this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2025
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I just tried for 10 minutes to edit a date in a spreadsheet in nextcloud mobile and it didn't let me.

I just need an online office suite that works so I am not forced to use GSuite.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Two main options for self-hosting:

  • OnlyOffice - focus on compatibility with MS Office formats, but full disclosure, it has ties to a Russian org (R7? Product is marketed as R7-Office), but the primary developer seems to be Latvian (Ascensio System SIA)
  • Collabora CODE/LibreOffice Online - Collabora CODE is a community edition of a for-profit office suite based on LibreOffice (maintained by The Document Foundation) by a company in the UK

Both have integration with NextCloud and probably other cloud suites (I think Seafile supports both?), and I think they can both be used standalone. OnlyOffice also has client versions that can be used separately or with a cloud version.

Some technical differences:

  • rendering - OnlyOffice renders in the client, Collabora renders on the server and sends images back to the client; both support collaborative editing
  • format support - OnlyOffice focuses on MS Office formats, LibreOffice focuses on open formats, though both have support for multiple formats; you'll likely get more rendering differences vs MS Office w/ Collabora, though both have their issues
  • features - OnlyOffice has limited features, Collabora has whatever features LibreOffice has (read: lots)

I personally use Collabora, mostly since I use LibreOffice anyway, so I'd rather deal with some jankiness w/ the server-side rendering than deal w/ jankiness due to MS Office support. I use it through NextCloud, though I'm trying out Seafile and may swap to that instead.

Editing spreadsheets on mobile works for me, but it's janky. Not sure how the OnlyOffice experience is though. Fortunately, I mostly just use it to edit a couple cells pretty rarely (think budgeting), so it gets the job done.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Have you tried this vs libreoffice for writing?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Does LibreOffice have an online version?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

LibreOffice can be configuresd to open online files with your local editor.

Edit: Also there seems to be a real web version.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

I know of Onlyoffice, but I haven't used it personally: https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/DocumentServer

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

CryptPad or Collabora Office

[–] aksdb 2 points 22 hours ago

CryptPad is absolutely fantastic. Easy to host and secure design.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Apache guacamole plus your own libreoffice install maybe?

[–] roofuskit 3 points 1 day ago

That sounds like more of a mobile usage problem than Nextcloud.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I would recommend not using a mobile to edit a spreadsheet, I have tried and gave up as its less the ideal.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Recommended or not, sometimes it's just really handy to have available. I use Google Sheets for various things (for now), including my monthly budget, and chore/TV/etc schedules for the kids. It's far easier to just pop in on my phone really quick to look at or edit something when needed, instead of pulling out my laptop that may or may not be dead and waiting for that to boot, or going upstairs to my bedroom to sit at my PC, at which point I would have already forgotten what I was supposed to be doing (fuckin ADHD).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I would concur. Using mobile to edit spreadsheets sucks, no matter what system. Google Sheets, O365, etc.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Editing spreadsheets on mobile does suck, but sometimes you just need to do some data entry in the field. If not directly editing spreadsheets, what is a way to capture data to import in to your existing spreadsheet later?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Google Forms seems well suited for that. There are other options but Forms is super easy.

[–] anamethatisnt 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] anamethatisnt 3 points 1 day ago

Nevermind, it's been abandoned by the company that contributed the most to it.
https://lwn.net/Articles/882460/

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

"LibreOffice was based on OpenOffice.org."