6 free alternate options to Microsoft Phrase

Google Docs

Google Docs, which is well the most well-liked Microsoft Phrase different on this checklist, is free to everybody with a Google account.

If you need the essential options of Microsoft Phrase, you don’t have to look any additional than Google Docs–it does all of your fundamental phrase processing wants, and it’s tightly built-in with Google Drive and different merchandise. Since every thing is saved in Google’s cloud, you don’t want to fret about dropping your work–Docs autosaves after each single keystroke, so within the occasion of a crash you need to be capable to choose up proper the place you left off, right down to the letter. Google Docs additionally helps Microsoft Phrase’s .doc and .docx codecs, so that you shouldn’t have any issues importing and enhancing these.

One in every of its greatest options for enterprise customers is real-time collaboration. In the event you share a doc with one other Google person, each of you could be within the doc on the identical time, see the opposite person’s cursor place, watch what they’re typing, and chat to one another as properly. It’s a terrific collaboration instrument that stands out amongst phrase processors.

Superior customers might discover the options missing–it truly is a bare-bones phrase processor.

Apache OpenOffice Author

In the event you hate Microsoft Phrase due to the invention of the ribbon, then Apache’s OpenOffice Author is the 2003 throwback you need. It has a traditional interface that, whereas it could actually look a bit cluttered, mimics the menus that Microsoft tossed out when Workplace 2007 was launched. It’ll undoubtedly really feel acquainted to Workplace 2003 customers, with the added perk of nonetheless receiving updates and safety patches, which is necessary for a enterprise software program suite.

OpenOffice Author has its personal doc format, nevertheless it additionally helps .doc and .docx recordsdata, and it does a terrific job of sustaining formatting when importing these forms of recordsdata. Lots of the superior options of Microsoft Phrase are included in OpenOffice Author as properly, so enhancing complicated Phrase paperwork gained’t be a difficulty.

If on-line collaboration or native cloud assist is a promoting level, then you could wish to cross on OpenOffice Author as a result of it consists of neither. It’s attainable to retailer recordsdata in a cloud drive and entry them utilizing OpenOffice, however you’ll have to have the desktop consumer of Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Apple iCloud put in, so you’ll be able to open your cloud storage like a neighborhood laptop folder.

Zoho Author

Zoho Author is a free doc creation instrument with a clear writing interface and highly effective built-in capabilities. Writing paperwork in Author is basically distraction-free, whereas necessary textual content instruments are nonetheless inside attain.

The native options of Author, lots of which leverage the capabilities of different Zoho apps, actually set it other than the bunch. Use the built-in AI instrument, Zia, for higher high quality content material, quick grammar fixes and perception into the doc’s readability for various audiences. The Doc Signal instrument places e-signature instruments proper within the doc, so groups can go from draft to approval to signature all in the identical area. Doc Fillable instruments additionally put types proper in your paperwork, giving them knowledgeable really feel that’s prepared for embedding anyplace you want a type.

To not be outdone by Google Docs or Microsoft Phrase, Zoho Author’s real-time collaboration has granular controls together with feedback, options, textual content masking to cover some gadgets from collaborators and even content material locks for blocks of textual content. Zoho Author is constructed for company collaboration, authorized approvals and inventive groups.

LibreOffice Author

The Doc Basis’s LibreOffice Author, like OpenOffice, is a very free and open-source product that provides phrase processing, assist for .doc and .docx file codecs, and all of the instruments the typical Microsoft Phrase person will want in a phrase processor. LibreOffice Author and OpenOffice Author are related in plenty of methods: Interface type, file format assist, lack of cloud integration and real-time collaboration, and basic phrase processing options. Each are strong selections for these searching for a free different to Microsoft Phrase, and choosing one over the opposite largely comes right down to choice.

One side of LibreOffice stands out, and it isn’t what’s within the app–it’s the community-driven nature of the platform. Collaborating with customers and builders to enhance the product is entrance and heart on LibreOffice’s web site, and that focus has grown LibreOffice right into a thriving group of customers and coders that preserve making it higher.

WPS Workplace Author

If you need a phrase processor that’s simply as function packed as Phrase, however you don’t wish to pay a premium, try WPS Workplace Author. It’s a full-featured software suite that feels premium.

WPS Workplace Author does many of the identical issues as Microsoft Phrase, and it consists of native cloud assist to make storing paperwork on-line a snap; nevertheless, it does lack real-time collaboration. Take a look at any evaluation of WPS Workplace Author, and also you’ll discover statements that attest how a lot it’s like Phrase. With its inclusion of extra options than different free suites like OpenOffice, this is perhaps the one to go for–particularly contemplating you don’t should pay for it.

With something free and top quality, there’s a catch, and also you would possibly be capable to guess what it’s in our fashionable age of “freemium” apps: Adverts. Don’t let that dissuade you from making an attempt WPS Author–you won’t see an advert. There’s no banner throughout the highest of the app–advertisements solely seem if you wish to use choose options like printing or exporting to PDF. If it’s essential do a kind of issues, you’ll have to take a seat by a roughly 10-second advert, which unlocks the function for half-hour. In the event you like what WPS Author has to supply, you’ll be able to decide to get rid of advertisements by paying a yearly subscription price of $29.99, or you’ll be able to fork over $119.99 for a lifetime license.

Microsoft Workplace Phrase On-line

Don’t overlook Microsoft’s free different to the paid model of Phrase: Workplace On-line. Like Google Docs, Microsoft Phrase On-line is a simplified, cloud-based model of Phrase. It lacks plenty of the superior options of a locally-installed model of Phrase, however for customers who need a free model of Phrase, that is as shut as you may get.

Similarities between Google Docs and Phrase On-line are current all the best way right down to the interface, however with a couple of tweaks to make it really feel extra just like the Microsoft ribbon as an alternative of the drop-down menus Google Docs customers are used to. Paperwork created in Phrase On-line are saved in Microsoft OneDrive, and real-time collaboration options like these in Google Docs can be found as properly. One huge plus in Phrase On-line’s favor is formatting: In the event you create a doc in Phrase On-line after which import it to a neighborhood model of Microsoft Phrase, it’s going to retain the formatting manner higher than if it’s made in Google Docs.