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Add to SafariWhen comparing SoftMaker Office/FreeOffice vs Google Drive, the Slant community recommends Google Drive for most people. In the question“What are the best office suites for UNIX-like systems?” Google Drive is ranked 2nd while SoftMaker Office/FreeOffice is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose Google Drive is:
Google account holders and non-holders can be set to access and/or collaborate on files/folders in real-time. Additionally, you can find files you've shared not only by filename but by person you've shared the files with.
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 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 EU based company
Follows the the General Data Protection Regulation of the EU.
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 Free technical support
If you face any issues, you can always use the technical support by developer SoftMaker, it's free.
Pro Documentation
Even the FreeOffice version includes a Handbook in PDF.
Pro EPUB export included
You can create high-quality e-books in EPUB format easily.
Pro Integration of Zotero
Especially important for academic use: SM Office has a great working connector to Zotero for the direct insertion of citations.
Pro Free for teachers
The regular paid version is free for teachers.
Pro Great amount of advanced features
Compared to alternatives like OnlyOffice and WPS, really important advanced features especially for compatibility with Excel.
Pro File sharing & collaborative editing
Google account holders and non-holders can be set to access and/or collaborate on files/folders in real-time. Additionally, you can find files you've shared not only by filename but by person you've shared the files with.
Pro 15GB free
This space is shared across Drive, Gmail & Google Photos.
Pro Built-in office suite
Includes tools for writing, presentations and spreadsheets.
Pro Integrates with other Google services
For example, you can use search to search through both Drive and Gmail.
Pro Extended functionality via apps
Third party Drive applications running in Chrome or Android can add functionality such as image/video editing, project management, flowchart creation, etc.
Pro Mobile integration
You can work from any device, especially mobile.
Pro Save files to drive directly from Gmail
Drive lets you save any file from your email.
Pro Cheap for extra storage
$1.99 per 100GB, for up to 16TB.
Pro Revision control
By clicking Ctrl + Alt + G in Windows or Command + Alt + Shift + G is OS X you can access previous version of the file.
Pro Indexes images
You can search images by object, place, or face when they've been added to your google photos collection. Google Assistant also helps you find screenshots that could be archived, images that aren't in the correct orientation and pictures that would work well as animations or albums.
Cons
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 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 Installs a lot of crap and does not clean up
On Linux it installs over 40 MB of templates, images and other crap people will never need.
De-install does not clean up usr/share/freeoffice.
Con Breaks icon themes
On Linux it breaks all icon themes by modifying them.
Con No VBA support
As Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is proprietary software used in MS Office.
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 No official client for Linux
Google as of yet has a client for Linux, leaving many who use the service forced to use third party apps or the webpage.
Con Data privacy not guaranteed
Data privacy is widely known as one of Google's weaknesses. Data shared through Google is most likely matched up with the user's profile inside other Alphabet inc. subsidiaries, and, due to the business model, used commercially.
Con Terms and Conditions allow Google to own anything on Google Drive
They can create derivative works, they can perform it, they can modify it, and they can publish it at will. There are many other specific rights they take over your product. Read the Terms carefully and compare with ANY others.
Con Very unreliable
Desktop client constantly crashes.
Con No WebDAV, FTP or SFTP
It supports none of these common protocols used for access to network storage, which severely limits OS integration. You are forced to use the browser or a standalone client, which isn't possible on all systems.
Con Low bandwidth
Can't even upload all my files to this
Con Low sync speed
Con No universal Windows app
Con Doesn't integrate well with OS
