NICEVILLE, Fla. — A longtime It’s Geek to Me reader says he’s made the switch from Microsoft Word to LibreOffice—and now wonders if it’s safe to uninstall Word entirely.
QUESTION:
I am thankful that you have continued to prepare your column of interesting and valuable information and publish it on your website.
For years, I have subscribed to and regularly used MS Word, but several months ago, I ran into subscription problems (eventually resolved in my favor) and decided to try LibreOffice to avoid future hassles. The transition was easy, and now I would like to uninstall Word. I wonder if Libre uses some of the Word program, and the removal of Word will be a catastrophic mistake.
One very minor issue with Libre is that using its presentation program is that in slide notes (directly under the graphic but not visible to the audience), I can write in my preferred font size, but anything I copy off the internet appears in such a small font it is hard to read. I tried highlighting it and selecting a better size to no avail.
– Doug B.
Niceville, Florida
ANSWER:
Thanks for continuing to support the column, Doug. I am thankful for readers who continue to submit questions, issues, and topics for me to write about. Sometimes it’s not easy putting out content on a weekly basis, and I’ll freely admit to fighting with writer’s block on a routine basis.
Things have gotten tough since a guy all the way down in Ocala decided to remove all of us local authors from the newspaper. I fear I’ve lost the vast majority of my readers, even though the column is still published online and in newspapers in other markets (yes, I’m talking about you, Texas!). I’ll keep churning them out as long as there is interest.
As I like to do, I’m going to start by throwing out some background for those readers who may not be familiar with LibreOffice or, indeed, even realize there are alternatives to the hugely dominant Microsoft Office Suite.
LibreOffice is an office suite, much like Microsoft Office. It includes word processing, spreadsheet, database, and presentation tools. It is capable of reading many if not most, files generated by Microsoft Office applications, including the .doc and .docx files created by Microsoft Word.
One key difference between Microsoft Office and Libre Office is that the latter suite is open source, meaning it’s free. Yes, you read that right: free.
LibreOffice isn’t the only alternative to Microsoft Office that’s around these days. Others include OpenOffice, which is another open-source product. Also OnlyOffice, FreeOffice, WPS Office, Zoho, Calligra and others, such as Google Docs.
Almost all of these can share files with Microsoft Office, and almost all are free to use.
You may be wondering, “What’s the catch?”. Well, the catch is that even though they are compatible with the Microsoft tools you may be used to, they are not clones of these tools. Most or all of the same functionality is there, but they are often called by different names, or live on different menus. That means there’s a learning curve involved, which can often be steep. But to many, it’s worth the time and effort to have one fewer Microsoft product on their computer.
I can assure you, Doug, that no parts of Microsoft Word are used by LibreOffice.
Microsoft generates its own software and licenses it to paying customers. Although files created by various office suites are often compatible with one another, that does not mean they are sharing software components. Rather, this interoperability stems from their file formats being well-documented, so other software vendors can write their own software capable of reading non-native file formats.
So, go ahead and de-install Word if that’s what you want to do– safe in the knowledge that your LibreOffice alternative will continue to work as it has been.
Adjusting fonts within the Notes pane should utilize the same controls and techniques that you use to adjust font data anywhere. In other words, you select the text in question, then use the “Font Size” dropdown on the Home ribbon to make your changes. You can also use the zoom settings to increase or decrease the size of the entire Notes pane.
If, for some reason, you’re failing to adjust the font as desired, make sure you’re pasting what you think you’re pasting. Make sure it’s plain text, not rich text or some HTML-formatted text that may have its own size parameters built in that you can’t see.
To view additional content, comment on articles, or submit a question, visit my website at ItsGeekToMe.co (not .com!)
Jeff Werner, a software engineer based in Niceville, Florida, has been writing his popular “It’s Geek to Me” tech column since 2007. He shares his expertise to help readers solve everyday tech challenges.
