this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
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LibreOffice is preinstalled in Pop OS, and as someone who loves the idea of FOSS I want to use it, but inevitably I just use Google docs or Office Online. Is it really worth learning? Has anyone successfully incorporated it into your workflow?

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

I use it. It's rare, because I tend to use emacs+org-mode for private documents, or one of various other formats for interchange, but when I need to work with Microsoft Word or Excel documents, I use it.

Also, abiword theoretically is a lighter-weight editor for RTF documents, but in past years, I've found it to be pretty unstable, so I tend to use LibreOffice to view RTF documents.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I used LibreOffice exclusively in college — it was a lifesaver for my broke ass, since most of my money went to beer and hobbies (DnD, home severs, guitars, more drinking…)

It got the job done, but I wasn’t doing a whole lot of writing fwiw. Once I got over the whole “save it using the correct format or your professors will fail you” hump, it was everything I needed and more.

Don’t do any writing that isn’t markdown now, and I write that in Vscode or Obsidian these days.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Those D&D books make Office look cheap, especially if you end up a forever DM!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Same here, taking a few classes again now and have been using it again. Still enjoy it!

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

I do a lot of work in LibreOffice Calc these days - I use it to outline text documents as well as make computations that I can revise. It doesn't need to have tons of features to do what I want it to do, but if you dig into it, it can do some pretty powerful stuff.

Draw is also just fine for making meme text.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yes, I do. It's fine, not a great UI but it gets the job done. I don't work in a ton of Office documents, but for something like basic spreadsheets it meets my needs.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

For basic word processing and excel like items I’ve used it and recommend it for others. Especially when I’m on my Linux desktop. I’ve used it for some small businesses as well so they could open and send files for work.

[–] TeoTwawki 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I use it several times a week, mostly for spreadsheets. At work I'm forced to use microsoft office365 but off the clock I do a lot of sidegig data management (open source and game related) using libreoffice.

Some of said data is being ordered before being put in a large unwieldy database - its easier to do the edits in libra than in the actual database, at least till the team cleans up that mess of a database.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I used it years ago when I had a writing hobby. Whenever I go back to it, I'll probably use it again. Learning it wasn't hard for me because I'm old and it wasn't very different from the word processors I'd grown up with.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

There was a time where I'd boot up Libre office for tasks that Google docs wouldn't cover. But it's been so long I don't remember what it was.

Now I just use Docs for all my personal work.

[–] regeya 3 points 1 year ago

I use it mainly for personal use, and mainly when people send me Excel worksheets. I've also used Calc to manipulate data for CSV merges, too. I've worked in small newspaper office that'll have Macs but don't want to buy Office; unlike Pages it interacts with the outside world nicely.

I've been a user so long that I had a StarOffice license in college so I didn't have to reboot to Windows to work on term papers.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yes, I've been using it (and Collabora) for years! For the most part, I don't trust Google Docs at all, and while MS Office is the business standard... my use case doesn't require the fluff MS Office adds.

I do use MS at work because I have to, and I used it for collab in grad school... but other than that? Libre all the way.

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

I used OpenOffice then switched to LibreOffice in recent years. I also use Word and occasionally BBEdit but mostly stick with OpenOffice for as I only need simple text editing, basic tables etc Edit: to add that I also use Google Docs and Google Keep when I want something quick and dirty that's going to later be available anywhere I might possibly need to access it

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I use it occasionally. Usually for reports or essays for college and working on CV/ Resumes for me and my family.

Sometimes also for other random stuff like writing speeches etc.

It has everything I need and I am used to it at this stage. Plus I like that it is open source and free.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

@kurosawaa yep. Handy for machines I don’t need a full ms office license on

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I used it years ago, but have moved to the cloud for all my document editing needs.

[–] spxak1 2 points 1 year ago

No, I'm on Google docs too, but it's handy to have installed for when there is no internet and for it's other (cli) tools (such as converting docx to doc etc).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I use it, still use it today. Honestly I think it's fine, I mainly have gripes about these:

  1. There are some weird compatibility issues if someone else is using Microsoft Word to write on the same document as me
  2. The slideshow is a bit clunky in terms of how things work...

Otherwise it's alright!

[–] azuth 2 points 1 year ago

Sure, used it at a job this past year, writer and calc.

After spending a couple of days to secure a PC to be able to do my job I was not going to spend another week getting them to find me an office license.

Had no issues with sharing documents with colleagues (except excel not parsing a regex from calc) or with the public. Way more issues with people not actually understanding how to use word and excel and do proper formatting. Calc also had a gui method to multi-criteria filtering that the various versions of excel around the office did not.

