Sick of Microsoft Office?

[Bob Maxey]

I hate the ribbon too, but I just turn it off and get on nicely without it.

I do not like the ribbon. I also get rid of almost every toolbar as well. I prefer to create my own tool bars. Makes my installation difficult for others that are accustomed to the toolbar.

I find it easier to add custom commands to the right-click context menus. Much faster.

 

[Bob Maxey]

I have tried every alternative to MS over the years but non of these managed to persuade me to switch over. If I am to chose the best version then I would have said Office 2003 without that stupid ribbon system which wastes so much display, so I have it turned off all the time.

I think there is no chance in hell that I will ever allow anything Adobe in my PC, it is usually so bloated and buggy that it is constantly asks for updating (to fix bugs and introduce more) when it is not eating resources like The Hungry Caterpillar.

I think Microsoft Office for OSX is about the best GUI ever.

My guess is so many people searching for free alternative to Office do so because they dislike making Microsoft richer. I suppose if OO had arrived before MS-Office, I might "hate" MS Office as well.

For most users, a free alternative is just fine. And you really cannot beat the price unless there is a learning curve.

 

[Bob Maxey]

Been sick of Microsoft Office since DOS.

Apparently, you can DL a free copy of Word 5.5 fpr DOS directly from Microsoft.

http://download.microsoft.com/download/word97win/Wd55_be/97/WIN98/EN-US/Wd55_ben.exe

If you are nostalgic, that is.

I happen to like Word for DOS.

 

[Bob Maxey]

I have been using Microsoft Office for years and although I have tried using OpenOffice before, I still reverted back to using MS Office. I think it's because I always stick to something that I have already been used to.

I remember when we ditched WP for Word. We eventually went with Office, but we started with Word. Our tech support/IT folks were insanely busy for months because people had issues and problems.

For some odd reason, some people love those bloody reveal codes and that horrid blue screen and white type.

It was almost like the great GroupWise change a year earlier. I discovered when you setup auto-responds with someone that also set an autorespond, mailboxes fill with tens of thousands of messages.

I always wondered why we hired so many "stupid" people that could not work through the problems themselves, with a brief consult with the help files.

We tend to want things to remain as they are and we really do not want the upgrades we scream for because they cause disruption. For example, the aforementioned Microsoft Ribbon Bar.

Then again, a non-tech Word user perhaps only wants to write ant get things done; they do not care about some arcane "improvement" that only matters to people like many of those gathered here.

 

[SUroot]

I have been an Office user for years, but I got turned off when Microsoft introduced that damn ribbon. So many experienced, loyal Office users spoke out against the ribbon, but Microsoft always know best and said it was our future. Now that the ribbon will start infecting the rest of Microsoft software I'll stop upgrading now...

Yeah I hate the ribbon. I prefer the 2003 layout. Outlook and Excel particularly bad.

In outlook, the whole layout is ridiculous. How do I export to .pst? Oh yeah, Open > Import... That's intuitive.

 

[BS1397]

I do not like the ribbon. I also get rid of almost every toolbar as well. I prefer to create my own tool bars. Makes my installation difficult for others that are accustomed to the toolbar.

I find it easier to add custom commands to the right-click context menus. Much faster.

:ditto: And that is exactly how a good GUI should look like...

Let's face it; 95% of the time we probably only need 5% of the features, so a custom toolbar with the essentials is all that is needed.

 

[Bob Maxey]

:ditto: And that is exactly how a good GUI should look like...

Let's face it; 95% of the time we probably only need 5% of the features, so a custom toolbar with the essentials is all that is needed.

I have found it preferable to add commands to the context menus (right click). When I am editing, it is easier to apply headings, save my work, do other stuff from the menu.

My "standard" toolbar is rather spartan I must say.

 

[cursor system]

MS offfice will still remain the best. Other will be mirroring it. I have not seen what can make one to be tire of MS office. Well, everything should have alternative. But the alternative will be consider when the best can not be found.

 

[horsecharles]

MS offfice will still remain the best. Other will be mirroring it. I have not seen what can make one to be tire of MS office. Well, everything should have alternative. But the alternative will be consider when the best can not be found.

