Ditching MS Office 365 for LibreOffice ... Maybe

[Bristolian]

Hi folks,

My annual license for Office 365 is up for renewal in a month and I'm seriously considering transitioning back to LibreOffice. I used to use it until a few years ago but when I started working from home the company insisted I use Office so as not to have any compatibility issues.

One question I have is what to use as an email client/calendar/contacts? I've tried using web-mail but can't get on with having to log into a web site just to have an email delivered. I have several email addresses from gmail.com, blueyonder.co.uk and icloud.com all of which are currently handled by Outlook which synchronises across two Windows PCs, an iPhone and iPad.

I looked at Thunderbird years ago and the email side of that worked pretty well but the calendar and contacts were a nightmare to set up and didn't always synchronise. Has it been improved recently or Is there anything better?

Cheers for your suggestions
Steve

 

[droj]

I find Thunderbird excellent in itself, & its bound to be better than when you last looked at it. I'd give it a look-in.

My domain name and Gmail addresses are piped into it alongside my default isp email address. I use it across pc & android phone (& iPhone before that).

Haven't a clue about synchronisation. My main account settings are set via the pc, which is my main vehicle, such as preserve messages on server ad infinitum, but delete from server if deleted locally.

Sorry if that's not much help.

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

One question I have is what to use as an email client/calendar/contacts? I've tried using web-mail but can't get on with having to log into a web site just to have an email delivered.

You should be able to use web mail "without" a password if you let the browser store your password. Most, if not all, current browsers will do this.

I have several email addresses from gmail.com, blueyonder.co.uk and icloud.com all of which are currently handled by Outlook which synchronises across two Windows PCs, an iPhone and iPad.

I use all those, as well as OS-X Macbooks and even Linux. The browsers all store my web mail passwords.

I looked at Thunderbird years ago and the email side of that worked pretty well but the calendar and contacts were a nightmare

My default is the Google web tools for calendar and contacts. They're simple, effective and have apps for iPhone and iPad, which work very well, for me at least.

All the web based systems I use integrate seemlessly across the various operating systems, and all can be used offline with tools like Thunderbird as a backup, so they seem, to me, more useful than a device based system.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Thunderbird and libre office here and you would have to drag me kicking and screaming to micro$oft and money isn't even the main reason

 

[Sangoma]

Thunderbird is great, you can have all your emails on view at the same time, whatever they are, no more logging on to different ones to check

We tend to use google for the calendar, as we have family in different parts of the world, and there is always someone to help them.

 

[Dael_Pix]

I use Libre and have done for a number of years. Never had a problem with it. Good software

 

[vintageman]

For me, one of the best features of Tbird is the ability to set up local folders so that it is possible for a particular contact to have their own individual folder for storing all their mail

 

[Bristolian]

I find Thunderbird excellent in itself, & its bound to be better than when you last looked at it. I'd give it a look-in.

My domain name and Gmail addresses are piped into it alongside my default isp email address. I use it across pc & android phone (& iPhone before that).

Haven't a clue about synchronisation. My main account settings are set via the pc, which is my main vehicle, such as preserve messages on server ad infinitum, but delete from server if deleted locally.

Sorry if that's not much help.

Thanks droj, that's very helpful

 

[Bristolian]

You should be able to use web mail "without" a password if you let the browser store your password. Most, if not all, current browsers will do this.

I use all those, as well as OS-X Macbooks and even Linux. The browsers all store my web mail passwords.

My default is the Google web tools for calendar and contacts. They're simple, effective and have apps for iPhone and iPad, which work very well, for me at least.

All the web based systems I use integrate seemlessly across the various operating systems, and all can be used offline with tools like Thunderbird as a backup, so they seem, to me, more useful than a device based system.

View attachment 418643

Thanks for the input Andrew. I'm not a fan of Google's contacts and calendar but I guess I could get used to using them.

 

[Bristolian]

For me, one of the best features of Tbird is the ability to set up local folders so that it is possible for a particular contact to have their own individual folder for storing all their mail

Yes, I also have a folder system for emails in Outlook which I would like to have replicated in TBird.

 

[Bristolian]

Hi folks, sorry I haven't been back here for awhile. I thought I would give an update of where I am with this little project.

The day after my original post I installed Libre Office on my laptop to get an idea of how I could integrate it into my way of doing things. That all went surprisingly easily and so I did the same thing with my desktop PC as well. Both are now working perfectly and Office 365 hasn't been used since.

Thunderbird was installed on my laptop about a week ago. Setting it up to ingest my various email addresses was pretty simple once I figured out that I needed app-specific passwords for my iCloud accounts. Next to tackle was calendar and contacts which reside within my main iCloud account (and which had given me such a headache when I tried this before) but once I did a bit of digging the solution was again pretty simple. There is an add-on called TbSync that can synchronise lots of different accounts and came with detailed instructions, so that is also now fully functional. Happy days

The final step in moving away from MS was to delete everything stored on OneDrive and link it to iCloud Drive, which was also fairly painless. My documents have also been sync'd to my Synology NAS for some time but I wanted a cloud based solution as I find that faster accessing files when I'm away from home.

Actually, the final step is to replicate everything I've done on the wife's laptops

Thanks for all the comments and tips above. This really is a great place to come for information and ideas ... even if their not photography related

 

[ianp5a]

Great you got it sorted.
Regarding the mysteries of synchronising contacts and calendar, this might interest some here, I use Nextcloud for this. It gives you a sync address to put in any calendar or address book. It doesn't matter which you use as it uses standard formats. Mines been running flawlessly for many years.
This is what I use:

• Nextcloud. Go to https://nextcloud.com/sign-up/ and pick a provider. Most have a free plan
• Mobile: On Android, DavX5 app syncs standard calendars and contacts. https://www.davx5.com
  • Contacts in Google can be migrated to the standard Webdav
  • Same with Calendar to the standard Caldav.
• PC I entered the sync address in Thunderbird contacts and calendar.

You can also sync photos and share folders via Nextcloud too. A real benefit is it gets you away from Microsoft and Google etc. And you don't join Nextcloud. That is just the software in the background. You choose a provider of your choice.
I put more details here.