# Is there a good, inexpensive word processor for the PC? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977 "2008-11-10T02:41:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/1 "2008-11-10T02:41:01Z")
I don’t actually have a real word processor on my PC. Always used my work computer. But as I write more and more, I’d like a real word processor on the better of the two computers. So I went to the Microsoft web site, figured I’d load in and get the basic Office and HOLY SHIT A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS FOR THE CHEAPEST VERSION JESUS CHRIST IN A CHICKEN BASKET! So I’ve got some .doc files. Is there a good, inexpensive word processor out there that’ll let me keep working on them? ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/2 "2008-11-10T02:44:10Z")
- available for free at [www.openoffice.org](http://www.openoffice.org). I’ve never used it on super-complex Word docs, but it’s been a lifesaver when I’ve had to quickly look up something in a Word doc on a machine with no Office installed. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/3 "2008-11-10T02:44:42Z")
People sometimes say nice things about OpenOffice. I can’t vouch for it personally, but I’m told it can handle Word files and it’s free. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/4 "2008-11-10T02:44:59Z")
[Open Office](http://www.openoffice.org/) handles word files and has most word functionality. I don’t do much word processing so I can’t give you a detailed comparison but it’s GPL freeware so you can try it and find out if you like it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/5 "2008-11-10T02:45:59Z")
Epic Hivemind. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/6 "2008-11-10T02:50:24Z")
Yeah, OpenOffice. If it was a few years ago I’d have also mentioned [Abiword](http://www.abisource.com/) (still useful if your PC is classed as ‘underpowered’), but OO is really the thing to get. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/7 "2008-11-10T02:52:08Z")
Another vote for Open Office, here. With the two latest computers I’ve bought, I’ve immediately uninstalled the time-limited Office and installed Open Office, and I’ve never regretted it. And you really can’t beat the price. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/8 "2008-11-10T02:54:49Z")
Another vote for OpenOffice. The only caveat is that if you do a lot of collaborative editing with your co-workers (using the track changes and comments features), OpenOffice isn’t entirely compatible with Word’s implementation of those functions. That’s why I ended up springing for MS Office. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/9 "2008-11-10T02:57:09Z")
This was one of the things that Microsquish took away as Windows evolved. W3.x shipped with a nice little lightweight word processor called Write, that could justify and paginate, and do about 90% of what Word can do, but that stopped with Windows 95. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/10 "2008-11-10T02:58:03Z")
ITT: we talk about open office. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/11 "2008-11-10T03:10:36Z")
I will refer you to Open Office although I doubt anyone here has heard of it before. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/12 "2008-11-10T03:18:11Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > This was one of the things that Microsquish took away as Windows evolved. W3.x shipped with a nice little lightweight word processor called Write, that could justify and paginate, and do about 90% of what Word can do, but that stopped with Windows 95. Write has shipped with every version of Windows, up to, and including, Vista. It’s now called WordPad in the Accessories menu, although the executable is still named **write.exe**. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/13 "2008-11-10T03:42:28Z")
Yet another Open Office user here. I find it dead easy to swap between OO at home and Office at work. Though the menus are organised differently, it’s easy enough to search for any function that’s in a different place. The only thing I have to add is that Office doesn’t seem to handle .sxw files (That may have changed in the last 4 years), but OpenOffice will handle .doc files, I just save then save as .doc if I’m going to export anything. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/14 "2008-11-10T03:46:17Z")
Thank you all! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/15 "2008-11-10T04:03:58Z")
> [@maggenpye](#): > > Yet another Open Office user here. I find it dead easy to swap between OO at home and Office at work. Though the menus are organised differently, it’s easy enough to search for any function that’s in a different place. > > The only thing I have to add is that Office doesn’t seem to handle .sxw files (That may have changed in the last 4 years), but OpenOffice will handle .doc files, I just save then save as .doc if I’m going to export anything. I think a beta is coming out that will. I use both, Open Office exclusively at work, and both at home. There are some subtle issues with complex documents, especially when diagrams or equations are imported, but no problems for standard ones. The new version can edit pdfs, but a review I read says that this capability is still fairly primitive. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/16 "2008-11-10T04:11:27Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > The new version can edit pdfs, but a review I read says that this capability is still fairly primitive. Cool, good to know. I work a fair bit with pdf’s and will probably be doing more soon. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/17 "2008-11-10T05:03:11Z")
Look into Open Office, Word Perfect or look to pick up a used copy of Word 2000 or XP. It works as well as the newer versions for 99% of users and I think is actually easier to use than Word 2007 anyway. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/18 "2008-11-10T06:00:59Z")
If you want something even cheaper go to Google. You can go to [docs.google.com](http://docs.google.com) and you can do most of the basic things online. Then you just do a file -\> Save as -\> save as a .doc (word document) It’s not as powerful as MS Word, but it works pretty well ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/19 "2008-11-10T08:06:36Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > If you want something even cheaper go to Google. Seconded. Computing in “the cloud” really is convenient once you’re at the point where every computer you use is connected. And I’ve been finding the convenience more compelling than many of the checklist features, even the ones I’ve come to appreciate (like Property Painter). All of them will eventually show up on Google docs. And the price (free) and convenience is compelling, for me. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977/20 "2008-11-10T14:08:45Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > The new version can edit pdfs, but a review I read says that this capability is still fairly primitive. I don’t think the OO version I have is good for, say, creating pdfs that have fillable fields, but all I need it to do is create pdf files that other people can read but not edit. That works fine (it’s how I bill my customers and I’m being paid, so it works ;)) The problem with google is that it needs internet access, which isn’t always available. I often stay in hotels which charge extra for crappy internet; my house in Spain is in the mountains so the only internet access is via radio and goes down every time it rains. It’s great if you do have good access, but if you know you may lose access you still need a way to open the document locally. Google is one of the current sponsors of OO, they offer it with their software packs installer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-good-inexpensive-word-processor-for-the-pc/471977.md?page=2)