Google Docs is one of the best online alternatives to Microsoft Word.I chose Microsoft Word for Mac when I switched to a MacBook Pro some years ago. Doc can be opened, edited, and shared in other programs, too. In other words, Word files like. If you’re looking for free ways to use Microsoft Word, you don’t actually have to use a Microsoft-approved program. Other Ways To Use Word Documents.It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs and comes from developer SoftMaker. As the name implies, it is free. Though the latest package is still not on par with the Windows.
![]() If your documents include multiple columns, embedded images, custom fonts, footnotes and similar features, you can more or less forget about using anything else. This depends on the complexity of your files. That’s why I’ve used it for a couple of decades.The second reason is that you need it to read old files, which is one of your problems. The best is that you like using it, because of its power, rich feature list, ease of use or whatever. Photograph: MicrosoftThere are many reasons for using Word. Why use Word?Word is powerful and flexible, but you pay for that utility. But I found I still needed Word to compare files, and to cope with the publishing industry’s use of styles, comments and “ track changes”.The third reason is that we live in a world where Microsoft Office is the de facto standard for business documents, and you absolutely have to be able to read them accurately. Being text based, it’s hopeless for storing images, but it’s perfect for texts with simple formatting. Rtf (rich text) file format, which almost any word processor can read. Thunderlight to usb adapter for mac proBut even if you switch to a free alternative, you’ll spend time learning a new interface and handling your old documents. If you are not a business, you can certainly live without it or use the free online version. If you’re paying staff, say, £20,000 to £60,000 a year, and can’t afford £100 a year for Office 365 – less for a boxed version – then you have bigger problems.Decide where you are on the spectrum from “I like it” to “can’t live without it”. If you lose the activation code, you can’t get a new one without giving Microsoft proof of purchase.Cheaper versions of Office are locked to the PC on which they were originally installed. If you lose the DVDs, you can download the software. Boxed copies have more or less disappeared, but if you own one, you need to keep the code marked on the box to reinstall it. Something Like Word On Full Desktop ProgramsExtra features over the Home & Student edition include Outlook, the desktop email and organisation program, 60 minutes of Skype calls, apps for Android and Apple iOS smartphones and tablets, and 1TB of online storage instead of 15GB. Photograph: MicrosoftOffice 365, launched in 2013, is the cloud-based version of Office, but usually provides access to the full desktop programs as well. Office 365Office 365 includes online access and cloud storage. It will be more than the usual £12 a year. You can divide the price by the number of years you expect your 2012 MacBook Pro to last. I suspect Microsoft will support it until 14 October 2025, which is the end of support date for Office 2016, and that Office 2022 (yes, there will be one) will only get five years.A further complication is that Microsoft only supports the last three versions of MacOS.Office Home & Student 2019 looks like a bargain at £119.99 or less, but that’s a single-installation version. ![]() Alternatives to WordLots of programs claim they can read Microsoft Word. It’s not clear how useful most of these are to solitary users, apart from instant translation. Second, Office 365 has various collaborative and AI-based cloud features. The Office 2019 versions are fixed. Otherwise, your best bet is LibreOffice 6.2.2, which now has its own optional ribbon interface. Just keep your original files, instead of overwriting them.You could start with Apple’s Pages, because it’s free, and you may have it already. If you only write plain texts, you should be fine. You will need to load and “save as” a few of your most complex documents to see how much of the formatting survives. As mentioned, the success rate generally depends on the Word features you use. Unfortunately, the free version includes advertising, which I found unbearable, and the Premium version isn’t worth $29.99 a year. WPS used to claim 100% compatibility, and it’s actually pretty good. Of course, nothing stops you from using both.I was also going to suggest WPS Office, the suite owned by China’s Kingsoft, but it only has Windows, Linux, Android and iOS versions, not MacOS. It has a free version and a subscription version (£49.90 a year), but you can buy the full SoftMaker Office Professional 2018 for Mac, Windows or Linux for £89.99, after a 30-day free trial.I don’t regard Google Docs as an alternative because it’s online only, and you’d mostly be better off using the free version of Word online. ![]()
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