LibreOffice is a free, open-source office suite developed by TDF, based in Germany.

Any accountants use LibreOffice Calc? Is it a good excel replacement? I just downloaded it this week but haven't tested it yet.

The only thing I really miss from office is Power Query.
For somebody like me with no formal programming knowledge but self taught, it's graphical interface and feature are really hard to replace.

There's also OnlyOffice from Latvia.

Yeah nah. I maybe for light weight every day use yeah. But MS Office is a beast for pros.
And they have excel. Nothing beats excel.
I'm not a pro but all the people I know that use it say excel is the best by far
- Yep LibreOffice has felt like a beta for the last 10 years. Whoever makes this suggestion might as well use Notepad, because that's all the functions they seem to need and it's probably more stable than Writer anyways.
- "You can't get fired for choosing Intel" Was corporate maxim not so long ago. See where it went.
- MS Office is scriptable with basic. LibreOffice, on the other hand, supports basic, python, js, beanshell.
  Both software have there advantages. Scientific research is often done on Linux, and they use LibreOffice. In University, we also used it, because they said it has better functions for our use-case.
- LibreOffice is a really chunky and ugly piece of software.
  During the pandemic, my job handed out Linux laptops with open source software like libreOffice, and after a month, people were secretly using Google Sheets.
  
  Yeah, “upgrade” is a strong word for something that’s ugly as sin and just about as unintuitive to use

Personally I've had an issue with LibreOffice mainly in that it tends to be more unstable and clunky. It oftentimes goes unresponsive on me and has crashed a time or two when loading larger files, but that may be because I'm running it in Windows so I dunno
- I imported a 10,000 line csv and every time I scrolled, half the data wouldn't update. From scrolling.
  It's pretty unusable for me.

I haven't used LibreOffice in quite some time in favor of OnlyOffice because of how it handles MS Office formatting. Is the formatting situation better for LibreOffice now?
- Lol no. It still lacks many of the formatting tools that MS Office has, and documents originally created in MS will frequently get messed up. I use LibreOffice because it's FOSS, but I'm not going to pretend it's functionally better than MS Office, because it's not by almost every metric.
  
  The reason why OpenDocument format is enforced in MS Office, is because it enforces compatibility. Tell everyone who uses docx to stop promoting a proprietary software, they have the option to save to a neutral file format.

Does it do macros, and does it save in .dotx and DOCX formats?
- Yes and yes

I only use this. It got to a point where it is superior to MS Word.

I find Softmaker FreeOffice easier to use, especially if you want a similar UI to MS office, german company but not opensource. Now, I only use it occasionally, I don't know which one is better for heavy users, they have a paid version too.
- For some reason I don't fully understand, LibreOffice hides the option to switch the UI in View > User Interface. The option Tabbed seems to resemble MS ribbon-like style.
  They should possibly consider to make that a default question on first start-up, like: 'What interface layout feels familiar?'

Now if they could do the same for Gimp. What a UX mess.
- Isn't Krita considered the better open source image editor now? I keep meaning to learn it.
  
  Its more for drawing than editing images, so not a complete gimp replacement

I use libreoffice but man libreoffice writer is so finnicky. Formatting is all wonky. Definitely not a 1:1 replacement. It will format things differently than if you opened it in word
- I was using Microsoft Word on and off since 6.0 (shipped with Office 4.0), and no version of Microsoft Word was formatting your documents in the same way that the other versions did, and the same version liked to break things on different version of Windows, and sometimes ever on the same version of Windows on the other computer, because locale settings were different.
  That being said, Word is a toy that can be replaced with just basically any word processing software (unless you need multiplayer editing from the Sharepoint), it's the Excel which is the true strength of MS Office, and unfortunately it's irreplaceable by anything that isn't purpose-built database processing software.
  Excel doesn't do anything very well, but it can do everything that the twisted minds of the upper management can imagine, and in the hands of person experienced enough and mad enough (and you will become mad enough after couple years of VBA) the possibilities are endless.
  LibreOffice Calc on the other hand is limited to 1024 columns, which is a hard limit I hit more than once, and external database integrations are real PITA.
  
