Office software: You must be careful – t-online.de

Good office software for PC, smartphone and tablet there are free, but not all office suites can all equally well and are suitable for all devices . We explain the differences and call alternative office packages .

“users are basically five large suites to choose from: Office 365, Apple iWork, SoftMaker Office, LibreOffice and OpenOffice,” explains Lars Budde from the magazine “t3n”. From school, university or work most users know the office packages Microsoft (MS Office). The advantage: “Microsoft Office is available for Windows and Mac OS X as well as apps also for iOS and Android,” says Dieter Brors by the trade magazine “c’t”. Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and presentations can be exchanged so and go look on your smartphone largely faithfully and edit.

Simple but expensive

MS Office but you choose not only a simple, but also a costly way. “Since Office 2013 Microsoft has the software largely converted to a subscription model,” says Brors. Around 100 euros will cost the full package per year for home use. For this you can install the software on up to five computers, new versions are automatically

.

Common alternatives to Microsoft Office

Microsoft offers only a few more variants: Office 2016 Home & amp; Student costs 149 euros and can be used permanently, but only on a PC.

Subscription worth at several computers

“Office 365, so the subscription is especially worthwhile if you wants to use the package on multiple computers in the household and the five available licenses as far as possible exploits, “says Brors.

MS Office operates independently of the operating system. “In addition, Microsoft is the author of the most common formats, including .docx from Word and Excel .xlsx from,” explains Lars Budde. In other programs make these formats occasional problems.

iWork on all Apple devices available

Apple’s iWork does all important office tasks on computer, smartphone and tablet. For iPhone and iPad, there are the programs included in iWork Pages (word processing), Numbers (spreadsheets) and Keynote (presentation) as apps become free. “You can also open Microsoft documents, but show the contents do not always faithfully,” says Dieter Brors. He recommends that you install Microsoft Office Apps in addition to better represent the Word, Excel or PowerPoint files.

Those who use Apple’s iCloud, the online version of iWork applications can also be in the browser use on a Windows PC. “Popular alternatives are also WPS Office and Office Suite Free of mobisystems” says Martin Reitbauer the Austrian “Smartphone Magazine”.

Free office suites

Free office software, there are no iPhone: “Android users can use tables, the cloud-based Google Drive apps like Google Docs or Google and use it on the desktop or laptop browser,” explains Martin Reitbauer. On Android smartphones Dieter Brors recommends Apps TextMaker Mobile, PlanMaker, and Presentations Mobile Mobile. You can edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files without damage.

“The functionality is though not nearly as large as in adult Office programs, but is sufficient for reading and for minor corrections.” These apps are available for free for some time. Brors: “They are distinguished on the additional” Free Office “when searching in Google Play by SoftMaker Office.” Those looking for more powerful apps for tablets, the recommended Dieter Brors SoftMaker Office Mobile in the HD version for around five per euro.

claim the user decides

But who needs what office suite ? “When you enter the PC or on the Smartphone only texts, but they do not want to make great, ranging from a simple editor,” says Dieter Brors. “. But when it comes to laying out text, spreadsheets, or presentations, you come to extensive programs not around”

A small-scale comparison of individual functions is not worthwhile for most end users, explains Lars Budde explains: “The common perform tasks all available software packages. For the final decision of the pricing framework and the operating systems used are critical. ” The subscription of Office 365 offers apps for all popular systems. “The monthly rate of the suite but do not justify the Smartphone, but the desktop versions,” says the expert. Who does not use Office 365 on the desktop device, looks better after the free alternatives.

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