Has anyone tried Softmaker Office?

YmpkerYmpker OGContent WriterSenpai
edited February 17 in General

So, my university sub for MS apps will be ending soon and I am looking for an alternative for Word/Excel/Powerpoint, basically. Now, there's LibreOffice. Open Source, totally free, around for 20 years. That said, the last time I used Libre Office, I didn't get into it that well. It didn't feel that intuitive. Recently, on Mydealz, I grabbed a free license of Softmaker's Office 2021 (5 devices) and also gave their free software "Free Office" a try. I found it to resemble the workflow/looks from Word a bit more than Libre Office.
What's more, I keep finding posts stating that Softmaker Office (and Free Office) is more compatible with MS Docs than LibreOffice. That is to say, formatting doesn't break, when importing MS Office docs. Softmaker is actually an IT company founded in 1987 in Nuremberg (Germany), so it is a home bias for me, given that they're basically half an hour drive away from where I live. Softmaker is available for Windows, Linux and MacOS equally. They also have a sub version, which I understand is new (NX), but they still also sell the versions you can purchase (or just use their free one Free Office). Anyone tried them long term?

ItsFoss also tested them:
https://itsfoss.com/comparison/libreoffice-vs-freeoffice/

In case anyone wants the Softmaker Office 2021 suite for free (scroll down and you will see it for 0€, add to cart..), there's the deal link: https://shop.softmaker.com/?couponcode=officefree

A cheap upgrade to 2024 is possible, according to MyDealz

Their Free Office Suite (also has Linux support) that receives regular updates is: https://www.freeoffice.com/en/

MyDealz discussion for user feedback: https://www.mydealz.de/share-deal-from-app/2729882

Alternatively, I could opt for a cheap 5€ key (not license) from some store on Idealo and use original MS Office 2024. These keys are bound to one device (probably some volume licensing) and the sellers claim they're legit in Europe due to Erschöpfungslizenz or smth and it's some sort of grey area. Could also just use some kms activation.

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Comments

  • bikegremlinbikegremlin ModeratorOGContent Writer
    edited February 17

    Have you tried OnlyOffice?

    It is free to install on a computer, and it doesn't mess up MS-Office-formatted documments (Libre Office is a hit and miss in those terms).

    Edit:
    Yes, of course I wrote an article, what did you think?!? :)

    https://io.bikegremlin.com/38706/my-application-software-stack/

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  • YmpkerYmpker OGContent WriterSenpai
    edited February 17

    @bikegremlin said:
    Have you tried OnlyOffice?

    It is free to install on a computer, and it doesn't mess up MS-Office-formatted documments (Libre Office is a hit and miss in those terms).

    Good point, I'll have a look! Who is behind it? I remember that Cryptpad uses it, which I planned to deploy to my Portainer :)

    What do you use?

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  • bikegremlinbikegremlin ModeratorOGContent Writer

    @Ympker said:

    @bikegremlin said:
    Have you tried OnlyOffice?

    It is free to install on a computer, and it doesn't mess up MS-Office-formatted documments (Libre Office is a hit and miss in those terms).

    Good point, I'll have a look! Who is behind it? I remember that Cryptpad uses it, which I planned to deploy to my Portainer :)

    What do you use?

    Some Latvians - Ascensio System SIA.

    So Slavic engineering for the win! LOL

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  • YmpkerYmpker OGContent WriterSenpai

    @bikegremlin said:

    @Ympker said:

    @bikegremlin said:
    Have you tried OnlyOffice?

    It is free to install on a computer, and it doesn't mess up MS-Office-formatted documments (Libre Office is a hit and miss in those terms).

    Good point, I'll have a look! Who is behind it? I remember that Cryptpad uses it, which I planned to deploy to my Portainer :)

    What do you use?

    Some Latvians - Ascensio System SIA.

    So Slavic engineering for the win! LOL

    Haha nice :D
    So you are using it as your daily driver then?

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  • bikegremlinbikegremlin ModeratorOGContent Writer

    @Ympker said:

    @bikegremlin said:

    @Ympker said:

    @bikegremlin said:
    Have you tried OnlyOffice?

    It is free to install on a computer, and it doesn't mess up MS-Office-formatted documments (Libre Office is a hit and miss in those terms).

    Good point, I'll have a look! Who is behind it? I remember that Cryptpad uses it, which I planned to deploy to my Portainer :)

    What do you use?

    Some Latvians - Ascensio System SIA.

    So Slavic engineering for the win! LOL

    Haha nice :D
    So you are using it as your daily driver then?

    For now (enshitification is prevalent and I'm always on my toes - hence the up-to-date article series).

