An office suite is a collection of programs that contain word processors, spreadsheets, presentations, and database programs. There are different types of office suites which include;

  • Google Workspace
  • Libre Office
  • Microsoft Office
  • Apache OpenOffice
  • FreeOffice
  • WPS Office
  • Mobisystems OfficeSuite

For Linux users, there are 2 free office suites

  • AIUS – Andrew User Interface System
  • Siag Office -Scheme in a Grid

And 2 proprietary office suites

  • Broadvision Quicksilver formerly known as Interleaf
  • Applixware, formerly known as Aster*x developed by Applix Inc.

FreeOffice

FreeOffice just from its name is a free, compatible, easy-to-use, and cross-platform office suite created by SoftMaker. It can be installed on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is completely free for both personal and business use as an added advantage.

FreeOffice 2021 is the latest release which has the following components;

  • Text maker is a word processor program that supports the use of footnotes and endnotes within the same document.
  • Plan Maker which is the spreadsheets program has new Open-GL-based animations and slide transitions.
  • The Presentation program that is used to design presentations adds support for conditional formats and gets extended pivot tables.

 Features

  • Uncompromising compatibility with Microsoft suite formats.
  • Alternate between ribbons and classic menus.
  • Optimized for a Touch screen by enlarging icons and space controls.
  • Supports multiple languages including Spanish

In this guide, I will show you how to install FreeOffice on KDE Neon|Kubuntu system.

Installation of FreeOffice on KDE Neon / Kubuntu

First, update your system

### KDE Neon ###
sudo apt update && sudo pkcon update -y

### Kubuntu ###
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Log in to your console as a root user

sudo -i

Install curl

sudo apt install curl

Then add the official GPG key for FreeOffice using the following command.

curl -fsSL https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/linux-repo-public.key|sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/freeoffice.gpg

Then add the repository to your system with commands below:

echo "deb https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/apt stable non-free"|sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/softmaker.list

At this point, you can exit the root user and continue to update your system, and install FreeOffice.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install softmaker-freeoffice*

Sample output

Get:1 https://shop.softmaker.com/repo/apt stable/non-free amd64 softmaker-freeoffice-2021 amd64 3138 [131 MB]
Fetched 131 MB in 3s (50.6 MB/s)                    
Selecting previously unselected package softmaker-freeoffice-2021.
(Reading database ... 358579 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../softmaker-freeoffice-2021_3138_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking softmaker-freeoffice-2021 (3138) ...
Setting up softmaker-freeoffice-2021 (3138) ...
Using existing xdg-utils
Create MIME
Adding document icons. This may take a few minutes...
Updating theme breeze /1 of 2/
Updating theme breeze-dark /1 of 2/
Updating theme hicolor /1 of 2/
Updating theme breeze /2 of 2/
Updating theme breeze-dark /2 of 2/
Updating theme hicolor /2 of 2/
Registering MIME types...

You can launch the application from the application launcher

With context to any of the programs you open first, you will be prompted to choose the interface that you would prefer and enable touch mode. The interface looks like the one below.

FreeOffice TextMaker

The text maker is the word processor program. The first time you open the Text maker, it will show a guide to help you get started.

You can then open a new empty TextMaker where you can make a word document. You can also create PDF files within the application.

FreeOffice PlanMaker

The PlanMaker is a spreadsheet program that can be used to analyze data. You can also insert charts, and text frames and choose from other attractive styles compatible with Microsoft Excel 2021.

FreeOffice Presentations

The presentations program is used to make impressive presentations. You can insert pictures and text frames and apply different font effects via the TextArt feature within the application

You have successfully installed FreeOffice on KDE Neon|Kubuntu.

Conclusion

In this guide, we have installed FreeOffice on Kubuntu|KDE Neon system. We have seen the text maker, plan maker, and presentations programs. FreeOffice being free and having favorable settings that make it compatible with most office suites document formats makes it unique. You should try it.

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