TLDR: can I edit docx files on word without a subscription and if not what are some apps that can allow me to do so
Like the title says I need the ability to edit .docx for college (sadly other file formats aren’t accepted AFAIK) and my Microsoft 365 subscription is expiring and will not be renewed thanks to you lovely people getting me on the Proton family of software and obsidian for note taking.
However i created a .docx file today and and got a popup in word saying my Microsoft subscription is expiring soon (in march I believe) and that I would lose many feature.
This scary message wasn’t very helpful as to what features id lose (probably a lot of them I don’t even use) but the internet has not been helpful in telling me if I can still view and edit all my docx files that I have been collecting and creating over the years and have migrated to my proton drive
If I won’t be able to access docx files in word what are some apps that can open them from my proton drive (this is a hard requirement for me).
Due to its proprietary nature, finding software that can properly read those files can be tricky.
LibreOffice is the usual go-to for folks wanting an office suite, that respects privacy, and FOSS. It can read docx files, but it can mess up formatting. Still, for many it’s the preferred choice. It’s got the best reputation.
Now if formatting REALLY matters, take a look at OnlyOffice. It handles those MS formats so much better. It’s not a bad suite, but it’s hard to beat the good reputation Libreoffice has gained.
Docx is not a proprietary format, it’s a standard, it’s called Office Open XML: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML
And M$ published its specifications, so Libreoffice devs could support it. But here comes the funny part: M$ (deliberately?) doesn’t follow the specification it published. So the formatting problems of LibreOffice come from M$, because they don’t follow their specs, but M$ can just do whatever they want because of its market share.
I read this story a long time ago, and I’m paraphrasing, but on this wiki page you can read a lot of controversies related to this format: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardization_of_Office_Open_XML
Docx is not a proprietary format, it’s a standard
It’s a “standard” only in the sense that Microsoft took the MS Office binary file formats (which are basically just writing the internal state of Word/Powerpoint/whatever to disc), serialized it to XML, half-assed some bullshit documentation for it, and bribed the standards body to rubber-stamp it. It’s still, at it’s core, basically defined by whatever nonsense Microsoft’s implementation does.
Aren’t the specifications also insanely long and complicated for good measure?
Yeah, wiki says it’s 6000 pages. But that’s not that long compared to other similar file standards, and it also contains pptx and xlsx.
For comparison PDF standard is about 1000 pages, HTML (without CSS, just pure HTML) is 1500 pages.
Not only are they insanely long, MS strategically doesn’t follow its own specs in places so other software using the specs “fuck up formatting” even if they follow MS’s specs perfectly.
M$ is the best abbreviation for Microsoft yet
Oh this is helpful
Yeah another person said it gets funky with formatting but that’s not a huge deal for me as the most complex formats for the class syllabus I like to just have a copy but probably nothing I can’t do by saving it as a pdf
And like I said in those comments my own documents aren’t complex mostly just using tab and enter to make my documents more readable for myself
You don’t use complex formats you say… just don’t forget that LibreOffice thinks bullets points are “complex formats”:
What OS are you using?
How does that work if you save the docx in OOXML Strict instead of OOXML Transient? I’m not sure about the current 365 rollout but OOXML was developed by MS due to the EU nearly 20 years ago to support interoperability but their default saving format was always OOXML Transient which is OOXML + MS Proprietary format. OOXML Strict should be an option and save the docx in OOXML only format.
Frankly, the anti-trust regulators should’ve required MS office to save to OpenDocument by default instead of any version of OOXML, strict or otherwise, nearly 20 years ago.
It works even worse.
Also didn’t see your bottom question at first but I’m on windows and edit documents both on my home laptop and one I bring to my classes which is why being able to play nice with proton drive is a must for me.
So why not simply use MS Office? Way less hassle to deal with. Licenses are available for cheap on eBay or pirated form reputable sources.
I was planning on using MS Office originally when writing the posts but 1) I didn’t know if it was going to work after my subscription expired, and 2) I wanted to see what else is out there
Seriously, download MAS and choose Ohook. Enjoy your permanently serialized and activated MS Office. :)
Ah I see good to know. For me formatting issues aren’t a super big deal and sounds like it’s outweighed with its reputation here. I guess if it does become an issue I can simply hop over to open office but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there
LibreOffice and OnlyOffice will certainly be better than OpenOffice.
So in the description you said edit, but here you say read (syllabus). If just reading is the requirement, there was a word reader, not sure if it is still available. I also believe once subscription expires, you still will be able to view, just edit.
Also what’s wrong with your school requiring word document and not providing a free license for the software? My college at least provided free license during my class.
