An easy-to-use office suite for free
November 30, 2018

An easy-to-use office suite for free

Kim Dammers | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Apache OpenOffice

I am the only person in our office who primarily uses Apache OpenOffice, although I have brought some others around to using it at least some of the time. This is especially true of the secretarial staff. As an office suite, it is used for general writing and calculating activities.
  • The program is free-ware. It can be quickly downloaded.
  • Correcting typos and finding errors in text are easy with this program.
  • OpenOffice documents can be saved in other formats such asthose from Microsoft and more basic ones.
  • Its interface is fairly straightforward and relatively easy to use.
  • For people used to Microsoft products, most of the basic functions are essentially the same.
  • It could break away from some of MS Word's structures.
  • It should have an (easy to find) option to set the line spacings at something other than the predetermined values without having to reset it every time the program is re-started or a new document is opened.
  • It re-saves documents at start-up without explaining why these need to be re-seaved or who to clear them.
  • I don't have to worry about tangling with MS.
  • I can do word processing and spreadsheet work for free.
Apache OpenOffice (OO) is less complicated than MS Office. This makes it easier for beginners to learn. On the other hand, it does not seem to have some of the more advanced features that power users like (but that can confuse and frustrate basic users). OO could profit by abandoning some of the MS traits, such as not having an unnumbered first line option in spreadsheets.
Working offline on your own things with OpenOffice is great. Sending documents in OpenOffice format can be a problem since many organizations insist on MS formats. (But it is easy to convert OpenOffice format to an MS format.)

Using Apache OpenOffice

It is pretty straight-forward as well as easy to learn. Its documents can be saved in various formats.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • Moving images and moving text around images
  • Re-setting the line spacing all the time