[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by kkingston57

Good information but 99.9% of us are retired and a simple Word and Excel program is what 99.9% of us need

LibreOffice does the same things in the same ways that MS Office do. The keyboard shortcuts are the same, the little icons for people who'd rather click on things than use keyboard shortcuts are the same. There is MORE customization available, but if you want to use only the customization that you had with the limited MS Office, it works the same way. All the commands will be familiar to you. There are the same wizards and templates and sorting and mail merge options so if you want to send your group Christmas card to your 80 closest relatives, you can create the card with graphics and imported photos and print out the address labels with ease, just like you did with MS Office.


Plus, it's free.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by BrianL99

Google suite. You won't miss Microsoft at all and office suite software for purchase, is a thing of the past. Most everything is going to be web-based and the regular people will all be using "Apps".

Web-based stuff is only useful if you plan on only using it when you're online. If you want or need to work (for instance) from your laptop while in an area that has no wifi access, or the wifi and electricity went down during a storm and you still need to get something done, you can't do it. Unless it's NOT web-based.

It's the #1 reason why I don't use Google docs. LibreOffice is on my laptop, desktop, and tablet hard drives. My new tablet doesn't have a micro-ssd port which annoys me but I load things to the cloud and then download to the tablet's hard drive anything I expect to need every couple of months.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by PoolBrews

ProductKeys(dot)com sells a full version of Microsoft Office Professional 2024 for $21 (no, that's not a typo). It's not a subscription, it's the full version and is good for the life of your computer. I bought one for both of my laptops.

Warning - do not - DO NOT - use productkeys(dot)com. They buy bulk keys from questionable sources - often stolen and hacked to make them active, and sometimes stolen from people who've already activated for their own use (making them invalid to anyone else).

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by suediff

A little off topic, but where can one get a refresher course on Office. I used spreadsheets years ago and now have a need to use them again.
Thank you.

Right in the help files. People forget those help files are there. They're extensive, comprehensive, and have tutorials available online.

[Dgodin]

I bought the most recent non subscription version of MS Office. It was offered by HP when I ordered a windows 11 laptop. But this version is also available on the internet.

[BlueStarAirlines]

Originally Posted by dtennent

I will eventually get a document created in a future version which I won’t be able to open. Just the old project manager in me who is planning for the future.

You are trying to solve a problem that will probably never exist in your lifetime. My one laptop is running the 2007 Office suite....thats 18 years old and can still open any document sent to me. If the day comes when you are unable to open a document, use one of the thousands of free converters (ie DOCX to DOC | CloudConvert ).

[biker59]

Originally Posted by dtennent

My current version of MS Office on my PC will no longer be supported after October. I am looking at alternatives to MS 365 and was wondering if other folks have used other vendors that offer an office suite of software.
[snip]

I recently gave a presentation to The Villages Computer Club On this topic. See Meetings & Presentations - The VILLAGES COMPUTER CLUB Inc. and check the May 2 entry. Follow the link to the presentation. There are options other than switching to a non MS product.

[Efuchs]

Go to Groupon, search Office, several offers will.come up. I just bought Office Suite 2024 for about $22. You can pay half that for 2021. You download the product, apply the key they give you. Good to go. My wife has been running one of these for a year. I just replaced my 2007.

[Carlsondm]

I use an older version of MS Office that is not supported for upgrades. I plan to continue using it until I can’t. Then I may get the subscription version or an alternative. No need to panic now and do the subscription version if your software does what you need.

[klohmann]

You could try OpenOffice an open source alternative.

Apache OpenOffice Downloads - Official Site

[Carlsondm]

Originally Posted by suediff

A little off topic, but where can one get a refresher course on Office. I used spreadsheets years ago and now have a need to use them again.
Thank you.

Try YouTube or get a book on Amazon to refresh your skills. Occasionally I find a course on the MS site or Udemy. Also check with The Villages Computer Club.

[TrudyM]

As I understand it not supported means no updates mostly. I find the one drive cloud storage important because my computer died and without it I would have lost everything. I did let the office lapse at one point it didn't seem to change anything. When I was working and they switched to a different system I missed the excel very much. I think there is a family plan that lets you combine many households at one price. If you go to anything else, especially without cloud storage, I would back up your computer to an external storage device just to be safe. I used a device called a passport drive before I went for the microsoft cloud. But I am no expert, Just my expierience. My opinion and $3.75 might get you a latte.

[Wrhobson]

Consider using LIBRE OFFICE. It is open source software and is free to use. It can open .doc and .docx files and seems very powerful.

Originally Posted by dtennent

My current version of MS Office on my PC will no longer be supported after October. I am looking at alternatives to MS 365 and was wondering if other folks have used other vendors that offer an office suite of software. If so,
1) What are the pros and cons versus MS Office?
2) How secure is the software?
3) Is it open source or proprietary software?
4) Can you open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents?

Up until now, I have purchased a version of MS Office and used it until it wasn’t supported and then purchased a newer version. As I look on line, I see that there are several sources for similar products but I am not sure of the quality of these products. I regularly use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Thanks for any help you offer. (Well, maybe not the snide comments but any help is appreciated.)

[GoldenBoy]

Originally Posted by dtennent

My current version of MS Office on my PC will no longer be supported after October. I am looking at alternatives to MS 365 and was wondering if other folks have used other vendors that offer an office suite of software. If so,
1) What are the pros and cons versus MS Office?
2) How secure is the software?
3) Is it open source or proprietary software?
4) Can you open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents?

Up until now, I have purchased a version of MS Office and used it until it wasn’t supported and then purchased a newer version. As I look on line, I see that there are several sources for similar products but I am not sure of the quality of these products. I regularly use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Thanks for any help you offer. (Well, maybe not the snide comments but any help is appreciated.)

Google Libra Office. (Libraoffice.org). Ignore the Amazon result.
It is open source software. Very safe and most importantly it is free, always free. It has a spreadsheet, word processor, and presentation software. It supports several languages as well as foreign keyboard layouts. (There is also a database tool, as well as a mathematics formula writer.)It is capable of editing several versions of MS products and can save documents, spreadsheets and presentations in MS format. Functionality is pretty much the same as MS products, but there are slight differences between the key stroke commands. Oh. And did I mention it is free. Updates are delivered automatically, or you can select to download updates as they become available. I have been using Libra for the past 15 years as well as other open source products to avoid the MS charges and constant signing into MS

[SpartanMark]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I subscribe to Microsoft 365 for about $100 per year. It gives me access to all of the MS software programs on all of my devices, free updates, and 1TB of cloud storage using OneDrive. Also, all documents are accessible from any device. I know you can get compatible programs for free, but MS 365 works well for me, especially since I have about 600GB of music, photos, and other data stored in the cloud.

You could try the Apache Open Office. It's an open-source version of MS Office and the same look and feel.