Yah, we shouldn't let our opinion of MS cloud our judgment, MS Office is light years ahead of all competitors.
If Keyser S

 

[snoop600]

I use OpenOffice at home and really like it and the price is right. I use Office 2010 at work and I'm starting to get used to it. It's nice but $200 per license. I hate the way MS changes file formats so that other programs are not compatible...and force you to upgrade all the time.

 

[Digital Controller]

Wait until Windows 8 when Microsoft Office 2012/3 is released and they charge 100$ yearly to own it...just so much money grub...

OpenOffice is the only way to play.

 

[Davdi]

^^^ This, very much this ^^^

 

[horsecharles]

The biggest barrier to freeware office alternatives is that there's a ton of stuff ms office can do that the others can't, ergo the need to pay for it.
And you can further seal that deal with ms following google lead and porting to online.

 

[Bob Maxey]

If like me your sick of using the big corporate Microsoft Office then I have a couple of free alternatives.

OpenOffice, this is completely free and is very decent software.

Kingsoft Office, there's 2 options with this. 1st is free software Writer, Spreadsheets and Presentation they do offer a paid suite which I think gives a couple extra programs. The best bit about using these programs is that you can also download an Android App and edit any of your documents on your phone.

Don't worry if you have loads of MO documents because you can load and save files in those formats.

Tough query. I think you need to decide which features you want or can live without. Believe me, I have tried them all and I always return to Office because it always seems to get the job done.

When you Google, you will learn that there are many alternatives. I have tried them all, and I always return to Office. One thing I do know is no alternative Office programs will do everything I need to/them to do. Open Office, for example, has a hell of a time dealing with my macros. I created them in earlier versions of Office and tweaked them for my current version and they do not work with OO.

This is a deal killer for me because I NEED those macros. i need a reliable Office suite because without one, I cant work. For most people, Open Office is a great program and it will serve them well.

Decide which features you absolutely need and go from there. Try the free alternatives and perhaps you will find something you can work with. Not sure there is any other way to go about it, really.

For me, "free" can be costly.

 

[Zero Hunter]

I hate using MSOffice and formatting sucks. I always get these little annoyances whenever I try to format something. I want certain lines to be a bullet point and I highlight the text I want bullet points on and it bullet points only the first sentence no matter what I highlight or where my courser is located... and this is after I removed all formatting styles. I don't know... maybe it's just me, but working on MSOffice just pisses me off, especially Word. But since this seems to the be the world standard, I can't get away from it.

 

[TurtleRunner]

Open office works wonders for me, thanks for the other options i can use now.

 

[StudioHo]

I have to say that I'm very satisfied with ms office, I've used it since I was kid, and I'm using now the latest version for free with a Microsoft's University license. And I would gladly pay for it when I can't use it for free anymore.

I had to use OpenOffice at work while I was doing internship, I have to say it's pretty good for a freeware, and I would recommend it to anyone that doesn't want to spend money.
Still, concerning functionality, I think it doesn't compare with MS Office.

 

[SamuraiBigEd]

I started with Word Perfect 8 and then went Office, I prefer MSO even though WP has a few features that are handy like reveal codes. I don't miss it though, I have never run into a problem with creating the document I want with MSO. I also like the ribbon, once you start using it you find it is very handy.

 

[Bob Maxey]

I hate using MSOffice and formatting sucks. I always get these little annoyances whenever I try to format something. I want certain lines to be a bullet point and I highlight the text I want bullet points on and it bullet points only the first sentence no matter what I highlight or where my courser is located... and this is after I removed all formatting styles. I don't know... maybe it's just me, but working on MSOffice just pisses me off, especially Word. But since this seems to the be the world standard, I can't get away from it.

Hold the kitty a moment . . . I feel the need to point out this: chances are, Word is doing exactly what you want it to do. Not buggy or crazy, just following your specific directions like a good little soldier.

Let me explain.

