OnlyOffice 8 is a new version of the office suite, one of the alternatives to Microsoft Office that dominates the segment, especially in companies and administration.

When people talk about alternatives to Microsoft Office, they mainly talk about LibreOffice. Fantastic collaboration and productivity software with more than enough features for the vast majority of users, which is also one of the pillars of the free software ecosystem. But he is not the only one. And there are other novelties, also released under open source and also free for personal use, whose nom de guerre tells us what to expect: “as powerful as Microsoft Office, free as LibreOffice.”

Office 8 only

The new version 8.0.1 supports an interface that is closer to the elegant (but underwhelming) of Microsoft Office than to the (more spartan) LibreOffice. Personally, I like the adopted “middle of the road”, useful, visually attractive, but less bloated than Microsoft.

Another feature that stands out is that it contains its five main functions (document editor, spreadsheet, presentation, PDF viewer/annotator and form builder) in a single and optimized application, with tabs in one window. If you don’t quite like this option, you can adjust it so that each application opens separately.

His is also remarkable reduced resource consumption compared to its competitors, allowing it to be used on older, less powerful machines and older operating systems without having to use the latest versions. For example, it works on Windows since XP.

For this type of software, compatibility with the formats used by Microsoft is mandatory, and in OnlyOffice they have taken the “bull by the horns” and works with OOXML by default. Of course, it also supports ODF and can export to other formats such as PDF.

In terms of features, it is below Office and LibreOffice, especially in spreadsheets. However, it has all the basic features and other collaboration tools, including the ability to connect directly to various open source cloud services, including Nextcloud, or to its own online ecosystem, OnlyOffice. It also has a large number of plugins, including WordPress and ChatGPT as examples.

OnlyOffice 8 (v8.0.1) is now available as free download for Windows, macOS and Linux. The app also offers various paid business services. The suite installs locally, but can also be used online thanks to the free community edition of its Workspace version, which can be installed natively on Windows Server, Linux, or via Docker.

Free, open source and lighter than other big suites, you can try it because it can be enough for your office tasks. Recommended.