I also used Impress to edit some PDFs for another older gig. Bit clunky and you must have the fonts used in the original. Just remember a pdf may be a hassle to edit but it is editable and not proof of anything (on it's own).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes, on my personal computer. The UI isn't the best but so far I have been able to handle just about anything I throw at it competently. I definitely prefer Microsoft office which is on my work issued PC. Not a fan of Google docs unless im collaborating on something with friends.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

i just started using it. admittedly, a rarely do, but it's great

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I use it all the time. And I avoid using cloud/fog alternatives since I care way too much about privacy, and especially I do not trust the GAFAM/BigTech mafia with my data. The two main office suits online are actually breaking the European GDPR privacy laws and are already forbidden in some EU countries. Don't know what others are waiting for with outlawing them. So yeah I like to keep my data locally and private as much as possible, so LibreOffice is what I use. And it has much more features compared to online versions, and is working much more faster, and it is also free as in freedom and opensource, which none of those bug online office suits are.

[–] thecdc1995 2 points 1 year ago

I use it for everything that doesn't explicitly need to be shared or anything that is going to be printed. I needed to print a document as a booklet and LibreOffice had that feature and Drive didn't.

I also keep a baseline suite of apps installed on every machine and that includes LibreOffice.

[–] seriousslayerguy 2 points 1 year ago

Office apps sometimes work and sometimes don't. One app loads content while the other doesn't so I use multiple programs and see whichever works for specific document. LibreOffice, WPS Office, OnlyOffice or Microsoft Office.

[–] menemen 2 points 1 year ago

Tbh, I use a proprietary office with native Linux support. But I plan to switch back to a Foss option soon.

[–] nerdyshades 2 points 1 year ago

I mostly use plain markdown files, but when I need it formatted to APA, or similar for school, I write the content in markdown, then to LibreOffice for formatting. I've messed around with some semi-heavy budgeting spreadsheets without issue. If I need an office suite, I use LibreOffice.

[–] eyolf 2 points 1 year ago

I use it when I have to, but in fact, all my twists and turns over the years – LaTeX, Obsidian, Zim, etc. – have been caused by deep frustrations with Writer. It seems that when it comes to the handling of direct formatting, styles, typography, each new update has caused even greater problems, for me anyway, to the extent that I can't rely on the program, not even to preserve the contents of my files.

So now I do all my writing in Obsidian and then convert to odt for the final touches.

[–] DrTorte 2 points 1 year ago

Whether it's worth learning or not depends on what you're trying to accomplish. The basics are easy enough to pick up and don't deviate much. It's only when you get a bit deeper in that stuff starts diverging.

As for use case: If I was strictly looking for private use, I would absolutely pick LibreOffice over the alternatives (cloud-stored data is, ah... well it's a thing until it's not.) I did not use it extensively when I did try it (Windows and Ubuntu) so I wasn't quite able to get used to some of the differences. Likewise, there was far more information available for the Microsoft Office and Google Docs suites, but that is more a matter of mind share than quality of the software.

Right now I have no need for that kind of editing outside of work, and for work, I just use what's provided. Currently that's Google Docs and has been Microsoft Office in the past. I don't know that I'd steer away from either of those for a decently sized business - something being industry standard means it's something people are used to working with, after all - but for a small outfit, I'd probably go with LibreOffice still.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Only office sheets has a few annoying limitations that libreoffice sheets handles better (automatically updating filter views, more complex advanced options), but only office ended up being a better choice for me as someone trying to move 100% off from google sheets because:

  • the UI is closer to google sheets, feels like I'm not in the 90s (this could be a pro or a con)
  • The documentbuilder api was actually easier to get going for consistent conversion of spreadsheets to pdf dashboards or other automations than the hacks and macros required for libreoffice sheets.

TL;DR only office closer to google sheets for basic use cases and a little bit of automation

[–] the16bitgamer 2 points 1 year ago

For my workload yes, but the minute I need someone else to look at it, we go to [INSERT COMMON ONLINE ACCOUNT OFFICE SUITE HERE].

I kindiof wish there was integration somehow but men, its office software

[–] Im1Random 2 points 1 year ago

I do everything in LibreOffice that I need to print or send as PDF. Only if something has to be compatible with Office at shool or if someone wants the .docx file I use Office in a VM.

[–] cpp_hleucka 2 points 1 year ago

All the time! I've been using it for around 10 years (for university and work). Is it worth learning? It depends™

[–] beefteeth 2 points 1 year ago

I do, but not professionally. I’ve used it on MacOS, windows, and Pop OS without issue, but mostly for making simple documents or spreadsheets.

[–] Falcon 2 points 1 year ago

I just don't use office software at all. Markdown, org-mode and pandoc then straight into latex. If I need a spreadsheet it's R, Python and Jupyter.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I can get past the jank UI, and use it all the time if my network is too slow to use Drive.

[–] Hypersapien 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'd use it if it were faster to open. But honestly a lot of the time I want to be able to access the documents from multiple devices.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I do. I’ve used it for many years - back to when it was OpenOffice and I even dabbled with StarOffice before that. It’s not as good as MS Office but it does the job. I also use Office 365 and G Suite occasionally. It’s definitely a good thing that we have LibreOffice.

[–] Buzz39 1 points 1 year ago

Haven't used MS Office or Google docs for the last 10 years. Only use LibreOffice. Have tried OnlyOffice, it wasn't bad, however it always defaults to US/English, you have to change it to your location for every document. No thanks. Jay from LearnLinuxTV on youtube writes his books using LibreOffice.

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