  LibreOffice Calc on the other hand is limited to 1024 columns, which is a hard limit I hit more than once, and external database integrations are real PITA.
  Might be time to learn an actually programming language and take a database course brother

No issues with Libre Office, but isn't the point of this scene that homelander really is a downgrade?
- He isn't a downgrade, he is stronger using the other guys DNA. He is mentally effed though, as a result of being brought up in a lab and tested on to see his limits.
  
  Thanks, I wasn't sure cause in that season they seemed to be somewhat evenly matched in their confrontations.

I just wish it wasnt so ugly.
- I think the look depends a lot on the icon set in use, which can be changed in the settings. Personally I use the Elementary SVG version on my Plasma Desktops, I find those icons to be clearer and neater than the ones in the Breeze pack. Also the default Font Liberation Sans, while a fine font, has a certain look that looks slightly dated somehow. If you change the default style for all documents to some other font, it looks a lot fresher :-)
- I prefer LibreOffice's ugliness to Microsoft's strange menus. Anyway they're also available in LibreOffice, in the view menu.
  For the rest of the interface you could look into GTK themes, I think LO's looks depend a lot of the theme you use. The interface is pretty customizable, I think.

I'm not a fan of people applying nationalism to open source software. I get this is a reaction to another country's nationalism but it really undermines what open source software is all about.
Yea, The Document Foundation is based in Germany. But Libre Office is an international collaborative open source project, with contributors in many countries.
Open source projects dont have a nationality. Even the ones with organisations based in the USA. And if people really are concerned about US based legal orgs then we should be looking at forking the software.
Its already under open source licences and belongs to everyone regardless of nationality.
- TBH, as a New Zealander, highlighting that it's not based or of the US is a huge win.
- I'll say, I feel this. I love FOSS, and I love the BuyEuropean movement as well, but I'm also always scared this will turn nationalistic, which I'm not a big fan of...
  
  Precisely my feelings. I hope it doesn't turn out to in the negative way, but I'm afraid of some of the vitriol I'm seeing already
  
  How would that work though? Nationalistic people tend to be anti-EU, no?
- Uuuh this is about closed source Microsoft Office Vs open source Libre Office which just happen to be from Germany and thus is the reason why this is posted in this community.
  
  They're replying because of OP's comment "based in Germany"

So... we supposed to be rooting for Homelander now?
- For real. I really hate how all the internet has just decided to meme with homelander like he is a good guy. Any meme I see with him I just assume some sort of malevolence behind it because he is so fucking evil.
- No it's just saying libre office kills babies
  
  Is that how it loads so fast?
  
  *eats
- It's not like Solider Boy is great either lol.
  
  No, certainly not. I'm just pointing out that with context this meme template means something very different to what it says on the surface.
  Unless OP's point is that LibreOffice is more functional but much, much worse for society while there are better options just off-screen, in which case fair enough and well played.

Good marketing point: LibreOffice has NO ENSHITTIFICATION! Great!

Libreoffice is amazing. I had dismissed it ages ago back when I had no reason to boycott the US, but now I tried it again after switching to Linux and it works amazingly good.
There’s no need for MS Office for personal use, though unfortunately for my large corporate employer it probably isn’t going to realistically be considered.

libreoffice is great! onlyoffice is good too if you like more compatability with office and docx, but it's more geared toward online services and subscriptions.
- cryptpad.fr if you need a google docs alternative. DONATE BTW; they are not a megacorp.

