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LibreOffice or OpenOffice
A place to start learning about LibreOffice or OpenOffice.
The The Document Foundation LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice are evolutions of the same software. OpenOffice history is identified here. LIbreOffice history is here. Both products are free to use in either binary or source format. OpenOffice and LibreOffice use ODF as the default format for documents.
Why is this page part of this wiki?
Software tools for creating and editing spreadsheets, documents and presentations were once primary reasons for having a computer. The evolution of those tools resulted in tools that are free or not. The attitude of the Help Center is: Free is the preferred choice. Free is often the preferred choice for the clients of the Help Center.
Microsoft Office components (Excel, Word, … ) are not free.
Two use cases that are addressed by this and supporting pages are: You have never used any of these tools or you would like to start using free tools. Good news… There are documents, tutorials and videos on the internet that can help you educate yourself about OpenOffice or LibreOffice.
One of the capabilities of a spreadsheet, document or presentation program is the format of the file that it can read or write. During the evolution of LibreOffice and OpenOffice, open formats has been a goal.LibreOffice and OpenOffice can read proprietary file formats and save a document in Open Document Format or formats that are compatible with Microsoft.
Educating yourself.
There are educational materials for LibreOffice, OpenOffice and Microsoft Office on the internet. Documents and videos are easy to find. The product web sites have links to educational materials. The documents from the product web sites are usually up to date. Videos that you find on youtube can be about older versions. This implies they may not address all the latest enhancements to a product, but given the maturity of the products, the videos are likely to be “good enough” to get you started.
LibreOffice help site: https://libreofficehelp.com/
Discovery... Youtube contains videos about Openoffice, Libreoffice and Microsoft
Visiting youtube.com and searching for terms about Openoffice or Libreoffice of Microsoft Office will produce lists of videos. Determining which of the videos meets your needs can be a time consuming.
This video about LibreOffice Write, is intended for the beginner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIBWOjeiptA
Here is a video that addresses LibreOffice versus Microsoft Office.
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