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  • vyasvyas OGSenpai
    edited February 17

    Another +1 for onlyoffice. Had written about it a while back. We use zoho docs online (Chennai, IN datacenter yay!)
    I moved off of Libreoffice last month and now quite happy with onlyoffice desktop app for debian

    Blog/user feedback
    https://arc.amarvyas.in/notes/a-long-term-users-review-of-onlyoffice/

    (pardon the broken images, major revamp of the site under way)

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  • bikegremlinbikegremlin ModeratorOGContent Writer

    @vyas said:
    Another +1 for onlyoffice. Had written about it a while back

    https://arc.amarvyas.in/notes/a-long-term-users-review-of-onlyoffice/

    (pardon the broken images, major revamp of the site under way)

    Let me know when you fix it so I can link to it (and not have anyone cursing me for it LOL).

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  • vyasvyas OGSenpai
    edited February 17

    Other options to consider (or not)

    • wps office
    • collabora desktop (ie libreoffice)

    On a separate note:
    @bikegremlin

    I made the (voluntary) decision to use ChatGPT for a complete website reboot/restructure, including cdn. Years of baggage. Literal rabbit hole. Painful. Lots of clean up needed.

    Slow as molasses. But tremendous learning! Mrs is… not amused. Story for another day.

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  • YmpkerYmpker OGContent WriterSenpai

    @vyas said:
    Other options to consider (or not)

    • wps office
    • collabora desktop (ie libreoffice)

    On a separate note:
    @bikegremlin

    I made the (voluntary) decision to use ChatGPT for a complete website reboot/restructure, including cdn. Years of baggage. Literal rabbit hole. Painful. Lots of clean up needed.

    Slow as molasses. But tremendous learning! Mrs is… not amused. Story for another day.

    Can you link the website? Is that what's called Vibe Coding these days? Maybe I'll give it a try sometime, too.

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  • AnthonySmithAnthonySmith ModeratorHosting ProviderOGSenpai

    Not tried that, to be honest I just stick with libre, it's not perfect but under the hood it's pretty capable.

    I was flipping between libre and Google but given googles recent trajectory I am degoogling as much as possible/practical.

    The do no evil days are dead and gone.

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  • somiksomik OG

    Another vote for WPS office. It's the easiest one to use if you are used to using Microsoft Office.

    Website: https://www.wps.com/
    (download the offline installer for faster install)

    I have been using since it's the most compatible with microsoft office and files created from here opens there without any format changes.

    Here is a screenshot from my computer:

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  • bikegremlinbikegremlin ModeratorOGContent Writer

    @AnthonySmith said:
    Not tried that, to be honest I just stick with libre, it's not perfect but under the hood it's pretty capable.

    I was flipping between libre and Google but given googles recent trajectory I am degoogling as much as possible/practical.

    The do no evil days are dead and gone.

    Most people in Serbia are still using MS Windows and Office.
    LibreOffice would break layout compared to the original document too often.
    The breakage goes both ways (when opening what others made with MS Office, and when they open what I made in Libre Office).

    OnlyOffice fixes that.
    It also loads a bit faster, at least on my computers.

    Having said all that, LibreOffice is quite good and has been my daily driver for years, until the start of this year, despite its downsides.

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  • WSSWSS OG

    Depending on the job- if I start a new document, it's in LibreOffice, if I inherit one or need to have further collaboration, I have an ancient copy of Office 2013 that works well enough.

    My pronouns are like/subscribe.

  • vyasvyas OGSenpai
    edited February 17

    I miss Corel Office wordperfect. *
    er… Staroffice
    er… Gobe Productive

    Okay.. Hancom Office

    —-

    • corrected. see below. 👇
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  • WSSWSS OG

    @vyas said:
    I miss Corel Office
    er… Staroffice
    er… Gobe Productive

    Okay.. Hancom Office

    WordPerfect.

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  • Not_OlesNot_Oles Hosting ProviderContent Writer

    troff

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  • bikegremlinbikegremlin ModeratorOGContent Writer

    @WSS said:

    @vyas said:
    I miss Corel Office
    er… Staroffice
    er… Gobe Productive

    Okay.. Hancom Office

    WordPerfect.

    FordPrefect

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  • WSSWSS OG

    @Not_Oles said:
    troff

    nroff

    My pronouns are like/subscribe.

  • Not_OlesNot_Oles Hosting ProviderContent Writer

    roff

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  • WSSWSS OG

    I tried to find V6 cat.c source but I gave up and went back to work instead.

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  • JosephJoseph

    @vyas said:
    I miss Corel Office wordperfect. *
    er… Staroffice
    er… Gobe Productive

    Okay.. Hancom Office

    —-

    • corrected. see below. 👇

    You never used WordStar?

  • vyasvyas OGSenpai
    edited 1:02AM

    I thought @Ympker was looking for a GUI office suite.
    And yes used wordstar…

    I may or may not be a relic but I love exploring relics

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  • hornethornet

    Thank you for that free Softmaker link & coupon!
    I use LibreOffice (and Linux). I wouldn't use Windows as a daily driver if you paid me.
    For friends and family who want Microsoft Office (LTSC), Google the following: github massgravel
    I learned to type on Wordstar. I used it to write a few BASIC programs as well.
    I have used Corel's suite, and I have a retail box or two from them in the attic. It was fine software. I purchased Star Office years ago. I was on Open Office before it became Apache Open Office. It had some issues, so I changed to LibreOffice & never went back.

