think that required 6,000 licenses). 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Marianne

[M.Chapman]

 

1 hour ago, Marianne said:

I'm curious, what problems did you have?

As I said, missing fonts (which you also mention) and different rendering of charts and tables. Often needing to resize cells in tables etc. so text fits. Not insurmountable, but an unnecessary waste of time. I have a large "legacy" of spreadsheets and documents created in MS Office that I want to preserve access too, but moved away from MS Windows after getting fed-up with their enforced system updates (which sometimes crippled my system and introduced inconsistencies in their User Interface). So I'm always looking for good cross-platform supported software. For me pages, numbers and keynote just don't quite make the grade. But I continue to be impressed with the SoftMaker suite.

 

Here's an example of the incompatibilities. It's an Excel 2010 .xlsx spreadsheet I use to record my image uses for DACs purposes.

 

Opened in Excel 2010 - All Good

Opened in PlanMaker (from SoftMaker Suite) - All Good

Opened in Numbers

Note how the dates have been messed up by Numbers.

 

Mark

Edited February 24, 2023 by M.Chapman

[Sandi]

I am using Office from

https://bitsdujour.stacksocial.com/sales/microsoft-office-professional-plus-2021-for-window

We have bought quite a bit of software from this outfit, no problems.

Not free but you get a lot for $50.

Sandi

[Marianne]

 

40 minutes ago, M.Chapman said:

 

As I said, missing fonts (which you also mention) and different rendering of charts and tables. Often needing to resize cells in tables etc. so text fits. Not insurmountable, but an unnecessary waste of time. I have a large "legacy" of spreadsheets and documents created in MS Office that I want to preserve access too, but moved away from MS Windows after getting fed-up with their enforced system updates (which sometimes crippled my system and introduced inconsistencies in their User Interface). So I'm always looking for good cross-platform supported software. For me pages, numbers and keynote just don't quite make the grade. But I continue to be impressed with the SoftMaker suite.

 

Mark

 

Thanks for sharing the info Mark. It's always good to learn about different software options beyond the big monopolies, even if I'm perfectly happy with the Mac ecosystem. 

[M.Chapman]

3 minutes ago, Marianne said:

Thanks for sharing the info Mark. It's always good to learn about different software options beyond the big monopolies, even if I'm perfectly happy with the Mac ecosystem. 

I just modified my earlier post to include an actual example.

 

Mark

[M.Chapman]

24 minutes ago, Sandi said:

I am using Office from

https://bitsdujour.stacksocial.com/sales/microsoft-office-professional-plus-2021-for-window

We have bought quite a bit of software from this outfit, no problems.

Not free but you get a lot for $50.

Sandi

 

Have you tried moving it to a new PC? Sometimes these cheap offerings are install once OEM licences which will lock the licence to your hardware.

 

Mark

[M.Chapman]

4 hours ago, Marianne said:

I'm curious, what problems did you have?

Here's another example. A screenshot of part of an Excel 2010 xlsx spreadsheet

 

Opened in Excel 2010

 

Opened in PlanMaker - graph has autoscaled differently but that's OK (I didn't force a particular scale)

 

Opened in Numbers - note overlapped column headings, totals and position of chart legend

 

Mark

Edited February 24, 2023 by M.Chapman

[Sandi]

On 24/02/2023 at 20:13, M.Chapman said:

 

Have you tried moving it to a new PC? Sometimes these cheap offerings are install once OEM licences which will lock the licence to your hardware.

 

Mark

Hi Mark,

This is down-loaded as an .ISO file which is you then have to install using the option in Windows Explorer. It has a unique Microsoft ID number which Microsoft knows you own, ie it is registered with them as a genuine thing. I'm told it's Microsoft's answer to people who can't/won't use their cloud-based software. ie this copy of Office has a MS account attached to it.

I haven't tried transferring it to a different machine - maybe ask one of the MS forums if it is possible.

But so far so good

Sandi