Free Word-Processors that are compatable with Word?

Baryonyx

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My trial on MS Office has run out and, as of now I can't afford to pay the ridiculous, extortion price that Microsoft Charge.

I just want it for Word too and I hate the thought of being ripped off and paying for a product where 90% of it I won't use :rant:

So, is there any free-word processors that are compatable with MS Word. Where I can open my saved word documents & save them and, anyone I send the documents too can open them on their version of MS Office?

I've found one, IBM Lotus Symphony which is apparently compatable.

http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/home

Is this one okay and is it truly Word compatable?

I don't wanna sound tight-fisted but I honestly can't afford to pay for Microsoft Office at the prices they charge, especially when 90% of the features I'd never use (excel, office, spreadsheet etc)
 

Chris P

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Another vote for Open Office. There are a few annoying features (especially if you're used to Word) but I use it and recommend it to anyone who asks.
 

Baryonyx

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Thanks :)

I read about Open Office, I heard that you could open and edit MS Word documents with it but couldn't save them afterwards, guess the forum I read that on was wrong.

I guess you can save them okay then?

Since that's the main thing :) Also, will publishers be able to open the documents okay in Word if I send it to them in Open Office format?

Thanks again :)
 

Chris P

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Thanks :)

I read about Open Office, I heard that you could open and edit MS Word documents with it but couldn't save them afterwards, guess the forum I read that on was wrong.

I guess you can save them okay then?

Since that's the main thing :) Also, will publishers be able to open the documents okay in Word if I send it to them in Open Office format?

Thanks again :)

Word opens .odt files just fine. In fact, Word 2007 allows you to save Word files as .odt.

The only things I don't like about OO is I find the Track Changes and Commenting functions distracting (mostly cuz I'm used to Word) and in large files with lots of tracked changes (such as a book ms) it autosaves about every 90 seconds (it feels like, anyway) and is...really...slow.
 

Baryonyx

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I've downloaed it so I'll see how it goes!

Thanks, y'all :)
 

JimmyB27

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I guess you can save them okay then?

Since that's the main thing :) Also, will publishers be able to open the documents okay in Word if I send it to them in Open Office format?
You can save in Word's .doc format with Open Office, and that would be advisable, imho. A publisher/agent might be able to open an .odt file, but may not know they can.
 

Baryonyx

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Downloaded and it seems just as good as MS Word!

Thanks alot guys, you've saved me some cash here :)
 

kuwisdelu

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I've found one, IBM Lotus Symphony which is apparently compatable.

http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/home

Is this one okay and is it truly Word compatable?

I don't wanna sound tight-fisted but I honestly can't afford to pay for Microsoft Office at the prices they charge, especially when 90% of the features I'd never use (excel, office, spreadsheet etc)

Lotus Symphony is actually just a brushed-up version of OpenOffice, so either should work just as well. OpenOffice is great for a Word/Office replacement, especially if you don't need any of the specialized features. There's no reason to own MS Office if all you do is write in Word.

If you're on a Mac, Bean is also quite good. And it's just a word processor, so it's very elegant and streamlined without any bloat.
 

Ragnarok

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I've been using OpenOffice for a couple of years and still have serious compatibility issues with MS Word documents in 3.2.1. Tends to happen with tables and text format. Whenever I work on a doc for too long (as in making numerous format changes in various parts of the documents) and then open it in Word, I get random alterations that slaughter the intended presentation, for ex: sections can become bold, change font size, color, type. I really hope it'll be fixed at some point.

Meanwhile, if you have an important document to send in .doc, make sure it looks OK by opening it with wordpad.