Rod McD
Neil Brown# Microsoft is making Word automatically save new documents to OneDrive by default
LibreOffice Writer doesn't.
And it is free.
And really rather good.
xyhhx 
@neil and you can get the ms office tabbed ribbon thing if you like that!
1A
tmw 🌈@neil and LibreOffice Writer has Fontwork, which is kinda like old school Word Art. you can make big, obnoxious text in LibreOffice too! (it's truly one of the most exciting things for me to learn exists in this suite)
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/HowTo/Draw/Fontwork
David Cohen
Extreme Electronics@davidbcohen @neil Exactly the same as Word 97,2000,2003,2006,2010,2013,2016,2019
It emulates it perfectly.
@Extelec @neil For basic documents, sure. Anything that has embedded graphics or uses extensive style, reference or collaboration features, definitely not, alas. I have the scars that prove it.
Libreoffice is a brilliant piece of work, and it’s fine for many people. But in a business, where you have to interoperate with MS Office users, it creates a tricky support overhead that can quickly outweigh the cost of Office365, annoyingly.
@davidbcohen @neil Agreed, I have been that support person.
(also the one issuing documents from Libre office)
@davidbcohen @neil I have had more issues between Word versions.
Reiner Jung 🇬🇱 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@davidbcohen @Extelec @neil the government of Schleswig-Holstein uses LibreOffice and it works fine. Interestingly, exchanging documents with Collabora Office also works. Word has a tendency to ruin documents esp. when figures are included, but it can mess up such documents all by itself. Still any person can get LibreOffice for free, but MS Office always requires a license. So in doubt, just send the download link and the document (*only half serious*)
Oliver Pfleiderer 🇬🇱@prefec2 @davidbcohen @Extelec @neil One can do a lot of cool things with Word - producing good documents is not one of them.
Peter Kisner ≈@davidbcohen @Extelec @neil
Yes. I don't know if newer versions still has this problem, but:
When I used Libreoffice to make a hundred page document in (mostly) two column format with illustrations placed throughout, every time i would save, exit, then open the document later, maybe half the pictures would have shifted around dramatically, requiring repositioning.
I grow less a fan of Microsoft each year, but MS Word has always managed to handle similar documents without these issues.
Mark Burton@markhburton @Extelec @neil Thera a difference between doing those things, or doing those things in exactly the same way as a closed source application that you have to exchange data with.
Druid
Third spruce tree on the left
Chris L-W👻🚫@tezoatlipoca @neil this is why for I use open or libre office for personal use
@tezoatlipoca @neil They made us do this at work, about 2 years ago. It's much worse than you imagine.
I now have a new reason to power cycle my computer: "One Drive can't find the One Drive folder" So I opened that folder to find all my data still present and accounted for. I grabbed a screenshot of the error and that window, mostly for laughs.
Which is all Windows is good for: to laugh at.
People pay *money* for this crap?
Kaito
SamuelJohnson@neil Libreoffice gets better. Microsoft gets sneakier.
Maypop the Dragon@neil tbh i wish normies would use markdown. fuck formatting anyway.
Girl on the Net@neil Libre Office ROCKS
SleepyCatten (Barely Surviving Arc)@neil Might need to finally make the switch 
Chris Mackay 🇨🇦@neil @TheBreadmonkey Same for Apple’s iWork suite — Pages, Numbers, & Keynote — free on macOS, iPadOS, and iOS. All export to Office365 formats and print to PDF.
Quantium 40@neil 100% true. If LibreOffice just had a proper ribbon menu! 😅
AirborneStar@neil Doesn't libreoffice have ribbon menu, though? You can change the ui to ribbon on the user interface menu?
Or do you mean that it works too differently fom MS office ribbons?
LukefromDC@neil I have literally not used any version of MS Office since what came wirh Windows 3.1 30+ years ago. In the Linux world, Libreoffice seems to the office suite others are compared to.
As for Office365, I will always ban subscription/rental software from everything I own.
That said, if you have to run Office365 for employment reasons, set the computer up wirh a local user account NOT a Microsoft account. They hide this feature but last I heard it still exisrs. That way, you are not logged into MS and nothing should be able to be automatically uploaded to Onedrive barring a manual login.
There are probably other ways to keep your filea off MS aervers but rhis is a bunker buster aporoach next to the Libreoffice nuke. In my case of course, Window is always "nuked from orbit" and replaces wirh Linux.
WanWizard 🏴 🇳🇱@neil Ditched Windows in 2012, never looked back.
@wanwizard @neil Same year as me
Matt 🔶 (LordMatt)@neil LibreOffice Writer is my go to default for document creation, creative writing, and other record-keeping. It just works.