Buried in all of those dialog boxes, settings and controls are the commands Word follows until you change something. Because many users do not change something here or there, Word ignores what they think Word should do and proceeds to do what it is setup to do.

Always use Word headings (heading 1, heading 2, heading 3) and avoid abusing the Enter Key. If you want more space between lines or paragraphs, change the heading space before and after settings.

Bullets and numbers are a problem for some, but again, you can tell Word what to do if you learn how to modify the settings.

Also watch out for the Autocorrect commands and such.

I suggest you do this: NUKE YOUR DOCUMENT and start over after you learn more about styles.

To nuke a document, ALWAYS make a backup and open that in Word. Save as a text file.

Then open the text file in Notepad, not Word Pad. Once open, save it again as a text file. This will remove the problems. Sometimes Word does act up but more often than not, it really is not acting up; it is merely doing what you told it do do.

Again, notepad not word pad.

Remove all spaces you added by abusing the enter key. That is to say, you end a paragraph and hit enter several times to add the spacing you favor. DO NOT DO THIS!. What you must do is modify the paragraph style and add the desired spaces.

One great thing about styles, is you will be assured of consistency. If you decide to change your paragraphs from 11 point Garamond to 12 point TNR, just make one change to one style and you are done. If you mix legitimate Word Styles with direct formatting, you cannot make global changes except by manual means.

Learn about templates and your standard template, Normal.dot. A .dot file is a template file and Word considers templates much differently than it considers document files. And every Word document is based upon a template. That being, normal.dot.

A template actually stores thousands of things believe it or not. Very different animal.

And avoid .docx files. I find many issues with those blasted things. Hate them, for sure.

Luck to you.

Bob Maxey
Lost in Distro Land with a fork in my brain.

 

[johnlgalt]

Hold the kitty a moment . . . I feel the need to point out this: chances are, Word is doing exactly what you want it to do. Not buggy or crazy, just following your specific directions like a good little soldier.

Let me explain.

Buried in all of those dialog boxes, settings and controls are the commands Word follows until you change something. Because many users do not change something here or there, Word ignores what they think Word should do and proceeds to do what it is setup to do.

Always use Word headings (heading 1, heading 2, heading 3) and avoid abusing the Enter Key. If you want more space between lines or paragraphs, change the heading space before and after settings.

Bullets and numbers are a problem for some, but again, you can tell Word what to do if you learn how to modify the settings.

Also watch out for the Autocorrect commands and such.

I suggest you do this: NUKE YOUR DOCUMENT and start over after you learn more about styles.

To nuke a document, ALWAYS make a backup and open that in Word. Save as a text file.

Then open the text file in Notepad, not Word Pad. Once open, save it again as a text file. This will remove the problems. Sometimes Word does act up but more often than not, it really is not acting up; it is merely doing what you told it do do.

Again, notepad not word pad.

Remove all spaces you added by abusing the enter key. That is to say, you end a paragraph and hit enter several times to add the spacing you favor. DO NOT DO THIS!. What you must do is modify the paragraph style and add the desired spaces.

One great thing about styles, is you will be assured of consistency. If you decide to change your paragraphs from 11 point Garamond to 12 point TNR, just make one change to one style and you are done. If you mix legitimate Word Styles with direct formatting, you cannot make global changes except by manual means.

Learn about templates and your standard template, Normal.dot. A .dot file is a template file and Word considers templates much differently than it considers document files. And every Word document is based upon a template. That being, normal.dot.

A template actually stores thousands of things believe it or not. Very different animal.

And avoid .docx files. I find many issues with those blasted things. Hate them, for sure.

Luck to you.

Bob Maxey
Lost in Distro Land with a fork in my brain.

Bob,

You make a great point. I recently had to delve into styles in Word because of the specifications supplied by my Masters program for writing our theses, and let me tell you, once I got the hang of it it became a breeze to not only make the adjustments but also to save those specialized styles so I could import them into Word at other locations. I then tackled the daunting task of making my own style for bibliography. That took *lot* of time, but I was eventually able to get a fully working style for the bibliography, plus custom captions, indexing and TOC.

