Freeware Spotlight — Staying at home edition

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BEST UTILITIES By Deanna McElveen We’re certainly living in a different world right now — social-distancing with friends, co-workers, and others; soci
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abbodi86, woody

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I fully agree with the recommendation for LibreOffice.  I don’t pay Microsoft for anything except the operating system, since I’ve yet to find any product where theirs is the best.

That said, there are some compatibility issues I think people should be aware of before moving to LibreOffice.  I can speak only to the word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation applications, but I’m sure there are issues with the others, as well.

The word processors (Word and Writer) are almost completely compatible.  The only real problems I’ve found are when I receive a Word document with formatting that includes line numbering.  In Writer the text often shifts left off the page.

The spreadsheets (Excel and Calc) are only slightly less compatible.  Mostly I’ve found each has some functions the other doesn’t, and I’ve had no luck creating pivot tables on the same worksheet as the original data in Calc.  These are minor issues for me, though.

The presentation applications (Powerpoint and Impress) are another matter.  The most basic presentation created on either one can be used in the other, but if there is any audio involved they are completely incompatible.  Powerpoint embeds the audio in the file, while Impress just includes a link to the external audio file.  The result is that an audio presentation prepared in Impress is silent when viewed in Powerpoint.  That made it a real challenge to develop a DVD of my high school reunion that would be viewable by anyone!

Another positive for LibreOffice — real menus, no ribbons!

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SueW

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dsliesse wrote:

I can speak only to the word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation applications, but I’m sure there are issues with the others, as well.

Oh yes, LibreOffice Base and Microsoft Access actually have surprisingly little overlap in the more advanced features…

dsliesse wrote:

That made it a real challenge to develop a DVD of my high school reunion that would be viewable by anyone!

For “anyone” you need to make it a video DVD anyway. BTDT…

dsliesse wrote:

Another positive for LibreOffice — real menus, no ribbons!

Well you can sort of get an almost-ribbon for it if you really want to.

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Microsoft Defender doesn’t like WinScan2PDF

“Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk.”

App: WinScan2PDF_p.exe
Publisher: Nenad Hrg

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