Microsoft Office for Linux. Worthy replacement! Choosing an analogue of Microsoft Office for Linux

Ever since people started using Linux, questions about using Microsoft Office on the platform have been very popular and common, and new users have been puzzled as to how they can get this popular office suite for themselves. After all, acquaintances programs, are an important factor for every person.

Over the years, many different ways have been created to make Microsoft Office work. In this article, we will look at the easiest way on how to install Microsoft Office on your Linux machine.

By the way, we already talked about that earlier. A very useful article for those who like to play games. What’s more, it’s all very easy and simple. You can go to the link above.

Installing Microsoft Office Linux: Download the installer

Microsoft Office 2013 is what this guide will focus on. This is because Office 2016 does not work correctly with Wine. Go to the official website of the company and do account Microsoft (or sign in) and download the Office 2013 program. Be sure to download only the 32-bit version, even if your system is 64-bit.

Installing PlayOnLinux

Using the Wine tools to work with Windows programs is not a complicated process. With enough effort and Wine mastering, anyone can run a Windows program on Linux. Although for many new Linux users, Wine can be tedious and annoying to use without any direction.

This is where PlayOnLinux comes in. This is the "Wine Shell" which makes things easier. It is basically a tool that takes the core technology of Wine and adds some easy to use GUI tools to install a lot of Windows based games and even programs (like MS Office).

Means PlayOnLinux available in most modern repositories Linux distributions. Install it by opening the package manager or repository software and searching for "playonlinux" or from a terminal (on Ubuntu):

sudo apt install playonlinux

Using PlayOnLinux to Install Microsoft Office


There are many different buttons and options inside PlayOnLinux. The only thing that matters at the moment is the button " Install". After you click it, the next window follows with a search field. Type "Microsoft Office" in the search area.

Searching for this term results in multiple versions of Microsoft Office. Each result is a setup profile, and as soon as the user clicks on it, PlayOnLinux creates a Wine environment and goes through the installation process.

In the results, select "Microsoft Office 2013" and then the " Install". Below is a warning that "this program is currently being tested". This means that the PlayOnLinux profile for Office 2013 is under testing and may experience some hiccups. Click OK to continue.

This brings up the Windows Setup Wizard. Read the instructions and select the " Further" to move on to the next part of the installer. PlayOnLinux asks the user to provide an installation file.

Provide the installer from where it was downloaded earlier in the tutorial, or click "Use DVD-ROM(s)" and install MS Office 2013 instead.

Once the installation process starts, PlayOnLinux will set up the contained Wine environment and host Microsoft Office inside of it. From here, Microsoft Office will be accessible from the Linux desktop.

Known issues and bugs with Office 2013

Installing Microsoft Office Linux is very easy, but sometimes Office 2013 may not install. This is because the 64-bit version does not work. Office 2013 requires the 32-bit version to work with Linux and Wine.

In addition, the Office installer may not work with PlayOnLinux and may even fail. This is not necessarily a bug with the Office installer and is most likely a problem with the PlayOnLinux Office 2013 script that the program itself installs. If this happens, it's best to just restart PlayOnLinux and try again.

WineHQ

Installation Windows programs on Linux is never a reliable process. Problems often arise. This is why when using Wine, users should pay attention to WineHQ. This is a website that catalogs hundreds of Windows programs, how they work on Wine, and how users can fix problems that may occur in order for the programs to work properly.

Alternatives

While Microsoft can work with Linux using Wine, that's not the only way to use the Office Suite. If you are having trouble running any version of this office suite, there is an alternative.

For a while, Microsoft had an alternative to Google Docs known as Office 365. This program isn't perfect or as good as its desktop counterpart. However, if this Microsoft Office installation method failed for you, this is another option.

If Office 2013 and 365 didn't work for you on Linux and you're looking for better alternatives, check out Libre Office. It is the famous Linux first alternative to the Microsoft Office suite and it is very difficult for developers to make it familiar and compatible with Microsoft technologies.

