Only Office: This free Microsoft Office rival is delightfully robust

Microsoft Office may offer a lot of functions, but it costs money. The open source alternatives are free. We present the little-known Only Office in detail.

After installing and opening the program, you can start a new text document, spreadsheet, or presentation from the menu on the left. However, there is no database counterpart for Microsoft Access. Use “Open local document” to import existing files from the PC or network drive.

By default, Only Office manages all open documents via tabs. If you prefer to work with separate windows, click on a tab and drag it out while holding down the mouse button. This opens the document.

To switch between documents, use the Alt-Tab key combination. Use the “Open file” option in the program settings to specify whether Only Office displays files in a new tab or a separate window.

Compatible with Microsoft Office and Co.

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The components of Only Office allow documents to be loaded in third-party formats. These include Microsoft Office, Open Document Format (ODF), Rich Text Format (RTF), Adobe Acrobat (PDF), XML-formatted files, and other file formats.

This usually works perfectly well with Word files. The prerequisite is that the fonts used are installed. If these are missing, the program uses other fonts instead. Because this can affect the layout, you should define a standard font when working in groups. This prevents unwanted line breaks in multi-column layouts, for example.

Excel files can also be imported — most formulas and thus also the calculations continue to work and the layout is retained. However, Only Office does not recognize special entries from new Excel versions such as geographical data. Excel uses information from online databases for this purpose. This includes country and currency data, for example, so data synchronization is not available here.

There can also be problems with some chart types in the current Excel versions, when using templates from the internet and when displaying special characters (Unicode symbols) or emojis. For example, the mathematical operators in formulae cannot be displayed at first. However, you can display these manually via the “Insert” tab. The “Equation” button, on the other hand, allows you to define and display complex formulas. Both functions are also available in the modules for text editing and presentations.

Extension with plugins

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You can easily extend the individual program components of Only Office with plugins. After opening a program, you will find the appropriate entry in the menu at the top right: click on “Plugins” to display the available extensions. On the far left you will see “Administration,” which you can use to install plugins from the internet.

These include useful tools such as access to Chat-GTP AI, Zoom for online meetings, or translations by Deepl.com directly in the Office package. The active extensions can be found to the right of the administration.

Some plugins such as Chat-GTP require an API key to use, which you can find in the software settings for paid services. Other tools such as image editing or draw.io for drawings can be accessed free of charge. The open source license also makes it easy to develop your own extensions.

Further information and documentation on the subject can be found on the project website.

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Compatibility with Presentations is generally very good, the layouts fit and effects for blending also work. Only Office also plays animations for individual elements. Problems can occur with special text formatting. One example is changes to the spacing between letters. However, such imperfections can be eliminated with just a few mouse clicks.

Working with macros is fundamentally different from Microsoft Office. At Microsoft, such scripts are recorded as “Visual Basic for Applications” (VBA). The open source software, on the other hand, works with Javascript.

When loading an Excel file in XLSM format with a macro, the VBA code is deactivated. In the “Plugins” area, click on “Macro” to open the display for embedded scripts. Information on customizing the macros can be found in the Help section of Only Office.

Using OCR for text recognition

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A tool for recognizing text is already integrated in Only Office as an extension. Call up the OCR tool in the plugins, click on “Load file” in the following window on the left and load the image to be analyzed with text elements.

Only Office supports the image formats JPG and PNG. After confirming the file selection with “Open,” you will see the image motif in the window. At the top center under “Select language,” click on the appropriate entry and start the process with the “Recognize” button on the right. The editable text now appears, which you can copy into the current document using the “Paste text” button.

Although Only Office does not load PDF files directly into OCR recognition, you can circumvent this restriction with a trick. To do this, click on “Open local file” in the menu on the left-hand side of the start interface of the Office package and navigate to the PDF to be analyzed. After loading the file, save it in PNG format with File > Save as. This will give you the best results. Now open the PNG image in the OCR function and start the text recognition.

You can optimize scanned originals with image processing for better results. Increase the contrast and reduce the brightness. When taking pictures with a smartphone, hold the camera vertically over the document for optimum results. The OCR module will then recognize the content better and you will hardly need to edit the text.

Annotate & edit PDF documents

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Only Office opens documents in PDF format in its own display program, from which they can be saved as a DOCX file for further processing. For simple letters, longer documents, and other texts, this works without any obstacles. Extensive layouts of magazines or flyers, on the other hand, cause problems — this is no different with Only Office than with other conversion tools.

Info boxes or small tables are often not recognized correctly, which does not always make editing easy. Don’t expect too much at this point, Only Office is no substitute for a professional editing tool such as Adobe Acrobat Pro or desktop publishing software.

The other functions are positive: The integrated PDF viewer allows markups and the insertion of comments. These can also be read and edited with other programs. After adding comments, you save a copy of the current PDF document, which you can send by email or save centrally for further collaboration.

The “Form template” function for designing documents for filling out is also important in connection with PDF: In addition to text fields, checkboxes, or menus, there are elements for postcode, date, email, or telephone. This allows you to quickly create forms after a short familiarization period. The options allow you to limit the number of characters or their type for subsequent entries.

Filters and the like can be used to block certain entries. One example here is the correct input of email addresses. You can optimize form layouts with tables, the alignment function, and color options.

Using “Save as,” you can quickly create a PDF with fields to fill in. These can be applications, invoices, or surveys. These can be filled out on the computer and sent by email. Another option is to share the forms on the internet. Only Office cloud storage and other services are available for this (see box for more information). The user completes the template in the web browser and then downloads the finished document to the hard drive as a PDF.

Online converter and professional tools

There are other interesting services and functions on the Only Office website. These include templates for various purposes. These can be completed online or downloaded for use in the Office applications. You will find a selection on the website under the menu item “Products.” In the window on the right, you can start various online converters for documents and other files.

The supported formats include texts, spreadsheets, presentations, and PDFs. Use is free of charge. Open the desired area and drag a document for conversion into the browser window. Confirm the Captcha query, and select the target format on the right. Click on the “Convert” button to start the process and then download the converted document to your computer.

Only Office offers various fee-based packages for use in the business sector. Workspace, for example, is hosted on your own server or a cloud service. The packages are available for Windows and Linux servers, as well as for use in Docker, Amazon’s AWS, and OVH Cloud.

In addition to document management and applications, Workspace supports project planning, email, CRM applications, and a calendar for appointment management.

Thanks to the open source model, the Workspace software is available to download free of charge from Github. The packages can be installed and used in companies; when using the free version, you have to take care of support and updates yourself. Access to the server via mobile devices is not possible with the Github version.

Use Only Office mobile and in the cloud

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The Office suite can be used on the go with the apps for smartphones and tablets. You can find Only Office in the app stores for Android, iOS, Galaxy, and Huawei devices. This allows you to access, share, and edit documents away from the office and at home. Synchronization takes place via the cloud of your choice. Everything works conveniently with Only Office storage. This is available as a “Startup” cloud with 2GB of internet storage free of charge.

Three administrator accounts can be set up for administration and any number of users can be defined. The Only Office cloud is clearly organized and document management is straightforward. There are “rooms” with individual user management for projects. The Startup Cloud also provides access to the Office tools as a web version. Chromebook owners can also work with Only Office. You can make quick changes to documents on any computer with an internet connection.

You can also use the online version of Only Office in combination with other internet services. The Only Office website offers free “connector” solutions for this purpose. These establish connections to other services and exchange data conveniently, including with other cloud storage systems and the WordPress blog software.

This article was translated from German to English and originally appeared on pcwelt.de.