Can I edit .docx files without a Microsoft 365 subscription and if not are there any alternatives

TLDR: can I edit docx files on word without a subscription and if not what are some apps that can allow me to do so

Like the title says I need the ability to edit .docx for college (sadly other file formats aren’t accepted AFAIK) and my Microsoft 365 subscription is expiring and will not be renewed thanks to you lovely people getting me on the Proton family of software and obsidian for note taking.

However i created a .docx file today and and got a popup in word saying my Microsoft subscription is expiring soon (in march I believe) and that I would lose many feature.

This scary message wasn’t very helpful as to what features id lose (probably a lot of them I don’t even use) but the internet has not been helpful in telling me if I can still view and edit all my docx files that I have been collecting and creating over the years and have migrated to my proton drive

If I won’t be able to access docx files in word what are some apps that can open them from my proton drive (this is a hard requirement for me).

Aradia, (edited )
@Aradia@lemmy.ml avatar

You can activate it with these scripts github.com/…/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts (I think it’s the easiest way for you as you are already using it and the only issue it’s the stupid message to force you to pay for it)

But would be nice if you were not forced to use Microsoft Office.

lntl,

If you only need a word processor, try Abiword. Otherwise if you need a full office suite: LibreOffice

max,

Onlyoffice, libreoffice can do the job

ReveredOxygen,
@ReveredOxygen@sh.itjust.works avatar

Does your college not provide you with an MS Office license?

ArcaneGadget,

Softmaker Freeoffice has worked brilliantly for me. It’s very familiar if you are used to Microsoft Office, and it seems to do the compatibility part very, VERY well.

0xtero,

LibreOffice will do just fine reading and writing the format as long as you don’t care too much about small formatting/layout differences.

It will also struggle if you’ve embedded other office components into your documents (like excel embedded in word).

kuadhual,

I second every suggestions about Libreoffice. It’s free, open source and works in Windows, MacOS and Linux.

The problems lies in the different rendering engine. If you have table of contents, floating image and anything that impact text flow; it will be rendered differently between the two apps.

I still use Libreoffice as my primary editor, but if I need to send docs to other people, I will export it to PDF. But if I really need to send docx or pptx, I will format it in WPS office before sending the docs to others.

FlihpFlorp,

Thanks for the suggestions. I was going to use libreoffice as the main editor but then use open office if my document had images or anything that doesn’t play nice with libreoffice but the pdf suggestion sounds better

shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit,

How about using the free browser-based tier of MS Office 365 microsoft.com/…/free-office-online-for-the-web - but with an alt email address for this purpose only?

WarmSoda,

Doesn’t OpenOffice have the ability to edit Office files?
It’s been awhile, I could be wrong.

FlihpFlorp,

I wouldn’t know lol but I’m assuming it does since someone else recommended it

As for now tho I’m gonna check out libreoffice and then have open office as a back up now that more than 1 person is recommending it

floofloof,

I think they recommended Only Office, not Open Office.

Platform27,

Due to its proprietary nature, finding software that can properly read those files can be tricky.

LibreOffice is the usual go-to for folks wanting an office suite, that respects privacy, and FOSS. It can read docx files, but it can mess up formatting. Still, for many it’s the preferred choice. It’s got the best reputation.

Now if formatting REALLY matters, take a look at OnlyOffice. It handles those MS formats so much better. It’s not a bad suite, but it’s hard to beat the good reputation Libreoffice has gained.

FlihpFlorp,

Oh this is helpful

Yeah another person said it gets funky with formatting but that’s not a huge deal for me as the most complex formats for the class syllabus I like to just have a copy but probably nothing I can’t do by saving it as a pdf

And like I said in those comments my own documents aren’t complex mostly just using tab and enter to make my documents more readable for myself

TCB13, (edited )
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

You don’t use complex formats you say… just don’t forget that LibreOffice thinks bullets points are “complex formats”:

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/1ef94126-115b-4a4b-8207-84bca7387e49.jpeg

What OS are you using?