You're right about the whole ENTER key abuse. Too many people use Word with little to no training, as if it is simply a computer-based typewriter, instead of a true word processing program. That alone creates so many problems for people when they try to do something specific that involved customizing the style, and then say no when saving the document to save changes made to normal.dot as well.

People need to realize that the reason there are courses costing several hundreds to over a couple thousand dollars that train you on how to use Word is because it is a very complex processing program, one that, for all my needs, including customized equations, chemical formulas, notation, bibliography and reference citing, and other needs, does the job better than anything out there. There is a reason they charge so much for the entire suite - it's extremely robust, and most people don't even use 5% of the capabilities of Word (or any of the other programs that are included in the suite).

 

[Bob Maxey]

Bob,

You make a great point. I recently had to delve into styles in Word because of the specifications supplied by my Masters program for writing our theses, and let me tell you, once I got the hang of it it became a breeze to not only make the adjustments but also to save those specialized styles so I could import them into Word at other locations. I then tackled the daunting task of making my own style for bibliography. That took *lot* of time, but I was eventually able to get a fully working style for the bibliography, plus custom captions, indexing and TOC.

You're right about the whole ENTER key abuse. Too many people use Word with little to no training, as if it is simply a computer-based typewriter, instead of a true word processing program. That alone creates so many problems for people when they try to do something specific that involved customizing the style, and then say no when saving the document to save changes made to normal.dot as well.

People need to realize that the reason there are courses costing several hundreds to over a couple thousand dollars that train you on how to use Word is because it is a very complex processing program, one that, for all my needs, including customized equations, chemical formulas, notation, bibliography and reference citing, and other needs, does the job better than anything out there. There is a reason they charge so much for the entire suite - it's extremely robust, and most people don't even use 5% of the capabilities of Word (or any of the other programs that are included in the suite).

Yup . . . Word Styles are the only way to fly. Especially if you work on documents with lots of special formatting. So much easier to change the style than go through a long document hoping you change every instance of heading 3 or 4 or 5.

I think many MS Word haters out there simply do not know a bloody thing about Word. In my lonnnnnnnng experience with Word, I have discovered that most problems people have are due to their settings and not understanding how Word thinks. Interestingly, I can be productive with the DOS version. I have to give MS credit . . . Word is a great WP.

Although I do not use Word's TOC features extensivly, they work well for most people. Even then, some people have a crappy TOC because they do not understand that any style can be used to define a TOC entry and they expect to insert a perfect TOC.

You mention Normal.dot. I am always trying to explain that if you make a bunch of changes and save them in normal.dot, every new document (most of the tine) will reflect the changes. Not Word being an ass, just people not understanding how the default template works.

WORD TIP: depending on the version of Word you are using, try this: open a document and type this:

=rand(12,21)

The command will fill your page with the "Quick brown fox jumped . . . " Not the best way to insert dummy text (too even and boring) but it will do in a pinch. The numbers indicate number of sentences and paragraphs, so give it a go.

 

[horsecharles]

John and Bob, you guys are so, so right, ms word is so useful and complex.
A document can be saved in so many different formats from image to pdf to whatever...
Insert an object and the image editing capabilities are pretty robust.
The advantages are endless.
I think what's telling is that if most of us started a new job and encountered only an office alternative, would immediately demand ms office...main argument being that the price savings(in not buying office) get dwarfed in extra work hours, lost productivity, etc.

 

[MacFett]

Insert an object and the image editing capabilities are pretty robust.

There is nothing like doing graphic work and asking a client for an image and being emailed a .doc file.

 

[h4x0rj3ff]

the problem with ms office is that is SO WEIGHTED DOWN its rediculus. i ran open office for years and latly even that seems weighed down after i switched to libre office. i honestly cant remember the last time i used ms office. i think it was back in school on a win98 box with novell and the paper clip! do they still use the paper clip? i loved that little thing! lol

 

[horsecharles]

Originally Posted by horsecharles<br />
Insert an object and the image editing capabilities are pretty robust.

<br />
There is nothing like doing graphic work and asking a client for an image and being emailed a .doc file.

Rotflmao.