Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of McKnife
McKnifeFlag for Germany

asked on

MS office - alternative, usable offline

We are beginning our search for an alternative to MS Office,


The alternative should 


  • be compatible with as many functions of MS Word/Excel and Powerpoint as possible.
  • have a similar look and feel


and it has to


  • be usable offline (online possibly only once for activation if need be)


What office suites apart from LibreOffice and Freeoffice can you recommend that fulfill these? (The recommended application suite does not need to be freeware)

Avatar of Jamie Garroch (MVP)
Jamie Garroch (MVP)
Flag of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland image

The presentation agency I work for does a lot of work in Google Slides but when it comes to "compatibility" PowerPoint is, by a long way, much much better. See this Ultimate Guide to Google Slides blog article.
I'm curious to know that if you want an office suite to look, feel and work like Microsoft Office, why are you looking for an alternative?
Avatar of McKnife

ASKER

Hi Jamie.

As i outlined in bold: it will need to be usable offline.
Office 2019 will be the last MS office to fulfill that need.
M365 can be used offline.
Avatar of McKnife

ASKER

It can? That's news to me. As far as I know, at least every 30 days, M365 needs to have internet access (that's what I mean by "offline usage").
Avatar of McKnife

ASKER

"To use Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) apps offline (without internet access), you'll need a subscription plan that contains the desktop versions of the Office Apps, plus you'll have to connect your device to the internet every 30 days to validate your subscription, otherwise you'll get reduced functionality past ..."
https://it-maniacs.com/can-office-365-sharepoint-and-teams-be-used-offline/#:~:text=To%20use%20Microsoft%20365%20(formerly,ll%20get%20reduced%20functionality%20past
OK, I understand what you mean by offline now. I use it on a plane without Internet access so I thought that's what you meant. Yes, it does need to "check in" and reauthenticate periodically because it's a subscription based service. As an MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional) I'm still interested to understand why that's a problem for your use case?
Avatar of McKnife

ASKER

We are not allowed to connect our devices to the internet permanently as we work for the military. Every 30 days would be considered "too much" already.
Interesting! BTW, Office 2021 is available as a perpetual "offline" licence: Difference between M365 and Office 2021.
And this article talks about being able to extend the 30 day check in to 180 days. Where does the time threshold sit for your type of organisation?
I found the Microsoft technical article to enable the extend offline access feature which extends the 30 day period to 180 days here.
Avatar of McKnife

ASKER

Yes, I asked the same in another german forum today and was shown the 180-days-option which was new to me. That could work out, but we try to avoid being online completely, so preferred threshold is 0.

Office 2021 is not said to be an offline product in that link of yours. All I find over there is

"Do I need to be connected to the internet to use Microsoft 365?
You don't need to be online to use Office after it is installed and activated on your devices. However, you will need internet access initially to install and activate Office, to install any updates, and to manage your billing. Internet access is also required to access documents stored on OneDrive, unless you install the OneDrivedesktop app. However, after your Office applications (like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) are installed, you can use them offline."

2021 has an offline installer, yes, but they don't tell us whether we may use it offline after installing it.


According to this, perpetual versions of Microsoft Office do not require an Internet connection once activated.
Avatar of McKnife

ASKER

As the license requirements from https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-365-blog/enabling-productivity-for-everyone-with-microsoft-365-apps-for/ba-p/2111517 reveal, we would need to join Azure AD to get a device based license - no thanks, not possible for us, either.
Avatar of McKnife

ASKER

Ok, it seems like Office LTSC 2021 is what we want, but again, there's a drawback: its support lifecycle is pretty short and ends only one year after our current product, which is Office 2016, in 2026. No, that's too short.
I've referred this thread to some contacts I have at Microsoft as it seems silly to lose business due to their product strategy.
Avatar of McKnife

ASKER

Short update, we will begin to evaluate Office 2021 LTSC and SharePoint 2021 nevertheless.
New ideas welcome.
Avatar of McKnife

ASKER

Still not decided. We will be evaluating open source collaboration software in the next month(s).

Thanks for the update McKnife. It would be great to hear how the comparison goes and what decision you make based on various criteria. If you do decide to go non-Microsoft, the only thing I would add is that from expereicne with clients, you probably cannot avoid having to transcode between M365 files and whatever solution you choose. The time my company wastes in doing that on behalf of our clients is significant.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of McKnife
McKnife
Flag of Germany image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial