LibreOffice 7.2 review - A turning point?

On my journey to literary clerical independence. Here's a review of LibreOffice 7.2, a free, cross-platform office suite, including installation, visual and functional improvements, Microsoft format support, native templates, styles, EPUB and PDF export, digital signatures, performances and responsiveness, various problems, and more. Enjoy.

https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/libreoffice-7-2-review.html


Cheers,
Mrk

 

Hi Mrkvonic,

thank you for the excellent review. I installed 7.2 0n MX-19.4 the other day on my Lenovo E-580 laptop, from the Flatpack repositories, and so far I haven't experienced the performance issues you've had. .xlsx, .docx and a 1 MB .ppt files all open in no more than two seconds.

 

Try the templates I used (links in 6.3/7.0/7.1) articles.
Mrk

 

I wish they'd add something to compete with Outlook, even in a minor way. It wouldn't have to have Enterprise class support of things like Exchange or such. Just a reliable email and calendar program to be good enough for me to drop Office.

 

My WP needs are humble and uncomplicated.



It does everything I need.

 

I went with the AppImage. Nice!

 

And, as it has often been said before, Linux is stuck in the amateur league until we have an Office suite that is cross-platform compatible.
While my current needs for an Office suite are now very minor I find that I have to revert from my everyday desktop Linux machine to a Windows laptop to be able to use a "professional" office suite.

I'm glad that nearly all of my daily software needs [Thunderbird - KeePassXC - etc.] are cross-platform - shame that Libre will never make it.

@xxJackxx I also have that same fantasy.

 

Mrk,

I downloaded several free xltm, xltx and potx templates from the MS site and they all opened within 3-4 seconds.

The old saying: "you get what you pay for" comes to mind.

 

So still doesn't handle MS documents without screwy formatting? Libre Office never ready as a replacement.

 

I tested this by using LibreOffice to open some MS documents I created and the formatting looked fine.

In a professional environment where results need to be letter perfect, then mixing the use of LibreOffice and MS Office might very well result in embarrassment and lost revenue and clients, but for the home user with basic needs and on a limited budget, it's an excellent alternative.

 

I just grabbed a copy of ashampoo office, and canceled my MS Office subscription. I've never had an issue with formatting.

 

Yes, same here on Arch Linux with libreoffice-fresh 7.2.0-2. And they all looked good to me.

 

More info please

 

Yes please.

 

Autoinput, at least in Calc, behaves differently in 7.2. Pity.

 

I don't really know how to answer that general of a statement. I can only say that every document I opened in Ashampoo Office looked exactly the same as it did in MS) 365; that included .xlsx, .docx, .pptx and even more complex documents with fields, tables and art. The same could not be said with Libreoffice 7, which is why I had to get a subscription for MSO 365.

 

@ n8chavez TY

 

The thing is you just did. It was your "general statement" that made no mention of Libreoffice which prompted my question.

 

@n8chavez I'm really liking Ashampoo Office 8. I don't do much with office documents so this is with limited use.

 

Oh I do too! I've used Libreoffice, Openoffice and Staroffice in addition to MS Office and I like Ashampoo Office very much. It's a no brainer, considering the price!

 

I forgot about Ashampoo, but if you need a simple text editor, then isn't something like WordPad enough? Somehow I always end up installing tools like Libre Office or WPS Office, but I just recently realized that I don't actually need all of that stuff LOL.

 

Well, I need more than that. I work with documents that students need to be able to read. That means they have to be correctly formatted. The editing/changes features are very important to me. Unless you work in a vacuum, you're going to need more than wordpad. Also, WPS office, as god as it is, has been banned by the U.S. government.

 

WPS Office banned by the Feds? That's the best reason I can think of to use it - which I do. I have the latest LibreOffice on this laptop and do use it for some work (and the latest does very well on this computer), but my go to is WPS Office, and I don't care what my govt says. Given the current situation, I don't think anybody should care what they say.

 

I liked it too. But it came down to WPS Office premium costing more than Ashampoo office 8. I think I got the latter for $20 lifetime license. And neither suite presented me with any type of document hinkyness.

 

I've got Ashampoo free office saved on an external, but it's a really old version of softmaker, circa 2012 I think. Haven't checked version 8. I have no problem with Softmaker/Ashampoo. It's a good office suite.