Need a free spreadsheet program

[tulak]

I was a fan of Google Sheets, but have been gradually moving away from Google products.

I tried Apple’s Numbers and after a short learning curve, I like it a lot more. The ability to have one page with multiple sheets (tables) is a great feature. Plus, the iOS version of Numbers is way better than Google Sheets.

The only downside I’ve encountered is the ability to share spreadsheets. It’s not as easy as Google if you’re not in the Apple ecosystem.

 

[modhatter]

Great information everyone. I was able to just get Libre to save a ods and now it works. Although sometimes it reverts back and I have to go back in and change to save as ods.

Funny you should mention using an older Paid for copy of Microsoft Office.
I have a copy that I purchased, but I think it was in way back in 2006 or 2007 and don't think it is usable now. I run Windows 11 on my computer.

I am also going to try that save offline in Google Sheets, and see how that works. One thing I used to be able to do in Excel before when I had a subscription was to make the file password protected, so no one could get into it without putting in the correct password. Anyone know if that is possible in either Libre or Google Sheets.

 

[DallasGuy]

I use LibreOffice and it works well for my personal use. I used to use OpenOffice and they're both very similar.

 

[CosmicDreamer]

I use LibreOffice Calc for personal and offline use, while I use Google Sheets for online work. I have not had any problems with either application so far.

 

[CaptTom]

I find Libra Office very slow to start. So much so that I dread using it. I suspect it's written in some high-level language like Python or something. I never bothered to check. Most open-source stuff is crazy inefficient like that. But the price is right.

I'll keep using my old, paid-for version of Office for as long as I can. No way will I ever update to their cloud-based, subscription versions. Now that I've been retired a while, I'll probably migrate away from Windows at some point, too.

Someone mentioned e-mail client software. I've been very happy with Thunderbird. It's pretty efficient and the user interface is actually quite good. There was an update the other day and - surprise! - I actually liked it. Most commercial software updates are full of pointless changes for change's sake.

 

[easysurfer]

I've been using open office for years.

 

[Montecfo]

+1



OP - You can get libreOffice from: https://www.libreoffice.org/en



And when you save a spreadsheet, save it in the open document format: .ods



not excel format.



Should have no issues and it's free, (and includes lots of other office programs).

This is what I did after encountering this issue. Very cheap for the life of computer, and zero learning curve for DW.

 

[finnski1]

I've been using open office for years.

+1

 

[CaptTom]

Open Office is sort of a dead end. Libra Office is more actively supported and updated. It also supports the newer M$ Office file formats, rather than forcing you to save in the open formats. A lot of people find the Libra Office user interface more intuitive. I personally don't like parts of it, but I do prefer it to Open Office. YMMV on that one.

 

[W2R]

I've been using open office for years.

+2

It is everything I would ever need or want for my everyday use. Every day I use Open Office to open and use the same very large workbook (containing 17 spreadsheets) that I created in Excel at my workplace about 20 years ago.

 

[easysurfer]

Open Office is sort of a dead end. Libra Office is more actively supported and updated. It also supports the newer M$ Office file formats, rather than forcing you to save in the open formats. A lot of people find the Libra Office user interface more intuitive. I personally don't like parts of it, but I do prefer it to Open Office. YMMV on that one.

I don't disagree that Libra is more current. But I've been using Open Office for many many years and for my needs, that works just fine.

 

[pb4uski]

I use LibreOffice Calc for personal and offline use, while I use Google Sheets for online work. I have not had any problems with either application so far.

The only problem that I have had is that graphs don't update when I change the data. Frustrating. I've tried saving and reopening and F9 but neither fix it.

 

[O2Bfree]

Another Libre user here, plus Google Sheets on my phone.

I also use LibreOffice Writer, which is generally good, but amusingly has issues with numbered lists just like MSFT Word. Or maybe Word has been fixed? I haven't used it for several years now.