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My Word Processor of Choice

I have had this website up for a couple of months now and have published some reviews and my first blog post. I did say in my first post that I would follow up on which office product I decided to use based on my trials. Keep in mind I’m about efficiency and cost. Here’s what I’ve done thus far. 

I bailed on Apple’s office suite pretty quickly. I started writing my Garmin Fenix 6Xpro review on a windows machine… So right there how’s this going to work? ICloud is my personal email and they only offer 5GB of free storage, so between my personal stuff and this that’s not going very far. I also haven’t really used Pages, Apple’s word processor, so I was unfamiliar with the layout and what it’s even capable of. I really wasn’t in the mood to try and learn something new anyways. So I just moved on.

Starting with Microsoft Office. In case you didn’t know, you can use Microsoft office for free if you use it on the web. I’m most familiar with Office so I wanted to just get to work without having to learn something new. I found that the web is either missing some features or maybe it’s just laid out a little differently, either way, I wrote a rough draft of my August Smart lock and began to edit. Since I was using office on the web, my stuff was automatically saved to my OneDrive. It’s similar functionality to Google docs autosaving; who did it first? I don’t know but I do like it. I was able to log into my Microsoft account and edit the document on my Windows PC and my MacBook with no issues there. So for this website, advancedechollc.com, I set up an email address. That email address is managed by Google. I have a Google workspace I’m trying to keep copies of everything organized in some fashion. This created an extra step for me, I then needed to download my completed file and upload it into Google drive or email it over and then save it to drive from Gmail. If typing in Word on the web felt like the Word application I would continue with this approach, but unfortunately, it did not. I saw no benefit in using Word on the Web vs Google Docs. 

Here’s a little information about ONLYOFFICE. ONLYOFFICE is a full office suite of tools that includes a word processor, spreadsheet application, and presentation creator. It is designed to be an alternative to popular office suite software such as Microsoft Office. Some features of ONLYOFFICE include:

  • Compatibility with a variety of file formats, including DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX
  • Collaboration tools, such as real-time co-editing and the ability to leave comments on documents
  • Integration with popular cloud storage services, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive
  • Mobile apps for Android and iOS, allowing you to access and edit documents on the go

ONLYOFFICE is a good choice for individuals and organizations that need an office suite but don’t want to pay for a subscription-like Microsoft O365. It is also a good option for those who need to collaborate with others on documents and presentations.

I really enjoy ONLYOFFICE and installed it on all my computers. I’m going to tell you it’s an exact Microsoft replacement, but it is as close as it gets. It feels much more familiar than LibreOffice.

A comparison of ONLYOFFICE and Google docs: They are both office suite tools that allow you to create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Below are some key differences between the two:

  • Compatibility: ONLYOFFICE is compatible with a wider range of file formats, including DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX, while Google Docs is limited to its own set of file formats.
  • Collaboration: Both ONLYOFFICE and Google Docs offer real-time co-editing and the ability to leave comments on documents. However, Google Docs is generally considered to have a more advanced collaboration feature set, including the ability to see other users’ cursors as they edit and to see a history of changes made to a document.
  • Storage: Google Docs is part of the Google Suite of tools, which includes Google Drive, a cloud storage service. This means that you can store your documents in Google Drive and access them from any device. ONLYOFFICE, on the other hand, integrates with a variety of cloud storage services, including Google Drive, but does not provide its own storage.
  • Pricing: Google Docs is free to use, although there is a paid version called Google Workspace that includes additional features. ONLYOFFICE offers a free version, but also has paid plans with additional features.

Where did I land? Well, Google. Why you may ask. The biggest reason is convenience. Since I’m using Google for my email and have a Google Workspace, Google Drive is my go-to for archiving my posts and images. For this site, I’m really only using word processing and haven’t found it too difficult to find my desired formatting options. I really like to keep everything in one place, I can start typing something one moment and pick it up at another time. One discovery I did come across is – It’s very easy to upload a .docx file and edit it with Google Docs, BUT, it is not so friendly to go the other way. Google has put a lot of work into making other formats compatible with docs but not so much effort into converting my Google Doc file into a .docx. Not that big of a deal since you really just lose some special formatting like indents.

My 2 picks moving forward are ONLYOFFICE and Google Docs; with the majority going to Google Docs. Overall they are good choices for online office suite tools, and which one is best for you will depend on your specific needs and preferences.

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