Resources with which to do my job

[AuthorGirl]

The Microsoft Office subscriptions on my work computer expired about a month, maybe a month and a half ago. Long story short, the unofficial tech person doesn't want to pay for a new subscription and the treasurer legitimately does not understand what the Office programs are.

In order to do my job as a secretary, I need two things: something like Word, and something like PowerPoint. Any good free equivalents of these?

All suggestions appreciated. Thanks. :smallsmile:

[Khedrac]

My brother likes OpenOffice which is free.

I still use Microsoft Office, but come the day when I cannot get a non-subscription version I too will abandon it.

[ve4grm]

My brother likes OpenOffice which is free.

I still use Microsoft Office, but come the day when I cannot get a non-subscription version I too will abandon it.

Right, so keep in mind OpenOffice split in two a few years back. The alternate version, largely considered to be superior, is called LibreOffice. https://www.libreoffice.org/

It's pretty solid, and mostly compatible with MS Office documents (there may be an occasional formatting glitch, but I've never seen any major incompatibilities).

LibreOffice Writer is the Word equivalent. LibreOffice Impress is the Powerpoint equivalent. I haven't actually used Impress much, but have used Writer and Calc with no issues.

[Form]

Software required to do the job should be provided by your employer. The fact that there used to be an active microsoft office license suggests as much. You should talk to your boss or IT department. Please tell me there is an official tech person for this sort of thing?

[Recherché]

Seconding/thirding Libre Office. I actually like the UI much better than Word

[Aedilred]

I found LibreOffice unstable and annoying, so went back to OpenOffice which has generally worked fine. There is the occasional formatting glitch when opening files in/from Word, but that's probably inevitable. That was a couple of years ago so LibreOffice might have fixed the issues which bothered me. Really those two are the obvious places to look for Office substitutes though; which one you use is probably a matter of preference.

[AuthorGirl]

Software required to do the job should be provided by your employer. The fact that there used to be an active microsoft office license suggests as much. You should talk to your boss or IT department. Please tell me there is an official tech person for this sort of thing?

I, ah . . . I take it you've never worked for a small-town church?

What is an IT department?

What is official?

[WarKitty]

I, ah . . . I take it you've never worked for a small-town church?

What is an IT department?

What is official?

That explains the problem.

[Fri]

back then when my office computer was kinda ****ty and excel work bad with it I used to use open office' variation of it and it works well, even reading or editing excel file that my colleagues work with it, so it works. Though I don't use fancy formatting or macro or anything.

[jayem]

For myself I found LibreOffice to work as well as MSOffice (on both there were frustrating elements, and they'll be some other guys grass)

Going from one to another worked 'adequately' for myself most of the time. The stuff was all there, some of the pictures weren't where I wanted.

For others it will be a problem (and regardless of whether the cause was due to MS or Libre decisions, it will be 'your fault').

(Much the same applied to the cheaper MSWorks, although there functionality is/was reduced, and between versions)

In short if going for home computer to draft paragraphs, LO will probably be fine. You could then tidy/check the document on Office if you need. The less features you use the more portable the experiences will be.
If using directly for church minutes, bulletins, posters you print, etc... Things will probably be ok for most of the time, you will have problems but they should be workable around. It depends if they will accept (by patient or cope with) the inconveniences or blame you.
If collaborating heavily with other Office users, then any trial of LO is doomed to failure.

[Or if you use Office mostly to read and take notes, LO should be fine almost all the time. While if to print and write for others, LO will be ok, but the times it's not will be a pain. And to edit, it's going to cast a Lot of your and others time.

[LordEntrails]

There is also Google Docs. But I think the other two are probably more feature rich.

[Jay R]

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER: Do not do this if your job is insecure, or you need a job right now. There are risks here. Nonetheless, in the right situation, you can try this.

"Yes sir, I wish I could type up that report for you, but it requires MicroSoft Word, which is not on this computer. If the church buys this office the tools to do it, I would be happy to type up your report."

"Yes ma'am, I'd like to create the slides you need. Unfortunately, that requires PowerPoint, and the license for that software recently expired. If the church buys this office the tools to do it, I would be happy to create your presentation."

"I can't do that on this computer, because the church didn't renew the software license. I can type it up at home on my computer, if the church authorizes the overtime. I have that license at home because it's very convenient and really cheap, but this office computer doesn't have it any more."

Lather, rinse, repeat.

[ve4grm]

Oh, if the problem is the subscription (I hate that MS Office moved to a subscription format) you can still get MS Office Home and Student for a single cost.

https://products.office.com/en-ca/compare-all-microsoft-office-products?tab=1

Under $150 (it's $169 Canadian) and you don't have to pay a subscription after that. So maybe suggest that to your unofficial tech guy or treasurer? It would last a number of years, after that initial cost.

[AuthorGirl]

Aaaand, ta-da, fixed. All it took was a few cycles of this:

Sorry, we couldn't e-mail the bulletin because Outlook is disabled and we don't have a printout of the e-mail list.

Because most people don't want their names and addresses floating around in a shared office, that's why.

Yes, it is printed. You'll be able to see it when [Brother] gets back from our mom's office with the copies.

Because our office printer doesn't read USB keys very well, and hers does. Not usually a problem, no, we just had to make the bulletin on a different computer this time.

Because that computer has a permanent license for the Office programs and is therefore useful.


It sounds like I should definitely look into LibreOffice, though!

[factotum]

It sounds like I should definitely look into LibreOffice, though!

The one thing LibreOffice/OpenOffice does *not* have is an equivalent to Outlook--you'd need to look into another program to replace that, especially if you make use of Outlook's calendar functionality.

[ve4grm]

The one thing LibreOffice/OpenOffice does *not* have is an equivalent to Outlook--you'd need to look into another program to replace that, especially if you make use of Outlook's calendar functionality.

Very true. I can't really help there, as I don't use an equivalent outside of work.

I think Mozilla Thunderbird is still active... https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/

[AuthorGirl]

The one thing LibreOffice/OpenOffice does *not* have is an equivalent to Outlook--you'd need to look into another program to replace that, especially if you make use of Outlook's calendar functionality.

News to me that it has a calendar, actually.

[factotum]

News to me that it has a calendar, actually.

You've literally just been using it as an e-mail client? Pretty much anything will do as a replacement for that, then.

[AuthorGirl]

You've literally just been using it as an e-mail client? Pretty much anything will do as a replacement for that, then.

Yes. Literally exactly. :smalltongue: