MS Office/Libre Office---Solved

[Floydcat2]

Hey Everyone,

So my Linux Lite (which I love) came with LibreOffice. It works fine for me, but I am currently applying for jobs online, and I want to make sure that people can see my resumes and cover letters. How can I write in LibreOffice and be certain that it will open on their end when they use MS Office? Do I have to save it a certain way or something?

Thanks!

[Scott(0)]

Hi Floydcat2,

How can I write in LibreOffice and be certain that it will open on their end when they use MS Office?

I would save it as a PDF (LibreOffice Writer > File > Export as PDF)

But to answer your original question regarding formats, here's how:
LibreOffice Writer > File > Save As > Save window opens > Click "All Formats" box > Choose an MS format

[N4RPS]

Hello!

Microsoft Word recognizes files ending in .doc, .docx, and .rtf, to name three right off the top of my head...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[Alba]

Unfortunately, the compatibility of LibreOffice with Microsoft Office is not very good. E.g. Word / Writer: tables, figure captions and formatting like superscript and subscript are really messed up between MS Office and Libreoffice and vice versa, also headers and footers created issues for me at times.

Much better is SoftMaker FreeOffice (freeoffice.com). It's damn fast, feature-packed but tiny (57MB), and its interoperability with Microsoft Office formats is awesome. Never had any problems going back and forth. A cv created with SoftMaker FreeOffice and saved as DOC will open faithfully with Word.

[Scott(0)]

I want to make sure that people can see my resumes and cover letters.

The original poster (Floycat2) was requesting the best method to submit his resume and cover letter online for maximum campatiblity for those viewing it.

Number one question: what are the file format requirements of the online sites you're submitting to? Assuming you have a choice wouldn't PDF be best for an online file? I'm assuming the person on the other end is only going to read it (resume & cover letter). Am I missing something here?

[Floydcat2]

Scott(0) is correct. I wanted maximum usability. I first noticed this when I tried to open LibreOffice docs that I had sent to myself on my computer at work. They would not open. Since it's the weekend, I have not been back to work to experiment with anything. As impatient as I am, I finally broke down and installed my old MS Office 2007 onto my laptop. I found this great article that walked me through it: http://www.howtogeek.com/171565/how-to-i...-on-linux/.  I'm still going to play around with LibreOffice and try out everyone's suggestions, but job searching is critical right now and I just decided that I could not get by without MS Office. Everyone that works in an office has MS Office and I have to be sure that they can open what I send to them.

I really appreciate everyone's input on this. Your responses were not wasted. I keep on learning and educating myself, and you all have had some great input for me. Kudos to everyone. 

[Floydcat2]

Thanks to everyone!

[gold_finger]

Scott(0) is correct. I wanted maximum usability.

As Scott(0) pointed out, converting/saving to pdf format might be best since virtually everyone has pdf readers installed (Adobe Acrobat, etc.).  If it is required to submit in .doc, .docx, etc., then you need to be sure to specify that when saving things with Libre Office; otherwise it will save as native .odt format which MS Office may or may not handle.  (Haven't used MS Office in many years, so don't know if handles .odt format.)

From what people say, the more complicated the formatting of the document or spreadsheet, the more likely there will be problems between the two as far as docs & spreadsheets appearing consistently on each go.

I finally broke down and installed my old MS Office 2007 onto my laptop. I found this great article that walked me through it: http://www.howtogeek.com/171565/how-to-i...-on-linux/.  I'm still going to play around with LibreOffice and try out everyone's suggestions, but job searching is critical right now and I just decided that I could not get by without MS Office.

Nothing wrong with that.  Glad you found a way to do it.  Now you can get your urgent business done and when you have the time experiment more with LibreOffice to determine if it will or won't satisfy your needs in the longer run.

Have not tried the program myself, but have read a number of posts by people who recommend the same program that Alba pointed out -- SoftMaker FreeOffice, or their commercial (for pay) version Softmaker Office.  From what people say it sounds like a very good alternative if complete compatibility is needed.  So, something to look into in the future if you want.

[N4RPS]

Hello!

I think I'm going to use FreeOffice from here on out. It uses a LOT less hard drive space than either AbiWord/Gnumeric OR LibreOffice, and the compatibility with Office can't be beat. It's certainly better than using MS Office in Wine!

You have to register with them to get a registration key to unlock the FreeOffice suite, but it's well worth the trouble...

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[mandoran]

Apologies if this is a stupid question, but this Free Office sounds worth investigating. Checking out my download options, they suggest:

.deb archive for 32-bit systems (for example Debian and Ubuntu) and 64-bit systems with multiarch (see note below):
http://www.softmaker.net/down/softmaker-...1_i386.deb

.deb archive for old 64-bit systems without multiarch (for example Debian 64 bit before version 7 and Ubuntu 64 bit before version 13):
http://www.softmaker.net/down/softmaker-..._amd64.deb

and I was a bit hesitant since I believe Linux Lite is based on Ubuntu 12.04 but am unsure about multiarch ...

Thanks for any guidance!