LibreOffice Is the Free, Private Office Suite You Should Be Using Instead of Microsoft 365

Are you paying for an office suite subscription that you barely use? And if it bothers you that companies scan your files, train AI on your family photos, and sell your data to data brokers a company that collects, aggregates, and sells personal information about people from various sources to third parties, often without the individuals' direct knowledge or consent , this post is for you.

LibreOffice community edition is for individuals and families and can help you push back on all of that. It's a free and open source Software whose code is publicly available and modifiable. Transparency, collaboration, and often free as in free lunch are important parts of the open source model. office suite that can save you money on subscriptions and keep your data yours. It has tools for writing, spreadsheets, and slides.

This is something you can start doing today. You don't need anything special for it to work on your computer.

Comparing the two office suites

See this table for how Microsoft Office and LibreOffice align. You'll see each office suite has unique features that the other doesn't.

LibreOffice also has some built-in PDF editing features that are missing in Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office has live collaboration features that LibreOffice doesn't have.

Compatibility

I use LibreOffice when I want to write a document to share that has formatting. Otherwise, it's plain text or markdown. For example, I'll make a to do list for my son of things he can do if he's bored, a sticker reward chart for a goal, if I have to write a letter, or my resume. I had overlap with a Microsoft Office subscription a few years ago, so I was able to test how well LibreOffice played with Word. It's compatible. I'm sure there could be very complex documents where there may be differences, but I haven't hit any of them, and I haven't been able to create any.

I used LibreOffice when I worked with other parents on the PTA board. I used this for the last three times I applied for jobs, and didn't have any problems. Well, not with the format of my resume anyway.

It's not just good software for you and me. Governments and companies trust it too. Worldwide, big organizations and governments are increasingly adopting Linux An alternative to Windows or MacOS on computers. and LibreOffice.

How to get LibreOffice

If you're on Linux An alternative to Windows or MacOS on computers. , you can download LibreOffice from your App Center or in Zorin, you search for the blue briefcase that says "Software." You can still download it from the website like you would in other operating systems or install via the terminal a text-based tool where you navigate your system and run commands by typing instead of clicking in a user interface .

Cloud collaboration

One caveat is that LibreOffice by itself isn't live cloud collaboration software. However, you can still e-mail a file or use cloud to share. You can upload a file to your own self-hosted cloud storage or a privacy-respecting cloud storage provider. Or you can upload it to big tech's free cloud, too of course.

Customization

Now that you know LibreOffice can do your everyday tasks, let's look at how to make it feel familiar. You can change how it looks and how it saves files.

How to make LibreOffice look like your favorite office suite

Here is what LibreOffice Writer looks like by default.

There are ways to customize this if you want. For example, you can go to View > User Interface everything about a program that you can see and interact with ... and select "Tabbed" for example. That looks like the ribbon format, doesn't it!

View is along the top. User Interface everything about a program that you can see and interact with will open a second window.

Then you can select the type of set up you want to see.

If you want to customize differently, you can go to a tiny hamburger menu a menu button that looks like three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other, like a hamburger on the right side of the screen. Or you can go back to View > User Interface everything about a program that you can see and interact with like you did before.

How to set a default file format

By default, LibreOffice saves files in the Open Document Format (ODF). If you share files with people who use Microsoft Office, you may want to switch this default so your files are easy for them to use, too.

I really like the open document format, because it allows you to truly own your files since it's open. But I use the Microsoft Office formats as default for compatibility when sharing files with family.

Go to Tools > Options (at the very bottom)

Then go to Load/Save > General > Always save as... and select the format you want.

Conclusion

LibreOffice is one way you can keep your files more private with a free, user-friendly program that saves you money by avoiding subscriptions.

As of writing, Microsoft 365 costs about $100 a year while LibreOffice costs $0. On a Linux An alternative to Windows or MacOS on computers. machine, big tech won't be scanning your files to sell information about you or to train their AI models. Your personal files stay private.

Download it today and try it. It's free after all! You'll see Writer handles your Word documents just fine. Your spreadsheets will work in Calc. Your slide presentations work with Impress. You don't have to migrate to the whole thing, maybe try Writer or Calc first.