FlihpFlorp,

Ah I see good to know. For me formatting issues aren’t a super big deal and sounds like it’s outweighed with its reputation here. I guess if it does become an issue I can simply hop over to open office but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

LibreOffice and OnlyOffice will certainly be better than OpenOffice.

FlihpFlorp,

Also didn’t see your bottom question at first but I’m on windows and edit documents both on my home laptop and one I bring to my classes which is why being able to play nice with proton drive is a must for me.

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

So why not simply use MS Office? Way less hassle to deal with. Licenses are available for cheap on eBay or pirated form reputable sources.

FlihpFlorp,

I was planning on using MS Office originally when writing the posts but 1) I didn’t know if it was going to work after my subscription expired, and 2) I wanted to see what else is out there

TCB13,
@TCB13@lemmy.world avatar

Seriously, download MAS and choose Ohook. Enjoy your permanently serialized and activated MS Office. :)

takeda,

So in the description you said edit, but here you say read (syllabus). If just reading is the requirement, there was a word reader, not sure if it is still available. I also believe once subscription expires, you still will be able to view, just edit.

Also what’s wrong with your school requiring word document and not providing a free license for the software? My college at least provided free license during my class.

As other alternatives I don’t have better than libre office (at the time I was using, libre office didn’t exist and I used OpenOffice, I still was using it, primarily, because of using Linux on my laptop) and submitted my work as PDF and didn’t have problems, but my class were requirements in computer science so I’m sure I wasn’t the only one doing it.

FlihpFlorp,

Yeah that’s my bad I just couldn’t think of an example where there was formatting in the document

Yeah I’m definitely going to try libreoffice

infeeeee,

Docx is not a proprietary format, it’s a standard, it’s called Office Open XML: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML

And M$ published its specifications, so Libreoffice devs could support it. But here comes the funny part: M$ (deliberately?) doesn’t follow the specification it published. So the formatting problems of LibreOffice come from M$, because they don’t follow their specs, but M$ can just do whatever they want because of its market share.

I read this story a long time ago, and I’m paraphrasing, but on this wiki page you can read a lot of controversies related to this format: en.wikipedia.org/…/Standardization_of_Office_Open…

HumanPerson,

Aren’t the specifications also insanely long and complicated for good measure?

infeeeee,

Yeah, wiki says it’s 6000 pages. But that’s not that long compared to other similar file standards, and it also contains pptx and xlsx.

For comparison PDF standard is about 1000 pages, HTML (without CSS, just pure HTML) is 1500 pages.

grue,

Docx is not a proprietary format, it’s a standard

It’s a “standard” only in the sense that Microsoft took the MS Office binary file formats (which are basically just writing the internal state of Word/Powerpoint/whatever to disc), serialized it to XML, half-assed some bullshit documentation for it, and bribed the standards body to rubber-stamp it. It’s still, at it’s core, basically defined by whatever nonsense Microsoft’s implementation does.

Cwilliams,

M$ is the best abbreviation for Microsoft yet

v12riceburner,

You can still use Microsoft word web version after your 365 expires. The mobile app has ads if you don’t have a subscription.

FlihpFlorp,

Like I said I have all these files on proton drive

Assuming I stick with word and don’t move to libreoffice like a few comments have suggested- in a desktop environment is really the only difference that it’s now going to open in a web browser, I’m just asking incase it doesn’t play nice with proton drive

Vibi,

I believe you can edit .doc(x) files using Google Docs.

FlihpFlorp,

For obvious reasons I’d like to avoid Google as I’m still migrating away but good to know I can use that as an absolute final resort

freagle,

Libreoffice

FlihpFlorp,

Yeah another commentor suggested it but said it gets funky with formatting but I’m definitely gonna check it out

Also is this it. Just wanna make sure before I download the first libreoffice I see lol

freagle, (edited )

Yes. That’s it. Yes, there can be some problems with formatting. The most common one, though, is fonts. Try it out and see how it goes.

Also, you can open it in Google Drive. But that’s not privacy respecting

FlihpFlorp,

Oh yep they did I just have been writing the wrong thing in all these comments WHOOPS

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