Then there's WPS Office, a suite that's designed to look just like Microsoft Office, as well as FreeOffice. Along with all that, here is a list of five free alternatives to Microsoft OneNote ( note taking app) and five good alternatives to Microsoft Outlook.

conclusions

As you understand, installing Microsoft Office Linux is very fast. Of course, sometimes there may be mistakes, but they can be easily dealt with.

Switching to Linux doesn't mean you have to give up your Windows apps. The existence of Wine (and PlayonLinux) has made it easier to install and use Windows applications (in this case, Microsoft Office 2013). If you don't need any of the proprietary features specific to Microsoft Office, we recommend that you try alternative office suites like LibreOffice as they are quite stable, evolving and capable.

If you have any questions about " Installing Microsoft Office Linux- write about it in the comments. We will definitely read your comment and try to help in your question.

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If you have Ubuntu as your main system, but you have not been able to master the Open or Libre Office packages, or cannot work in them for other reasons, then you are probably looking for a way to install the familiar Microsoft Office on this OS. I hasten to please you - there are three ways! More precisely, there are a little more of them, but this article will describe the three most convenient and not similar to each other (the rest, as a rule, are special cases of these). Let's start with the simplest.

Method one: online office

Actually, you can’t call it an installation, but this method is the easiest and most convenient (provided that you have the Internet). The official set of Microsoft Office, and absolutely free, is available at https://www.office.com/. All that is required of you is to follow this link and start using the full package. Moreover, you can edit documents or tables together with someone. And for more convenient access, you can install shortcuts using the "Linux Web Apps" installer to quickly launch these applications.

The advantage of this approach is that you will have access to the most latest version office, and from any computer. Also, you will not need to download various installers, configure Wine, etc.

The only disadvantage of this approach is the inability to use the package without an Internet connection (moreover, access must be stable and at least 1 Mbps, for more or less comfortable work).

Method Two: PlayOnLinux

This method will already require some body movements and some preparation from you. First, you must have downloaded the Office 2010 or 2007 package, and it must be official, clean, without service packs. Also, you must have access to the Internet (this is only during the installation, then the Internet will not be needed).

So, first we install the PlayOnLinux package. To do this, enter the following commands in the terminal:

  • wget -q "http://deb.playonlinux.com/public.gpg" -O- | sudo apt-key add - sudo wget http://deb.playonlinux.com/playonlinux_trusty .list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playonlinux.list
  • sudo apt-get update
  • sudo apt-get install playonlinux

That's it, now the PlayOnLinux program is installed on your system and you can start installing the office package.

We launch the program (from a shortcut or write in the playonlinux terminal) Click “Next” several times in the initial setup wizard. Now we see the main window of the program. Go to the Office tab and select Microsoft Office 2010 or 2007 and click Install. We are waiting for the program to prepare the environment for installation. Next, you will see a window in which you can specify the Microsoft Office installation source - you can specify both an iso image and an exe file. Well, that's all, then we install the office the way you would do it in Windows. After the installation is completed, you will have a full-fledged office on Linux.

It is also worth noting that in addition to the office, you can install other programs and games that are available in the main program window. Their installation is almost identical to the installation of the office, except that there may be some differences.

Of the pluses, it is worth noting that now you can open Microsoft Office files by double-clicking, and a full-fledged office will be installed on your system. But there are also disadvantages - updating it will be quite problematic, and various errors can often appear, besides, it is not yet possible to install an office 2013, but in general this option has the right to life.

Method three: virtual machine

We will use VirtualBox as a virtual machine. This is a software product for virtualization of almost any operating system. Here short list its features:

  • Cross-platform;
  • Modularity;
  • USB 2.0 support;
  • Support for 64-bit guest systems, even if the main system is 32-bit;
  • SMP support in the guest system;
  • Built-in RDP server;
  • Support for hardware 3V acceleration;
  • Support for hard drive images;
  • Support for audio device virtualization;
  • Support for networking;
  • Support for Shared Folders for easy file sharing between host and guest systems (for Windows 2000 and later, Linux and Solaris guests);
  • Support for desktop integration (seamless mode) host and guest OS;
  • Support for OVF/OVA format;
  • It is possible to select the interface language (the Russian-language interface is also supported).

