Reference number: CH001169

Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint files without Microsoft Office.

Question:

Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint files without Microsoft Office.

Answer:

There are many free and legal solutions that allow you to open files created in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, without having to spend any money. Below we've listed several online and offline solutions in getting these files open on your computer.

Offline solutions

There are dozens of different programs that can be freely installed on your computer to open Microsoft Office documents and other office or rich-text documents. Below are a listing of our top favorites.

OpenOffice

A free and open source project from Sun that includes several different solutions for opening files created in each of the major Office programs, for all major platforms including Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS, and Linux. Below are a listing of programs this package includes.

• Base - Database
• Calc - Spreadsheet
• Draw - Drawing program used to create logos and flow charts.
• Impress - Presentation program
• Math - Allows a user to create scientific formulas and equations.
• Writer - Word processor and text editor.

The official OpenOffice page and downloads can be found at: http://www.openoffice.org/ 

IBM Lotus Symphony

Another fantastic solution from IBM, that enables users to open documents created in word processors, open spreadsheets, and presentations.

Compatible formats: .doc, .dot, .docx, .dotx, .odt, .ott, .sxw, .stw, .lwp, .mwp, .rtf, .txt, .xls, .xlt, .xlsx, .xltx, .ods, .ots, .sxc, .stc, .123, .12m, .xml, .csv, .ppt, .pot, .pptx, .potx, .odp, .otp, .prz, .mas, .smc, .sxi, .sti, and more.

The official Lotus Symphony page can be found by clicking here.

Online solutions

In addition to installing a program capable of opening these files, there are many free online solutions as well. Below is a listing of our top favorites.

Google Docs

Another fantastic solution from Google, that not only allows you to freely open and create files, but also easily collaborate and share each of the files with anyone that has Internet access.

The official Google Docs page can be found at: http://docs.google.com/

Compatible formats: .doc, .docx, .rtf, .sxw, .pdf, .ppt, .pps, .csv, .xls, .xlsx, .ods, .html, and many more.

ThinkFree

A fantastic solution that is capable of opening and viewing many of the popular Microsoft Office, and other rich-content file formats.

Compatible formats: .doc, .dot, .rtf, .ppt, .pot, .pps, .xls, .xlt, .docx, .pptx, .xlsx, .pdf, .hwp, and more.

The official ThinkFree page can be found at: http://www.thinkfree.com/