A Libre Office review?

[kokakolia]

So I have been writing/refining my resume for the last several weeks. And it’s finally done. I am really happy with it. Thank heavens! Anyways, it was a bigger task than expected because I didn’t want to pay for MS Office. So I used Libre Office instead. At first it was absolute torture. The menus are all over the place. The toolbars don’t make sense. And the worst part is I still can’t figure out why images have black backgrounds instead of « no background ». Fortunately, it’s easy to play with the images in Google Docs then paste them to Libre Office. I know I sound like a total noob LOL. 

 

And then I remember that Word was never that great. It was also a headache! And it’s like: “why do Word programs suck?”. 

 

So I’m just wondering if LinusTechTips would like to answer my question in a funny/informative way. 

[TempestCatto]

I would think Google Docs is easier/more intuitive to use than Libre Office.

[TheGlenlivet]

Complete with multiple watermarks and low res.... enjoy.

[RoseTech]

I’ve used it before, it’s good.

 

I’d still rather use a copy of MS Office though 

[2FA]

LibreOffice is pretty well done for foss but one annoying bug is that it will sometimes keep opening the same file regardless of what you select. The interface is just a matter of learning where everything is and the shortcuts.

[Gmoneyinthebank]

IDK, I've never had a problem using Libre Office.  Sounds like a case of "User Error".

[ElectricBOY_]

1 hour ago, kokakolia said:

So I have been writing/refining my resume for the last several weeks. And it’s finally done. I am really happy with it. Thank heavens! Anyways, it was a bigger task than expected because I didn’t want to pay for MS Office. So I used Libre Office instead. At first it was absolute torture. The menus are all over the place. The toolbars don’t make sense. And the worst part is I still can’t figure out why images have black backgrounds instead of « no background ». Fortunately, it’s easy to play with the images in Google Docs then paste them to Libre Office. I know I sound like a total noob LOL. 

 

And then I remember that Word was never that great. It was also a headache! And it’s like: “why do Word programs suck?”. 

 

So I’m just wondering if LinusTechTips would like to answer my question in a funny/informative way. 

If you want i will send u a program to get Office Microsoft 98% legally.

 

(,But when i will have a pc to do it, unfortunately!)

[Lady Fitzgerald]

While MS Office and LibreOffice have numerous similarities and there is quite a bit of file compatibility between the two, LibreOffice is still a different beast from MS Office and there is a learning curve to it. Even though I have Office 2010, I only use Libre Offcie now and actually like it better. LibreOffice has a user forum that I've found to be very helpful learning how to use it.

[kokakolia]

8 hours ago, TempestCatto said:

I would think Google Docs is easier/more intuitive to use than Libre Office.

I tried using Google Docs for my resume before using Libre Office. And...well, it was all fun and easy until I wanted to do some formatting with the tables, margins and resizing photos...Google Docs just doesn’t let you do much. Yeah, some countries expect colourful resumes with photos and airy formatting. Canadians just expect you to write in Arial font with no fancy formatting. 

 

But I guess Google Docs is fine for just writing paragraphs for recipes or homework. And you can still write an OK resume with Google Docs, just don’t try to be too fancy with tables and pictures. I’m glad that it exists as a “lite” alternative to the complex beast that is Microsoft Word, or the free alternative Libre Office. 

 

I think I forgot to say that Word does a better job with shapes, images and tables than Libre Office. And that’s a pretty big deal...until you overcome your frustrations and actually get your work done. 

[LogicalDrm]

What do you mean by "pictures having black background"? That sounds like you are using jpg or gif images and LibreOffice is defaulting background to black instead of white. Use png if you want transparent background.

[kokakolia]

11 minutes ago, LogicalDrm said:

What do you mean by "pictures having black background"? That sounds like you are using jpg or gif images and LibreOffice is defaulting background to black instead of white. Use png if you want transparent background.

Yep. I was on google images copying a flag picture. And it defaulted to a black background instead of “no background”. And that’s frustrating AF, considering that nobody would ask to have a background and I haven’t figured out how to remove the background inside Libre Office. But Google Docs fixed the issue.