That is, your PC will work like a second computer. To install VirtualBox, you can go to the official website of the developer and download the installation package, but you can also get by with the terminal. To do this, enter:

  • wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt key add-
  • sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian $(lsb_release -sc) contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list'
  • sudo apt-get update
  • sudo apt-get install virtualbox

That's all - the program is installed, now you can run it. But before starting, you need to add your user to a special group:

  • sudo usermod -G vboxusers -a UserName

After executing this command, you need to restart your computer. Now we need to download the Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack. go to the official website of the program and in the "Download" section download the required version of the package. Once it is downloaded, double click on it to install it.

Now, in fact, you can go to Windows installation. Open the program and click on the create button. We enter any name, select the type Microsoft Windows and the version, depending on the one you want to install. What follows is intuitive:

After we have a new virtual machine, click on the configure button and go to the media tab. Here we select the image of the system that we want to install (you need to download it in advance). Now let's start the virtual machine. Next, just install Windows as usual.

Well, that's all, now you have a full-fledged Windows in which you can install Microsoft Office of any version and work quietly. For a more convenient experience, you can also install guest add-ons and "share" several folders in the main OS.

Instead of conclusions

Now you know the whole way to install Microsoft Office on Ubuntu OS. Choose the one closest to you and use it, although no one forbids you to combine all three.

One of the reasons why some people can't give up Windows is because they get used to the programs they are used to running on their system. You know, I understand them. I'm also used to working with some programs in Linux, and when I find myself in a hostile environment, I feel unarmed, weaned.

For Windows Freeware there are a lot of programs for the office, but there are a lot of them for Linux, even more than the average user needs home computer. Here are the ones I use.

sudo apt-get install abiword

This is an analogue of Word and this application is often put in light versions of Linux instead of the powerful libreoffice package.

If you still need spreadsheets, such as Excel, then you can install the program Gnumeric. You can install it with the command:

sudo apt-get install gnumeric

Basic operations can be done in these two applications without installing a huge office suite, most of whose functions are most often simply not needed. What other office programs for Linux can I use?

I really like the Cherry Tree notepad that I wrote about in THIS post. But you can not go to the official site, but install it from:

sudo apt-get install cherrytree


The office program is one of the main tools in the work of company employees and students. Quite often you have to write various works, make presentations and so on. Now office software standards have an office suite from Microsoft, which, unfortunately, does not have a version for the operating system. Linux systems. Of course, there are alternative solutions like LibreOffice and WPS Office. They are quite functional and have many features, but still they cannot replace the original everywhere.

One of the clearest examples is when you need to get work done and then take it to a computer with Microsoft Office. Even between Microsoft versions Office may have differences and incompatibilities, but between LibreOffice and Microsoft Office these differences are very noticeable. Styles, markup, text formatting get lost and as a result we get a completely wrong document.

Therefore, sometimes you need to have the original Microsoft Office package on Linux handy. This guide will cover the installation of Microsoft office linux with wine.

At the moment, the newest version of the office suite from Microsoft is 2016. But it is impossible to install Microsoft Office 2016 linux, while wine does not support all the necessary technologies. Many have already tried to install the 2013 version, the guys from CodeWears tried and made this thing work in Wine, but it works extremely unstable and with many flaws. Therefore, the most stable version of ms office linux at the moment is the most stable - we will consider its installation in 2010.

Installing Microsoft Office 2010 on Ubuntu

This article will consider installing Microsoft Office under linux in two ways - under pure wine and using a new utility - WineWizard.

