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Old 09-10-2010, 05:18 PM   #1
Zefiris
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Free Word-Processors that are compatable with Word?
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

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/l.../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)
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Old 09-10-2010, 05:20 PM   #2
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OpenOffice.org
It's free. I use it on my netbook and use Word on my desktop, so it's very compatible. Just make sure w/ OO that you save documents as a .doc file.
I also like OO better than Word 2007.
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Old 09-10-2010, 05:26 PM   #3
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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.
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Old 09-10-2010, 05:26 PM   #4
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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
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Old 09-10-2010, 05:38 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by Zefiris View Post
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.
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Old 09-10-2010, 05:49 PM   #6
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I've downloaed it so I'll see how it goes!

Thanks, y'all
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Old 09-10-2010, 05:52 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Zefiris View Post
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.
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Old 09-10-2010, 05:57 PM   #8
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Downloaded and it seems just as good as MS Word!

Thanks alot guys, you've saved me some cash here
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Old 09-10-2010, 08:52 PM   #9
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Old 09-10-2010, 09:08 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zefiris View Post
I've found one, IBM Lotus Symphony which is apparently compatable.

http://symphony.lotus.com/software/l.../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.
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Old 09-10-2010, 10:29 PM   #11
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Old 09-15-2010, 03:58 PM   #12
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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.
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