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Add to SafariWhen comparing SoftMaker Office/FreeOffice vs WPS Office, the Slant community recommends SoftMaker Office/FreeOffice for most people. In the question“What are the best office suites for Linux?” SoftMaker Office/FreeOffice is ranked 2nd while WPS Office is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose SoftMaker Office/FreeOffice is:
SoftMaker office can open doc(x), xls(x), and ppt(x) files without messing up formatting.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Great interoperability with Microsoft Office
SoftMaker office can open doc(x), xls(x), and ppt(x) files without messing up formatting.
Pro Has a free version
A free version, called SoftMaker FreeOffice, is available.
FreeOffice is a stripped down version of SoftMaker Office, with less features, templates and interface polish, but it still is feature-packed and with the same excellent import and export filters that enable opening/saving Microsoft Office formats faithfully.
Pro EU based company
Follows the the General Data Protection Regulation of the EU.
Pro Multi-platform
Works on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android.
Pro Low on dependencies
On Linux it avoids the common widget toolkits which makes it really lightweight compared to other office suites.
Pro Configurable user interface
Includes the possibility to use Ribbons or classical Menus.
Pro Free technical support
If you face any issues, you can always use the technical support by developer SoftMaker, it's free.
Pro EPUB export included
You can create high-quality e-books in EPUB format easily.
Pro Documentation
Even the FreeOffice version includes a Handbook in PDF.
Pro Free for teachers
The regular paid version is free for teachers.
Pro Closed source
It might be true that open source can help with bug fixes and new features but at the same time it makes your code visible and vunerable to anyone who is interested.
Pro Excellent Microsoft Office compatibility
WPS has the best compatibility with MS Office files of all major office suites that support Linux.
Pro Ribbon-like UI
WPS is the only Linux office suit to offer a Ribbon-like UI for better ease of use. Although, if you wish to keep using a classic drop-down menu style UI, you can.
Pro Cross-platform desktop and mobile
Available on Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.
Pro Free version
WPS comes in three flavors: Free, Standard ($49.95) and Professional ($69.95).
Pro Tabbed interface
Instead of open up a new instance of the program for each document, WPS opens each document as a separate tab, allowing for easy switching between them.
Pro Multilingual
WPS Office is available in more than 40 languages.
Pro Pdf viewer
Has support to view pdf files.
Pro Integrated backups
WPS will automatically save your document over time to prevent data loss.
Pro Encryption support
WPS allows you to encrypt and password-lock files.
Pro View documents side by side
You can split the window allowing to view different parts of the same document, or open two documents for comparison, also imitating Microsoft Word.
Pro Clean edition when sharing your document
Text modifications can be verified at the margins, not mixed with the text, imitating Microsoft Word. On the other side, LibreOffice/OpenOffice don't have this very useful feature.
Pro Smooth integration with many different cloud services at the same time
WPS integrates with multiple cloud service's at once such as Dropbox, One Drive, Google Drive and more.
Pro Change pdf documents to word
Pro PRO It is not owned by Microsoft
I want to support linux & open source as Im leaving Microsoft because of their greed and instability with updates etc.. (personal preference)
Cons
Con Proprietary software
Although some versions/programs are free to download, they're all proprietary licenses utilizing a freeware model.
Con Free version needs registration
The free version needs to be registered with a valid email adress.
Con The regular paid version is not free for students as it is for teachers
For students to use it, there needs to be a free student license for the regular (with . docx support) version.
Con Breaks icon themes
On Linux it breaks all icon themes by modifying them.
Con It's not Microsoft Office and it never will be
Use SoftMaker Office only if you want basic MS Office-like features. Once you delve deeper into the software the omissions become glaringly obvious.
Con Lacks ODF support
WPS Office does not support importing or exporting OpenDocument Format, the default file format of LibreOffice and OpenOffice.
Con Proprietary Software
Although some versions/programs are free to download, they're all proprietary licenses utilizing a freeware model.
Con No equation editor in Linux
Equation editor for Linux has been "under development" for several years with no real additional info from the developers. Safe to say it's just not going to happen. No equation editor is a deal breaker for some, which is a shame. Otherwise this office suite performs very well.
Con Chinese software
Might be a security problem for some end-users.
Con No HiDPI support
Problematic with 4K screens.
Con Installing can be a hassle
A .deb file is offered, but missing fonts can be a problem.
Con Only the basic office tools
WPS has software for word-processing, spreadsheets and presentations. No tools for database management, note-taking, graphics, etc.
Con Default font styles are not pretty
Con No hyphenaton, no help or real forum
Lack of hyphenation in Writer is a terrible mistake. Reading the few forums about it will let you know that it breaks the words without rules and without hyphens in any language. The question was stated in 2013 and still doesn't have an answer. Their help system practically doesn't exist, everything leads you to a 404 page. Maybe this issue could be easily resolved by developers with a plugin or something like that, but the Linux community doesn't show interest for the product.
Con Dumps configuration files onto the desktop that are visible to the user
Each of the apps in the suite has a .desktop configuration file that is created at first launch and remains thereafter. Removal results in re-creation.
Con CON Some Ms Fonts are not available (ie Ariel)
Might be able to download them, but I havent really looked yet.
Con Ads
There are in-app ads.
Con Very slow to load
I looks like there is a splash screen, but it doesn't appear until just before the full interface loads, which can be about 20 seconds. It is often slow enough to cause the user to click again and again, resulting in the app loading multiple times in succession.
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