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  • vyasvyas OGSenpai

    Wordtsar:

    https://wordtsar.ca/

    AGPL … hmmm

    @Not_Oles san might nod in approval. Classic UI, terminal, and possibly license.

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  • Not_OlesNot_Oles Hosting ProviderContent Writer

    Hi @vyas!

    Haha, I don't think I ever tried Wordstar. I heard that it has dot commands somewhat like troff.

    I pretty much skipped Windows, going from DOS WordPerfect to Linux, NetBSD, and Plan 9, all three of which have troff or groff. If I remember right, I used to have a single line shell command with pipes that translated the handwritten troff through a couple of other commands out of which a PDF mysteriously landed. Then there might have been another shell command that translated the PDF into a printer control language, the standard output of which was redirected to the printer.

    Later, my daughter needed to collaborate with other students on school assignments. All of the other students and also their teacher used Microsoft!

    I remember trying an open source program intended to replace Word. With help from my daughter's teacher and fellow students, we got several examples of their homework documents. Unfortunately, it didn't take much testing to confirm that the open source program had a lot of trouble reading the other students' files.

    Next I went to the computer store, where I serendipitously found a new copy of Microsoft software which seemed to have been drastically underpriced. I showed it to the store manager and asked him whether they really would sell me the software for the marked price. He said, "Absolutely!" then took me over to the cash register, and rang up the sale himself!

    My favorite resource for the tiny amount of troff that I learned was Richard Stevens' tutorials, which are still up. For example:

    Here is my favorite article about Stevens:

    I haven't actually used troff for many years. But I still love to keep it handy. An easy way to get troff today on Linux, MacOs, and the BSDs is to install plan9port.

    tom@ultra:~ $ date
Wed Feb 18 04:41:37 UTC 2026
tom@ultra:~ $ which troff
/usr/local/plan9port/bin/troff
tom@ultra:~ $
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  • lapualapua

    @Ympker said: basically half an hour drive away from where I live

    gott sein dank, a frank/g!

    translation:
    thanks god, he is from frankonia!

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  • YmpkerYmpker OGContent WriterSenpai

    @hornet said:
    Thank you for that free Softmaker link & coupon!
    I use LibreOffice (and Linux). I wouldn't use Windows as a daily driver if you paid me.
    For friends and family who want Microsoft Office (LTSC), Google the following: github massgravel
    I learned to type on Wordstar. I used it to write a few BASIC programs as well.
    I have used Corel's suite, and I have a retail box or two from them in the attic. It was fine software. I purchased Star Office years ago. I was on Open Office before it became Apache Open Office. It had some issues, so I changed to LibreOffice & never went back.

    You're welcome :) Hope you enjoy Softmaker. Pretty cool that it supports Windows, Linux and MacOS. Yeah, I know about grave. That's what I was referring to kms activation :tongue:

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  • vyasvyas OGSenpai
    edited 8:27AM

    The venerable Mr. Kernighan again !
    Some of the references date back to the era when one was supposedly rather allegedly in (or without) diapers

    @Not_Oles said:
    Hi @vyas!

    Haha, I don't think I ever tried Wordstar. I heard that it has dot commands somewhat like troff.

    collapsed for readability

    I pretty much skipped Windows, going from DOS WordPerfect to Linux, NetBSD, and Plan 9, all three of which have troff or groff. If I remember right, I used to have a single line shell command with pipes that translated the handwritten troff through a couple of other commands out of which a PDF mysteriously landed. Then there might have been another shell command that translated the PDF into a printer control language, the standard output of which was redirected to the printer.

    Later, my daughter needed to collaborate with other students on school assignments. All of the other students and also their teacher used Microsoft!

    I remember trying an open source program intended to replace Word. With help from my daughter's teacher and fellow students, we got several examples of their homework documents. Unfortunately, it didn't take much testing to confirm that the open source program had a lot of trouble reading the other students' files.

    Next I went to the computer store, where I serendipitously found a new copy of Microsoft software which seemed to have been drastically underpriced. I showed it to the store manager and asked him whether they really would sell me the software for the marked price. He said, "Absolutely!" then took me over to the cash register, and rang up the sale himself!

    My favorite resource for the tiny amount of troff that I learned was Richard Stevens' tutorials, which are still up. For example:

    Here is my favorite article about Stevens:

    I haven't actually used troff for many years. But I still love to keep it handy. An easy way to get troff today on Linux, MacOs, and the BSDs is to install plan9port.

    tom@ultra:~ $ date
Wed Feb 18 04:41:37 UTC 2026
tom@ultra:~ $ which troff
/usr/local/plan9port/bin/troff
tom@ultra:~ $

    blog | exploring visually |

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