Office and Outlook Replacements

Bristolian

Bristolian

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I've just told my employer that I'm going to retire at Christmas and have started looking at ways of saving a few Pounds here and there. One item that I could do without is Microsoft 365, replacing it with Libre Office (or something similar) but then I would have to find a replacement for Outlook. Thunderbird looks like it would be a good alternative but I have read there are issues getting Thunderbird to integrate with iCloud's calendar and contacts so that they automatically synchronise. I have already downloaded Thunderbird to my PC and set up the email so I know about using an app specific password.

I will also be ditching OneDrive and using my NAS to sync documents, etc., across all my appliances.

Do any Thunderbird users on here use it with an iCloud account? If so, how easy was it to set up?

Does anyone want to suggest a better alternative to LibreOffice for Word, Excel & PowerPoint? Maybe something with an email client built-in?
 
Like you I used Office for many years at work; I did have student version for home initially as my son was at university. However, ever since he has been working, he buys a 365 multi license which I and my wife get. He also pays for my Amazon Prime and Netflix. With the 365, I use Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, Word and Publisher so worthwhile for me. Some of my Access databases go back a long way and I would hate to have to restart these again. At various times in the past, I have received Libre Office files which were unreadable, but they seem to have improved the compatibility in recent years.

Dave
 
:plus1: For Libre Ofice, I find gmail adequate for my needs?

P.S, enjoy your retirement ;)
 
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Norkie said:
:plus1: For Libre Ofice, I find gmail adequate for my needs?

P.S, enjoy your retirement ;)
Click to expand...
:plus1: though Apple Mail is my client, collecting email from various sources inc Gmail.
 
You might want to give this a look for Office 2021 on AppleInsider, offer is for both for Mac and Windows versions $36 / £38 I've just done it today for my Mac without any issue, you need to login to Microsoft with the received Product ID etc to activate it, so seems legit - also its been on the site for a few weeks at various prices, just a happy customer here.
 
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Some apparently legit Adobe deals turned out to be not legit at all...


Still £38 wasted for proprietary and far inferior imho software Vs libre office and worst case it will be bootlegged
 
Bristolian said:
I've just told my employer that I'm going to retire at Christmas and have started looking at ways of saving a few Pounds here and there. One item that I could do without is Microsoft 365, replacing it with Libre Office (or something similar) but then I would have to find a replacement for Outlook. Thunderbird looks like it would be a good alternative but I have read there are issues getting Thunderbird to integrate with iCloud's calendar and contacts so that they automatically synchronise. I have already downloaded Thunderbird to my PC and set up the email so I know about using an app specific password.

I will also be ditching OneDrive and using my NAS to sync documents, etc., across all my appliances.

Do any Thunderbird users on here use it with an iCloud account? If so, how easy was it to set up?

Does anyone want to suggest a better alternative to LibreOffice for Word, Excel & PowerPoint? Maybe something with an email client built-in?
Click to expand...

I have just installed Office2019 Professional Plus on a new laptop, cost of licence key was £40 with the use of a discount code.

This allows me to use the full office suite on my PC, including outlook - This is the stand alone applications and not the 365 cloud subscription product.

Happy to send you the full details if your interested.

EDIT: Just to add there is a new code floating about that would bring the price down to £35.80
 
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With the email you can always just use the web version. Outlook is free on the web version.
 
Firstly, thanks for all the suggestions above. After a few days of experimenting with several office-like suites I have decided to go with Libre Office as it gives the greatest compatibility with MS Office. For email, I am going to use Thunderbird. Having mail, contacts and calendar in one application is useful but, whilst setting up the email was relatively easy (it requires an app-specific password) getting it to sync with my iCloud contacts and calendar was rather more complicated. Once working though it does everything perfectly.

For completeness, all the files that I normally store on OneDrive will go onto my NAS (which can be accessed over the Internet) and be sync'd to my desktop PC and laptop. Internet access to the NAS will also allow me to view and edit documents on my iPhone and iPad, should I need to.

Job done and ready for the day I ditch MS :)
 
thunderbord is very good, it syncs brill with my xiomi and i like it a lot
 
Okay folks, I am having a small issue and could do with some assistance, please :)

Thunderbird is installed and both my iCloud email and calendar are working great but I can't for the life of me find a solution for either importing or syncing my iCloud contacts list.

TBH I'm not so bothered about syncing the contacts as the list doesn't change that often but I really don't fancy typing in all the details of my existing contacts - the opportunities for mastikes are too great :(

TbSync appears to be favourite option but it doesn't work with version 102.3 of Tbird. Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
Absolutely typical! As soon as I posted the above I solved the import problem - I probably should have seen the Import button before - and now have my contacts list in Tbird.

Just on the off chance ... does anyone know how to sync it with iCloud?
 
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