{"id":95676,"date":"2017-12-04T16:55:55","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T16:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=95676"},"modified":"2025-07-01T23:43:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:43:05","slug":"3-reasons-why-you-should-be-using-openoffice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/3-reasons-why-you-should-be-using-openoffice\/","title":{"rendered":"3 reasons why you should be using OpenOffice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Still paying for Microsoft Office? <strong>It might be time to stop.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Apache\u2019s OpenOffice isn\u2019t just powerful, it\u2019s <strong>free<\/strong>. You can use it much the same way you do Microsoft Office \u2013 without forking out a few hundred bucks for the pleasure \u2013 and is <strong>much easier to use offline than Google\u2019s free productivity apps<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you\u2019re writing blogs, doing your accounts, or preparing that important presentation for Monday morning, you can do it all with OpenOffice. Even governments and companies are using it.<\/p>\n<p>But is it really better than paid software? Let\u2019s take a look.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/openoffice.en.softonic.com\/download\">Download OpenOffice<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>3 reasons why you should be using OpenOffice<\/h2>\n<h3>1. You can do almost anything with OpenOffice<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-95677\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"731\" height=\"487\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice1.png 731w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice1-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 731px) 100vw, 731px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>OpenOffice comes with these applications:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Writer (word processor \u2013 similar to Word)<\/li>\n<li>Calc (spreadsheet engine \u2013 similar to Excel)<\/li>\n<li>Impress (presentations \u2013 similar to PowerPoint)<\/li>\n<li>Draw (vector graphics editor)<\/li>\n<li>Math (equations and formulae editor)<\/li>\n<li>Base (databases)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This gives you ultimate flexibility, all in one handy program.<\/p>\n<p><strong>All OpenOffice apps read Microsoft file types<\/strong> \u2013 even those from ten to fifteen years ago (some of which Microsoft Office 2016 can\u2019t!). This is particularly useful if you own or work with organizations that might possess older file types than Microsoft Office can support. You might get the occasional formatting issue, but for most users, this won\u2019t be a problem \u2013 especially if you\u2019re only working with single files.<\/p>\n<h3>2. It\u2019s very easy to use<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-95678\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice2-1024x570.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"840\" height=\"468\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice2-1024x570.png 1024w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice2-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice2-768x428.png 768w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice2-238x134.png 238w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice2-304x170.png 304w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice2.png 1146w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>OpenOffice has a <strong>simple user interface<\/strong> that is similar to Office 2003, and it is constantly improved with user feedback. If you\u2019re familiar with Microsoft Office applications, you\u2019ll recognize similar buttons and toolbars, making it very easy to use. And if you hated the ribbon toolbar Microsoft introduced in 2007, you\u2019ll be glad to know it doesn\u2019t exist in OpenOffice.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also a <strong>large, helpful community behind OpenOffice<\/strong> \u2013 as is typical for open-source projects like this one. So if you get stuck, there\u2019s usually some kind person available to help. They might even have worked on some of the code behind OpenOffice, too, which makes them far more useful.<\/p>\n<h3>3. You get upgrades faster<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-95679\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice3-1024x585.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"840\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice3-1024x585.png 1024w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice3-300x171.png 300w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice3-768x439.png 768w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/openoffice3.png 1196w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>OpenOffice is <strong>open-source software<\/strong>, meaning anyone can review and upgrade the code it\u2019s written in. This means bugs are found quicker, and you don\u2019t have to wait too long for upgrades.<\/p>\n<p>Better yet, <strong>upgrades are free<\/strong>, and because development is collaborative and democratic, you have a say in which features you\u2019d like to see. You can even develop OpenOffice code yourself if you have the skills, and introduce your own features into the community.<\/p>\n<p>And have I said this is free software? I don\u2019t mean to harp on about it, but as most paid software is going down the subscription route \u2013 such as Adobe\u2019s Creative Suite and Microsoft\u2019s Office 365 \u2013 this is a pretty big deal.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, OpenOffice won\u2019t be for everyone. It <strong>lacks some of the more advanced features of its paid competitors<\/strong>, and if you\u2019re used to working in the cloud, there are better options. But with 231.9 million downloads so far, it\u2019s a serious contender \u2013 especially if you\u2019re on a budget.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/openoffice.en.softonic.com\/download\">Download OpenOffice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Still paying for Microsoft Office? It might be time to stop. Apache\u2019s OpenOffice isn\u2019t just powerful, it\u2019s free. You can use it much the same way you do Microsoft Office \u2013 without forking out a few hundred bucks for the pleasure \u2013 and is much easier to use offline than Google\u2019s free productivity apps. Whether &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/3-reasons-why-you-should-be-using-openoffice\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;3 reasons why you should be using OpenOffice&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2040,"featured_media":95683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[2441],"tags":[2648,1036],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-95676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionopenoffice","tag-productivity"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2040"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328415,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95676\/revisions\/328415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95676"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=95676"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=95676"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=95676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}