FreeOffice 2018 - the best Microsoft™ Office alternative for Linux.
The applications in SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 for Linux comes in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, making them compatible with 32-bit (x86, 686) and 64-bit (x86_64, amd64) Linux.
SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 is free to use at home and for business.
It has its own native formats, and can read and write file formats of Microsoft Office.
OpenDocument format (word processor only, RTF and HTML.
Support for the OpenDocument spreadsheet (ODS) format was added as a feature in the Anniversary update released for SoftMaker Office 2018.
It can export to PDF and EPUB.
The user interface is similar to the Ribbon utilized in Microsoft Office 2007 and later, and there is an option to use menus and toolbars instead of the Ribbon. A dark mode is available. Documents can be opened as tabs in a single window, to allow easy switching between multiple documents.
Now, don't be disappointed, the free version contains equal and 100% compatible versions of Powerpoint = Presentations, Word = Textmaker and Excel = Planmaker.
You might miss the rest, but most people will not.
Size: 123MB
License: Freeware, Proprietary
SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 have been tested with the following Linux distributions and it is recommended you choose one of them:
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Debian 9 "Stretch" - Debian 10 "Buster"
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Ubuntu
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Linux Mint
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Linux Mint Debian ( LMDE )
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openSUSE
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Fedora
Linux distributions which are supported:
32-bit Linux systems
64-bit Linux systems
Now as most people know, repos are usually bad, when going off the distributions own. So it is your decision to make.
SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 can be updated from this DEB repository:
https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/apt
If you have set up automatic updates on your system, Linux will then keep SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 up-to-date automatically.
If you do not use automatic updates on your system, entering these commands will update SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 to the latest available revision:
On 64-bit Debian, open a shell or terminal window and enter these commands:
sudo apt-get update
Press Enter,
sudo dpkg -i softmaker-freeoffice-2018_966-01_amd64.deb
Press Enter,
sudo apt-get install -f
Press Enter,
NOTE: I and probably most users who tried the LibreOffice version and then FreeMaker Office, noticed an amazing difference. LibreOffice, move things around, but FreeMaker Office doesn't. It also looks and feels like Microsoft Office.
Setting up automatic FreeOffice updates on Debian.
SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 can be updated from this DEB repository: https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/apt
Open a terminal window and type the following:
su
Press Enter and enter the "root" password.
Open a terminal window and type the following:
/usr/share/freeoffice2018/add_apt_repo.sh
Press Enter,
Now, type the following command:
apt-get update && apt-get upgrade
Press Enter, done.
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