Let's start with the usual way using Wine. In fact, we don't need that many components to normal operation programs. The wine developers have tried hard enough to make everything work more or less acceptable.

Traditionally, we will create a new installation prefix so that nothing interferes with our program:

mkdir ~/.msoffice
$ export WINEPREFIX=~/msoffice

It is best to install the program with a 32-bit architecture, since the 64-bit version may have more bugs and shortcomings, so install the architecture and set the prefix:

export WINEARCH=win32
$ winecfg

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Winetricks/winetricks/master/src/winetricks
$ chmod +x winetricks

Now install the necessary components:

./winetricks corefonts allfonts

These were the fonts, msxml is needed to open xml documents such as xls and ppt:

./winetricks msxml3 msxml4 msxml6

There are still a few libraries left:

./winetricks vcrun2005 gdiplus riched30

That's all, now you can run the program installer. Just note that it's best to use the original installer because it's not known how the rebuilt installer will behave.

wine ~/Downloads/MicrosoftOffice/setup.exe

After the installation is complete, you can run the program with the command:

wine ~/.msoffice/dosdevices/c:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office14/winword.exe

Or for Excel:

wine ~/.msoffice/dosdevices/c:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/Office14/exel.exe

Screenshots of the installer and settings after installation, see below, in the second method.

Installing Microsoft Office Linux with WineWizard

After the program is installed, run it through the main menu or terminal, then select Install Application:

In the next window, select the installer:

Select solution for microsoft office 2010 Linux and click OK:

Then select the version, 32 bit:

Then the installation of microsoft office under linux will start:

Once the installation is complete, you can run microsoft word linux. To start, open the main menu of the program:

As you can see, everything works, well, or almost:

The installation of Microsoft Office Linux is complete, but it needs a little more configuration to get everything working properly.

Setting up Microsoft Office 2010 Linux after installation

When you first start the program ms office ubuntu will open in full screen. Minimize it to a regular window, if you see that you can't move the window around the screen, then close the program, we will have to fix a few parameters in winecfg.

You can run winecfg from just running the command:

But if you installed ms office linux using WIneWizard, then you need to use the program itself to run this utility:

Here on the tab Graphic arts uncheck Allow window manager to decorate windows:

It is difficult to give up something familiar and take a step towards the new. This can be confirmed by those who decided to change the operating room. Windows system on Linux. The lack of analogues of traditional programs often becomes a serious obstacle to the transition to new software. The percentage of dissatisfied is highest among those who use the Windows office suite. Familiar interface, knowledge of the characteristics and capabilities of programs to perfection - all this forces users to make a choice. Unfortunately, not always in favor of Linux.

The problem is that most people simply don't know there are equivalents to Microsoft Office on Linux. Today we will talk about the free competitors of the most used office suite, and take a look at their pros and cons.

openoffice

Office suite for working with text, graphs and tables, allows you to edit images and process data. Opens the same formats as Microsoft Office. By default, files are saved in Open Document. It has a similar design and interface, an identical set of options.

The software package that is contained in OpenOffice:

  • writer;
  • Calc;
  • impress;
  • base;
  • draw;

At the text editor Writer the toolbar has a huge number of default items. Everything is at hand, no need to look for this or that tool in the wilds of a text editor.

It is convenient to work with graphics in this package - the image can be moved, cropped, compressed, etc. With the correction system, everything is not so good. Writer may simply not notice some errors in the text.

The analogue of Excel in this package is Calc. It is actually no different from the Microsoft "brother". Unless when deleting a table, a dialog box will ask you what exactly needs to be sent to the trash - the entire object or a certain part of it.

Open Office Impress inferior to Microsoft PowerPoint in terms of resource intensity. When you start a large presentation, the program can slow down the computer or even "hang" it.

OpenOffice.org Base designed to work with databases, there are no fundamental differences from MS OfficeAccess.

But the application Draw has no analogues in the office suite. It slightly resembles the extended drawing panel in Word with a lot of different effects. With this program, you can create a primitive 3D model.

