Free Microsoft Office alternatives – Activate office setup
There are now many free Microsoft Office alternatives. One of them is Microsoft Office.com/setup itself.
Free Microsoft Office alternatives includes
Microsoft Office Online
Google Docs
Libre Office
Apache Open Office Suite
Libre versus Open
There are others as well
Microsoft Office Online
Microsoft Office It’s the online, web-based version of many of the Microsoft Office programs. It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. www.office.com/setup
Online is free to use, and since these versions are web-based, they can be used from any version of Windows, and any computer running any operating system with a compatible web browser.
Windows 10 includes the Microsoft Office App preinstalled. If you don’t have an actual paid copy of Microsoft Office installed on your machine, it directs you to the free online counterparts.
Google Docs
Google Docs is the other major online alternative. With Google services being nearly ubiquitous, once again you may already have access with your Google (Gmail) account.
Technically “Docs” refers only to the word-processor alternative to Microsoft Word, though it’s often used as a synonym for the entire suite. Google Sheets is the spreadsheet Excel alternative, Google Slides is the PowerPoint alternative, and Google Forms adds online form creation and filling abilities.All store their files in Google Drive, Google’s cloud storage alternative to Microsoft’s OneDrive.
All are free, (office/setup) though you can pay for additional Drive storage should you need it.
Libre Office
Libre Office is a completely free suite of office programs.
It includes a word processor comparable to Microsoft Word, a spreadsheet comparable to Microsoft Excel, presentation software comparable to PowerPoint, a database comparable to Access, and even drawing and math equation tools similar to those included in Microsoft Office. Office.com/setup is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. All version of Libre Office are identical no matter what platform you use.
And it’s completely free. No one-time charges, no subscriptions; just download, install, and use.
Apache Open Office Suite
Apache Open Office is a completely free suite of office programs.
It includes a word processor comparable to Microsoft Word, a spreadsheet comparable to Microsoft Excel, presentation software comparable to PowerPoint, a database comparable to Access, and even drawing and math equation tools similar to those included in Microsoft Office.
Open Office is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. All version of Open Office/setup are identical no matter what platform you use.
And it’s completely free. No one-time charges, no subscriptions; just download, install, and use.
Libre versus Open
If the descriptions for Libre Office and Open Office look similar, it’s because they are. Libre Office is what’s called a “fork” of Open Office.com/setup. It was created several years ago, mostly due to organizational politics, as I understand it.
Both are good, though their feature sets have diverged slightly over time. Libre Office tends to release updates more quickly, and comes pre-installed on many Linux distributions.
For a slightly more detailed look at the differences, see this relatively recent article out on Digital Trends.
If you’re not sure you probably can’t go wrong with either, but I’d give Libre Office a slight edge.
These are the most common, the most recognizable, and the most popular.But they’re certainly not the only ones. www.office.com/setup