I like using OnlyOffice, too, which is based in Latvia.
- Im still not sure if this is true, but I’ve seen a couple people post that OnlyOffice may be Russian owned with a location in Latvia just to avoid association. I really hope not because I do like the UI more. I tried asking Le Chat about it and got this. I’d love to get someone else’s take on this though.
  OnlyOffice is owned by Ascensio System SIA, a Latvian-based IT company with headquarters in Riga. The company was founded by Lev Bannov, who is also the CEO of OnlyOffice. The ownership structure has undergone significant changes, with the Singapore holding company ONLYOFFICE Capital Group Pte. Ltd. now being the ultimate owner of Ascensio System SIA through its UK subsidiary, Ascensio System Limited .
  OnlyOffice has faced allegations and concerns regarding its ties to Russia. Some sources claim that OnlyOffice is a Russian company that has attempted to mask its origins by using a Latvian company as a front. These allegations suggest that the company has connections to the Russian government and military, and that it has set up shell companies to avoid being associated with Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine .
  The company has been accused of using its Latvian headquarters as a way to enter the international market while continuing to operate and develop its products in Russia under the name R7 Office . These concerns have led some companies to sever ties with OnlyOffice due to its alleged support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its failure to condemn the conflict .
  Despite these claims, it is important to note that OnlyOffice is officially headquartered in Riga, Latvia, and operates under Ascensio System SIA. The company has a complex ownership structure, with a Singapore holding company owning the UK branch, which in turn owns the Latvian branch .
  source 1 source 2 source 3
  
  Oh no, people are using AI slop to generate Lemmy comments
  
  AI chatbots are not and probably never will be good tools to research information
  
  Why are you using AI for research? It's a glorified predictive text.

I'm never quite sure if a document will translate 100% to Word or Excel, but otherwise I've been very happy.
- To ensure better compatibility, do a fresh save-as to another format if possible on MS side (docx-doc, doc-docx, -docm, whatever). It forces Office to rebuild the file, i believe, and usually it fixes some display mistakes coming from excessive formatting, trashes the leftovers of previous edits, etc, and the file itself becomes lighter. Some other tricks:
  Have strict formatting rules and only select amount of styles. If you see them mutating, choose to select everything with a style-bastard applied, and then reapply their parent to all affected paragraphs (after what it should disappear);
  Don't use rare fonts as long as possible, and if you do, on different machines too, copy them from Windows fonts folder in advance;
  Overwhelmingly long and complex tables in Word usually break. The most dire offender is how you unite cells and move separate cells' borders, because it breaks their structure. Google has workarounds iand limitations on that in their products. To ensure your table translates right, copy it into Excel and then back after setting all cells in Excel to text data, as it likes to reformat e.g. 18.03.2025 into date format and such.
  Some of these problems occured to me between different installations of MS products themselves, and with LO I had it the other way: Excel had a bugged file that wasn't adjustable in how to print it. One column wasn't fitting on the page one, but once I move the guideline over that column, Excel cuts this table into 70+ pages, one cell on each. The only thing that helped is opening this exact file in LO Calc where this problem just can't be reproduced. Since that I use Calc first, and then Google Sheets as I haven't found a fitting online sharing solution for myself and get invited tonedit it by others, and Excel is not an option at all anymore.
  
  Thank you for the tips; I'll try them.
- Same. I've had some professional frustrations when spreadsheets don't carry over formatting correctly and dealing with macros is a pain, but it's great to start with or if you aren't collaborating.

LO is good software.
It replaced MSOffice Word for me (and I had been using Word since the early 90s). It also has a few extensions one may want to consider adding. Stuff like extra dictionaries for example, or better (than the default provided) ePub/HTML export tools.
https://extensions.libreoffice.org/

How does it stack to Open Office? Got that years ago & it's been treating me well.
- LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice and most developers went to work on LibreOffice instead. You should consider switching to LibreOffice.
- OpenOffice is not recommended, I hope you mean OnlyOffice, they get confused sometimes.
  
  Nope! I do believe it's OpenOffice, an older version, idk I downloaded a popular FOSS version a few years back. Pretty insane that Microsoft actually thinks people should pay a subscription to rent this stuff, lol