As other alternatives I don’t have better than libre office (at the time I was using, libre office didn’t exist and I used OpenOffice, I still was using it, primarily, because of using Linux on my laptop) and submitted my work as PDF and didn’t have problems, but my class were requirements in computer science so I’m sure I wasn’t the only one doing it.
Yeah that’s my bad I just couldn’t think of an example where there was formatting in the document
Yeah I’m definitely going to try libreoffice
Onlyoffice, libreoffice can do the job
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I second every suggestions about Libreoffice. It’s free, open source and works in Windows, MacOS and Linux.
The problems lies in the different rendering engine. If you have table of contents, floating image and anything that impact text flow; it will be rendered differently between the two apps.
I still use Libreoffice as my primary editor, but if I need to send docs to other people, I will export it to PDF. But if I really need to send docx or pptx, I will format it in WPS office before sending the docs to others.
Thanks for the suggestions. I was going to use libreoffice as the main editor but then use open office if my document had images or anything that doesn’t play nice with libreoffice but the pdf suggestion sounds better
You can activate it with these scripts https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts (I think it’s the easiest way for you as you are already using it and the only issue it’s the stupid message to force you to pay for it)
But would be nice if you were not forced to use Microsoft Office.
LibreOffice will do just fine reading and writing the format as long as you don’t care too much about small formatting/layout differences.
It will also struggle if you’ve embedded other office components into your documents (like excel embedded in word).
If you only need a word processor, try Abiword. Otherwise if you need a full office suite: LibreOffice
Does your college not provide you with an MS Office license?
How about using the free browser-based tier of MS Office 365 https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/free-office-online-for-the-web - but with an alt email address for this purpose only?
without activation or a subscription, your current office installation will continue to read and view the files just fine, you just won’t be able to edit and re-save them or create new ones.
there are a number of ‘free’ or open source alternative to several of the microsoft office applications (word, excel, and ppt), such as onlyoffice, libreoffice, softmaker, etc. set the default save format back to microsoft office format (docx, xlsx, pptx) for a more seamless transition. if your online drive is mounted in your os, any of these would be able to read/write to it like any other installed application.
older versions of microsoft office (2010 and earlier) may be ‘out of date’ and unsupported, but they still work and can be bought second-hand for cheap.
there is also free-to-use online versions of microsoft office and google docs (their respective online account required–and their anti-privacy policies apply). these would by default use their respective online storage.
if you are in university, you may be able to get a low-cost or even free microsoft office key or subscription from your school. check with your student i.t. help desk or school-run campus bookstore.
if you work for a larger company or institution that uses volume licenses of microsoft software, they may have a ‘workplace discount’ for a microsoft 365 sub, it’s about $20-30 off per year (the more reasonable ‘home use program’ does not exist anymore).
I know that Microsoft 365 subscriptions are nothing new, but it’s really hitting me how depressing that business model is.
Libreoffice can help, or (as long as the formatting’s not too complex) you can upload them to Google Drive, edit them, and then redownload them exporting back to .docx.
As I said in another comment about Google drive “For obvious reasons I’d like to avoid Google as I’m still migrating away but good to know I can use that as an absolute final resort”
As for Libre Office: define complex
Some thing like my class syllabuses (syllabi?) have things like like different font sizes and some formatting that you would find in a detailed class syllabus
As for my own documents it really tab in a few line to write numbered questions, go back a few line for answers, maybe a spash of holding and highlights and slap the enter key a few times in-between to make it easier to read for me
Yeah Libreoffice will probably work fine for you then. You can use that and be privacy-happy and still have Google Docs as a last resort if you need.
Yeah I think I’m going to go with libreoffice as it seems like a popular choice here and fits my use case
Stupid question though
As for opening the files do I have to open libreoffice then open the file within it or is there a way to set libreoffice as a default in windows and open from file explorer
This really isn’t a make or break question I’mhust curious
I don’t windows as much anymore, but I think if you right click the file and hit ‘Open with’, you can set a different program as default.
Hm I rarely hit open with so maybe that’s something I missed that’s been right there but otherwise I’m sure there’s some way that the internet gods know of
Libreoffice
Yeah another commentor suggested it but said it gets funky with formatting but I’m definitely gonna check it out
Also is this it. Just wanna make sure before I download the first libreoffice I see lol
Yes. That’s it. Yes, there can be some problems with formatting. The most common one, though, is fonts. Try it out and see how it goes.
Also, you can open it in Google Drive. But that’s not privacy respecting
Oh yep they did I just have been writing the wrong thing in all these comments WHOOPS
You can still use Microsoft word web version after your 365 expires. The mobile app has ads if you don’t have a subscription.
Like I said I have all these files on proton drive
Assuming I stick with word and don’t move to libreoffice like a few comments have suggested- in a desktop environment is really the only difference that it’s now going to open in a web browser, I’m just asking incase it doesn’t play nice with proton drive
