# Is there a decent freeware word processor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947 "2010-12-04T18:09:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/1 "2010-12-04T18:09:37Z")
Preferably something that can open my old Word files. ---
**Author:** ![Hengist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6bbea6/32.png) [@Hengist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hengist)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/2 "2010-12-04T18:10:47Z")
[Libre Office.](http://www.documentfoundation.org/download/) ---
**Author:** ![flyboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@flyboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flyboy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/3 "2010-12-04T18:12:19Z")
Have you tried [open office](http://www.openoffice.org/)? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/4 "2010-12-04T18:12:20Z")
[Open Office](http://www.openoffice.org/) is probably the most-recommended one. I can’t vouch for how well you can make Word documents that MS Word users will see with the same formatting, but you can definitely open and work on Word documents in general. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/5 "2010-12-04T18:24:28Z")
I haven’t used Open Office in a few years, but it did a wonderful job on basic Word Documents. I had some trouble with advanced features in long manuscripts (e.g., automated indexing, page backgrounds, complex tables with merged and nested cells). It runs on most operating systems (Windows, Macintosh, Linux…). ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/6 "2010-12-04T19:01:35Z")
Open Office comes as close to MS as you will find. I have tried all the other popular ones and this seems to be the gold standard of free software. It comes with a suite of other stuff that is quite large. I took the whole package. It words better now than years ago and keeps updating for free. It’s not 100% the same as MS and if you were moving documents back and forth between them, you would see format changes and glitches. If you are just using this one, you won’t have problems. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/7 "2010-12-04T19:27:16Z")
How about Wordpad? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/8 "2010-12-04T19:29:26Z")
Another vote for Open Office. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/9 "2010-12-04T19:42:09Z")
Either Open Office or as a standalone WP, [AbiWord](http://www.abisource.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/10 "2010-12-04T19:49:25Z")
Another vote for OpenOffice. Opened all my Word docs, even ones with very complex formatting faithfully, the interface is cheekily close to Word’s, and it does a lot of stuff better, like the export to PDF seems bullet-proof. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/11 "2010-12-04T19:51:00Z")
Just a FYI: OpenOffice is now owned by Oracle and is pretty much circling the drain. LibreOffice is a what’s called a fork of OpenOffice. Many of the same people who worked on OpenOffice have moved on to LibreOffice, and it’s still the same program, only its free of Oracle’s control. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/12 "2010-12-04T21:29:54Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Just a FYI: OpenOffice is now owned by Oracle and is pretty much circling the drain. > > LibreOffice is a what’s called a fork of OpenOffice. Many of the same people who worked on OpenOffice have moved on to LibreOffice, and it’s still the same program, only its free of Oracle’s control. Says who? Beside it is open source anyone can take it ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/13 "2010-12-04T22:56:50Z")
OpenOffice has always had a goal of being an open substitute for Microsoft Office, but they’ve never really achieved that goal. If you really want to do business stuff, you really do need Microsoft Office (as much as I hate to plug anything from Microsoft). That said, though, the word processor that comes with OpenOffice is very good, and mostly does everything that Microsoft Word does. There are a few fancy formatting things that it doesn’t handle properly, but for everything that most folks use it works quite well. > [@Rysto](#): > > Just a FYI: OpenOffice is now owned by Oracle and is pretty much circling the drain. OpenOffice is far from circling the drain. > [@](#): > > Open sourcers have seized control of the OpenOffice project and product and declared their independence from database giant Oracle. > > The [OpenOffice.org](http://OpenOffice.org) Project has unveiled a major restructuring that separates itself from Oracle and that takes responsibility for OpenOffice away from a single company. > > Oracle had been OpenOffice’s principal contributor - a role it inherited thanks to its acquisition of the well meaning but slow-witted Sun Microsystems earlier this year. > > While OpenOffice had a successful development track record, it was also the code base for Sun’s StarOffice so features were broadly developed to serve that goal. > > From now on, though, OpenOffice’s development and direction will be decided by a steering committee of developers and national language project managers. From here: OpenOffice files Oracle divorce papers > **[OpenOffice files Oracle divorce papers](https://www.theregister.com/2010/09/28/openoffice_independence_from_oracle/)** > > Uncertainty breeds mistrust ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/14 "2010-12-04T23:54:51Z")
And just for the record, any “swriter” .odt document from Open Office can be saved (in Open Office) as a .doc document (not .docx yet AFAIK) that is quite readable by MS Word (or WordPad TTBOMK). ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/15 "2010-12-04T23:59:07Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > [talking about LibreOffice vs OpenOffice] > > OpenOffice is far from circling the drain. > > [snip] > > From here: > OpenOffice files Oracle divorce papers > [OpenOffice files Oracle divorce papers • The Register](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/28/openoffice_independence_from_oracle/) Err, the very next paragraph from your source says (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > Driving home the changes, [OpenOffice.org](http://OpenOffice.org) project is now The Document Foundation while the **[OpenOffice.org](http://OpenOffice.org) suite has been given the temporary name of LibreOffice**. > > Oracle, meanwhile, has been humiliatingly invited to re-join the OpenOffice community by applying to the Foundation. It’s also been asked to donate the [OpenOffice.org](http://OpenOffice.org) brand that it owns to the community. > > Until there’s a decision from Oracle the **[OpenOffice.org](http://OpenOffice.org) suite will be retain the LibreOffice name. Based on Oracle’s history of responding to community ultimatums, we suggest you get used to LibreOffice**. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/16 "2010-12-05T00:09:46Z")
> [@Myglaren](#): > > Either Open Office or as a standalone WP, [AbiWord](http://www.abisource.com/) A few years ago, I had to do a batch of conversions. At the time, AbiWord was _much_ better at converting than OpenOffice. More importantly for me at the time, it could be run as a command from within a script, so I didn’t have to open/convert/close every document manually. I have no idea whether the same holds true now or not. OpenOffice has been more than adequate for any of my recent needs. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/17 "2010-12-05T05:52:35Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Err, the very next paragraph from your source says (bolding mine): Note to self - must read posts thoroughly and engage brain before hitting reply. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/18 "2010-12-05T05:59:20Z")
I use NeoOffice, which is a Macified port ofOpenOffice. I don’t know what its developers are going to do now that this whole Oracle/LibreOffice situation obtains. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/19 "2010-12-05T06:52:04Z")
OpenOffice is a terrific suite. I use it at home although we are MS Office at work and our licencing agreement allows me to have MS Office installed on my home machine but I can’t be bothered. We also have OpenOffice installed at work and on at least 3 occasions I have opened Word files that have refused to open in Word and saved someone’s work disappearing. Don’t know how or why it works it just does. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947/20 "2010-12-05T08:44:55Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Note to self - must read posts thoroughly and engage brain before hitting reply. > > Sorry. Heh, good advice for anyone 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-decent-freeware-word-processor/562947.md?page=2)