Math allows you to work with formulas either using the graphical user interface or directly in the formula editor.

It is important to know. OpenOffice is a good replacement for MS Office. Its main drawback is resource intensity, as a result of which difficulties may arise when working with complex documents. On the other hand, this program is constantly evolving, with each new version errors and omissions are corrected.

The "little brother" of OpenOffice is LibreOffice. It has the same software package as OpenOffice, a user-friendly interface, reminiscent of the design of the Microsoft office suite. Characterized by a list of unique features, such as the inclusion of a navigation tree in Writer, the creation dialog title pages etc. But OpenOffice can boast of the speed of work. This software is 23% faster in Writer and 20% faster in Calc than Libre.

CalligraSuite

Until 2010, the product was called KOffice. Not part of KDE since 2014. By default, documents open in the OpenDocument format.

Basic Applications of CalligraSuite:

  • words;
  • sheets;
  • stages;
  • Kexi;
  • flow;
  • Carbon;
  • Crita;
  • plan;
  • Braindump:

calligra words- a word processing application that has a standard set of functions: images, graphs and tables can be placed in the text. To make friends with this editor, you need to understand how it works. Each document consists of a certain number of frames, which can contain text or graphics created in other applications.

Application calligra Sheets allows you to work with several sheets at the same time, has a basic set of functions, as in other similar programs.

calligra Stages characterized by a simple user interface. It has all the necessary tools for creating a slide show: it is possible to add illustrations, geometric objects, various effects.

It is important to know. The peculiarity of this office suite is its multidirectionality. In addition to the main ones, it includes a relatively considerable number of additional applications. For example, vector and raster graphic editor, flow And plan- separate programs for creating diagrams and flowcharts. The main drawback is that this package needs to be improved, since it lags behind Microsoft Office in terms of technical characteristics.

GNOME office

This product is more than just a few office programs bundled into a single package. GNOME Office applications are less interconnected than OpenOffice or KOffice components. The number of programs that make up the package is constantly changing.

Main software components of GNOME Office:

  • Gnumeric;
  • GNOME-DB;
  • GIMP;
  • Eye of GNOME;
  • planer.

- a text editor with a wide range of functions. Its advantage is the ability to export files to doc and docx formats. Supported formats are AbiWord (.zabw), RTF, PDF, XHTML and HTML, DocBook (.dbk). It also has a localized interface.

Gnumeric is an application for working with spreadsheets. You can enter data in the following formats: numerical, accounting, percentage, money, text, and others. You can add various objects to tables, change the scale, use styles.

gnome-db is a utility for working with databases. Consists of three auxiliary programs. The first is the libgda library, which is an abstraction layer that allows you to work with various data types. The second program is libgnomedb. It can be considered the libgda programming interface for the GNOME environment, with which you can perform data operations and change them. Another helper program, Mergeant, is a graphical interface to libgnomedb and libgda.

GIMP- an application designed to work with raster graphics. It is the free equivalent of Photoshop, has a similar interface and feature set.

There is also a vector graphics application in this package. Inkscape, Eye of GNOME- to view images, Dia- to create diagrams, Planer- Master of Project Management.

It is important to know. In GNOME Office, you can customize virtually everything: from the design of the working environment to the number of applications. Despite the complexity of the structure, users note the simplicity and convenience of the beginner-friendly interface.

And finally - a few tips for choosing an office suite forlinux

Simplicity and convenience are above all. First of all, pay attention not to the functionality, but to the interface. The working environment should be uncomplicated and understandable.

Set your priorities. Install only those applications that are useful in your work. First of all, a copywriter needs a text editor, a designer - programs for creating graphics, a secretary - utilities for working with databases.

Weigh all the pros and cons. The article describes only the main packages. In fact, there are a huge number of them. Find as much information as possible about the software you are about to install. At the same time, it is important to get acquainted not only with general information, but also with the reviews of those who use this package.

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