Femme Malheureuse@neil Stop using Notepad as well for the same reason.
Akelpad and Notepad++ are far better options.
⠠⠵ avuko💬 Austria entered the chat
lp0 on fire 
Yes, absolutely. From the article:
By 2023, external developers joined to provide training and bolster LibreOffice with features needed for military workflows. Many of these features have since been contributed back to the larger LibreOffice project for the benefit of all users.
Austria isn't just replacing Microsoft software. Unlike typical public-sector and corporate migrations, Austria's military has heavily invested in LibreOffice development itself. The armed forces have been funding the creation of new features and improvements that are now included in public releases. These additions, ranging from improved slideshow editing to better handling of pivot tables, have been rolled into the latest version of LibreOffice.
Simulflow 🇨🇦 🇰🇷 🇺🇦 🇵🇸@neil the spreadsheet in Libre is irritating, but the word processor is fine 🙂
*|FNAME|*
@neil You know, markdown is pretty good as a tool that is low effort. It can be easily integrated with AI workflows, and it can be rendered to PDF.
Shredd Tone 
@neil Stay Free, Stay Libre and stay the hell away from Micro$oft
Phil Thane ✅@neil
I was a freelance writer part time from 2000 and full time from 2006 until 2016 (and still do occasional pieces in retirement). I used Star Office > Open Office > Libre Office for more than 1000 articles and several books. Never had a problem saving as .doc or later .docx to submit. Microsoft only survives because free software doesn't have an advertising budget.
I was a freelance writer part time from 2000 and full time from 2006 until 2016 (and still do occasional pieces in retirement). I used Star Office > Open Office > Libre Office for more than 1000 articles and several books. Never had a problem saving as .doc or later .docx to submit. Microsoft only survives because free software doesn't have an advertising budget.
Richard W. Woodley ELBOWS UP 🇨🇦🌹🚴♂️📷 🗺️"The change is designed to make it easier for users to back up and access their documents across devices, "
- because it is always easier for us to tell you what to do than for you to tell the software what to do.
Wayne the Science Guy@neil I've been a Libre Office fan for years!
mrsp
Ollie 🇪🇺🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇵🇸🇺🇦@neil Love LibreOffice. It's been superior to MS Office for years. And it keeps getting better unlike the competition.
I could be biased due to happily using StarOffice in the late 90s and its successors since. But recent contact with MS Office at new job indicates I'm probably not.
Gina
Cross No More
AvocaI looked into this fairly heavily recently, and @neil is right, you need to adopt an eclectic strategy when manipulating .pdf document's.
However, in the end, I concluded, when actually signing legally binding documents, the only really trustworthy thing to do is to print the document and use a pen.
Keep the physical copy, re-digitise it with a scanner and send that copy over the net.
Messy, yes, but at least you can defend yourself if need's be...
Just a thought...
@neil Okular (the pdf viewer from kde) can also do some of these, if I'm not mistaken
some kind of orange shape@CrossNoMore @neil LibreOffice Draw does fine at that these days
rob@clayote @CrossNoMore @neil one of my *very few* gripes with LibreOffice is the variable quality of documentation, eg, I've tried using Draw a few times and get frustrated very quickly. I have no trouble admitting I'm easy to frustrate, but I really need more very very simple beginner's guides.
Steven Lipton
AskPippa🇨🇦@neil Time to donate to LibreOffice.
MS Word was already getting too aggressive about saving to the cloud which is the main reason I stopped using it.
MS Word was already getting too aggressive about saving to the cloud which is the main reason I stopped using it.
book_dragon@neil Not only is LibreOffice free and open source, it also handles .pdf files if you'd like to evict that Adobe thang off of your computer.
MostlyTato@neil
The OneDrive thing is a serious pain, it's confused the crap out someone I've just turned it all off for on a new laptop.
OneDrive was also on her android phone and suggested she had to backup her phone to her Microsoft account, so it appeared on her ms signed in laptop.
All gone now.
The OneDrive thing is a serious pain, it's confused the crap out someone I've just turned it all off for on a new laptop.
OneDrive was also on her android phone and suggested she had to backup her phone to her Microsoft account, so it appeared on her ms signed in laptop.
All gone now.
Helgi Crookehorne@neil that's why I prefer for example linux oriented Firefox, plugins like VideodownloadHelper are free, where as Google Chrome version of the same stream grabber is for money!
liroso
Martin Slavík@neil
Fortunately, this automatic saving can be disabled. It's the first thing I teach the students I supervise 😁
Fortunately, this automatic saving can be disabled. It's the first thing I teach the students I supervise 😁