Express Scribe vs. LibreOffice vs. WPS Office

It has a free trial, which is very nice if someone just needs temporary access to use, and it's not an expensive program overall. It may not be the most robust program available, but it gets the job done at a good price point. It might not be the best if you need something that allows transcriptionists to collaborate (i.e., working on the same file at the same time).

Incentivized

If you're working with numbers, LibreOffice doesn't get in your way and try to make changes as it sees fit, forcing you to repeatedly go back and undo processes you didn't want, didn't ask for, and that have no place in the document you are trying to produce. All I want to do is assemble the data, process it for the task at hand, and then print it for distribution. LibreOffice allows me to do that.

The WPS Office is an extraordinary program [that has practically] everything; apparatuses [are] expected to work, compute, and present. There are many devices and it [leaves] nothing [to be desired]. I would have zero excuses not to introduce this total program bundle; undoubtedly, I suggest this program

• Cost efficient - This is a fairly low-cost transcription software that can be downloaded quickly via web
• Easy to use - New users can get the hang of this software pretty quickly
• Customizable - Foot pedal controls and other preferences can be set based on what feels intuitive to the user

Incentivized

• Tools like speeling, grammar, and thesaurus are super fast and intuitive
• Read-only content can be created by adding a section and password
• The right-click menus are very intuitive and change on the fly with what is needed depending on the content and situation
• Documents can be saved natively as *.docx or *.xlsx

Incentivized

• Its user interface is very easy to operate.
• This is one of the best apps for PDF viewing. PDF viewing is very seamless in this app.
• It has multi-platform availability. It is available on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.
• It provides many pre-loaded templates for presentation slides.
• It provides documents sharing facilities also.

Incentivized

• Interface - The look and feel of the software is quite dated and could use a refresh
• Enhancing audio - When we need to manipulate an audio file to try to enhance it (amplifying, for example), we have to use another program to do so
• Hotkeys - Setting up hotkeys may not be as intuitive for new users as would be ideal

Incentivized

• It doesn't provide all the functions it should with a paid subscription.
• There are features that are only available with Premium and I have premium and they are still not available.
• Paying for the premium version doesn't provide additional services than free version
• Customer service is nonresponsive and has been nonresponsive for years even prior to COVID.

• I want to be able to sort a column from a-z and have it shift everything and not just the current column (maybe I haven't' figured this out yet).

Incentivized

We use it consistently and have a lot of documents in the OpenDocument format so it will be necessary to use LibreOffice or a compatible product such as Openoffice in the future to be able to open these files. Because the license fee for Libreoffice is zero it is not very costly to keep using it - the costs are mostly for keeping it installed on the office PCs and regularly updated, and solving employee issues with the user support.

Incentivized

For all of the reasons in the foregoing evaluation. Its menus are clean, intuitive and straightforward. Any function I need to use can be accessed via keystrokes, without having to stop, move my hand to the mouse, deal with it, and then get back to the keyboard to proceed. It helps me keep my mind on my work and not worry about dealing with the mouse all the time.

I have never had much difficulty and use different software, but WPS Office has a very friendly and simplified interface. Those who are already familiar with programs of this type certainly have no difficulty in learning to use it. Best of all, the main tools of the programs provided by the WPS Office are easily accessible.

Libreoffice is a desktop app not requiring any server part so it is always available when the PC is working normally. Installing it on another machine if one PC fails is very quick and easy. This is a non-issue.

Incentivized

For big/imported tables or text documents with images loaded from the internet it is sometimes getting very slow, RAM and CPU intensive, and sometimes even hangs due to some memory leaks or other bugs. This is a long-term problem and is still not resolved perfectly.

Incentivized

Support is not officially offered. However, you can find answers to any usage questions or trouble-shooting online easily, typically starting with a Google search. (I believe that all forums / tips for OpenOffice apply equally to LibreOffice, and vice versa.) While Microsoft Office, for example, officially includes support, I find that typically you end up going to a Google search in any case. So, this is not really a downside. However, in all these cases, you end up doing a lot of figuring things out for yourself.

Incentivized

I would not have anything to do with the support side as my IT department would handle all of that.

Incentivized

Generally easy to perform, issues are how to ensure regular automatic updates on Mac OS X. Fortunatly we have only a few machines with OS X run by management and we can do these updates manually occasionally. Windows updates are quite easy with the support of third party software such as Ninite or Chocolatey, and Linux updates are super-easy thanks to the package manager (apt-get).

Incentivized

I think it is fair to say this:

• If you are looking for a well-rounded, GNU-licensed product that will encompass word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and database then LibreOffice is probably all you need.
• For online collaboration, links with cloud storage, and more robust support, Microsoft Office 365 and Google Docs are probably what you or your organization needs.
• LibreOffice is at its best for regular document creation and spreadsheet management. It is more cumbersome when it comes to fonts but also when it comes to linkages with cloud-based services. It is there, but you need some more computer knowledge to make it work.
• There are other free alternatives, most notably Apache Open Office, which is also a very good alternative if you do not like LibreOffice.

Having said that, I honestly think off-line computers or laptops used off-site can certainly benefit from having LibreOffice installed.

Incentivized

I like WPS office most because it helps me more than the other software. I can easily access the software and do my work. I can design my documents by using the software. Some features of the software are amazing to compare to others. Amazing tools, design parts of the software helps to use it perfectly for the organizations

Incentivized

With more users using it in the company there are more cases when a simultaneous editing of the same document is needed and this feature is lacking in Libreoffice even though the files concerned are shared and synced by some solution (we use ownCloud). Google Docs or MS Office365 via Sharepoint/Onedrive offer a better function for this.

Incentivized

• Very few 'inaudibles' (spots where we're unable to decipher what was said)
• Transcribing allows analysts to read scripts rather than listen to audio files, which saves time and money
• Low cost of software

Incentivized

• I am able to quickly create and edit word processing documents and spreadsheets which are for all intents and purposes equivalent to documents I could create and edit in other tools such as Microsoft Office and Google Docs/Sheets.
• Lack of an online portal for sharing documents necessitates the use of Google Sheets for automation/integration. Ideal would be an all-in-one solution.
• Having open-source software that provides common functionality eliminates the need for expensive licenses.
• Lack of dedicated support is negligible. Most issues can be resolved using online search.

Incentivized

• No negative whatsoever, I have never regretted using WPS Office.
• It has only had a positive impact on my career.
• Some of my more personal data are also stored in WPS Office and I feel safe and comfortable about its reliability.