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General discussionAnyone moved from MS Excel to OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc? How was it?(23 posts)solved(23 posts)solved
(23 posts)solved
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This is my favourite topic
Posted September 01, 2015
As the thread title states, has anyone moved from using MS Excel to Calc in OpenOffice or the offshoot LibreOffice?

It is something I'm considering doing what with how Microsoft has gone down the route of limited installs and awful DRM with new MS Office packages. I'm not in any rush right now, but when I do get around to replacing my current PC I'd like to either know that I need a new MS Office suite or have already converted all my documents to OpenOffice/LibreOffice so that the switchover is painless. Clearly the no cost of OpenOffice/LibreOffice is very inviting.

So how difficult is it to convert existing spreadsheets to the OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc format? Especially considering that some of my spreadsheets contain embedded VBA (nothing too complicated, mostly recorded stuff that was then edited).

Are there any differences in the conversion to LibreOffice than OpenOffice? Which is the preferred version? What are the key things to look out for on conversion and should I expect masses of formatting changes to be needed after conversion? Any hints and tips?

And I suppose the big question is: is it worth it? Are OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc easy to use? Do they have pretty much the same functionality of Excel? Any major omissions, additions or changes?
This question / problem has been solved by v3image
Posted September 01, 2015
I've used OO, which I hear has closer 1:1 to Excel than LO. And it's not great.

I use a lot of formatting and calculations in my spreadsheets, and it doesn't all transition correctly. I haven't tried to convert anything with any VBA.

If it's for personal use, I'd say make the switch (I did). If it's for business use, I'd keep using Excel. You'll be able to communicate and present better, cleaner, crisper. And you won't have any embarrassing formatting or calculation differences (as I have :D).
Posted September 01, 2015
I use OpenOffice. Pretty much any basic spreadsheets just open right up. As to Visual Basic macros and such, they are not compatible. I believe OpenOffice has their own variation on it, and can be programmed to do most of the same things, but it would take the effort and wouldn't be backward compatible.
Posted September 01, 2015
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korell: ...snip
Agree with the previous posters. I switched to OO 3 or 4 years ago when the free license for Office expired. It is ok, does most basic things and haven't had any issue with it. As for VBA, don't really use it at home so not on OO, would suspect there is incompatibilities as even though M$ has adopted a more open format for their files, these objects are still proprietary binary components.

Libreoffice, I tried it recently and had a few problems but it looked ok. Seems to have a lot of fans. Personally, and this goes for my professional life, I wouldn't recommend Excel (OO etc.) for anything. Regardless of what task you are attempting to do, other than maybe make a colored pivot chart for managers meeting (whoah look at the pretty colors and the numbers all change if I do this...), it is pretty hopeless in any role. Storing data, use a database, transferring data use XML, CSV or a transport file, etc.

Personally I am moving my tracking grids over to a DB format.
Posted September 01, 2015
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korell: It is something I'm considering doing what with how Microsoft has gone down the route of limited installs and awful DRM with new MS Office packages. I'm not in any rush right now, but when I do get around to replacing my current PC I'd like to either know that I need a new MS Office suite or have already converted all my documents to OpenOffice/LibreOffice so that the switchover is painless. Clearly the no cost of OpenOffice/LibreOffice is very inviting.
Ideally, if I may say, would be if you entangle yourself from any proprietary formats, not just the Office suite. That way you'll be guaranteed unobstructed usage in every sense, of the files you create in such a way, without the need to rely on any single company or application (including OO/LO) ever again, which is actually the main benefit of switching, aside from not having to pay for an office suite. For said reason I would recommend you convert all your documents to corresponding OpenDocument Format and the best way to do that is from within the MS Office you are already using, in order to ensure the best compatibility. MS Office 2007 SP2 onward have builtin ODF support while earlier versions can be expanded using an add-in.

Once you're done with the process you can easily switch to either OO or LO, although I would recommend the latter because it is developed much faster while at the same time incorporating many changes added to OO. As previous posters said, there are some compatibility issues when opening proprietary formats, which OO still handles generally a bit better, but that will only be a concern (assuming you have switched to using open formats yourself) for external files you receive from others. There is also another, third solution in that case, which I always mention last since the program is proprietary, but an excelent app neverthless which focuses on MS Office compatibility thereby handling its files excelently (as far as I'm informed) while also mimicing Office Ribbon interface and on top of everything, personal edition is free. I've given just a bit more info about WPS Office in the other thread.
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korell: So how difficult is it to convert existing spreadsheets to the OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc format? Especially considering that some of my spreadsheets contain embedded VBA (nothing too complicated, mostly recorded stuff that was then edited).

What are the key things to look out for on conversion and should I expect masses of formatting changes to be needed after conversion? Any hints and tips?
As difficult as clicking a mouse. The provided link to MS support page shows how to do it from its Office suite, but the procedure is some from any other.

As for the differences between MS and OpenDocument Format and possible conversion roadblocks, you can consult official MS support page again.
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korell: Are there any differences in the conversion to LibreOffice than OpenOffice?
No, you convert to file not program type and both suites are perfectly equipped for handling ODT.
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korell: Which is the preferred version?
Whether you're asking about preferred ODT or OO/LO version, the answer would be to always aim for the latest.
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korell: And I suppose the big question is: is it worth it? Are OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc easy to use? Do they have pretty much the same functionality of Excel? Any major omissions, additions or changes?
Transition should be very easy, both suites currently resemble older MS Office version (which may change though) and most options you are used to are there where you would expect to find them, or somewhere equally accessible, although some are not implemented yet, but it should also be noted many features found in specifically LO are not yet present in MS one. For a complete up-to-date list of differences between LibreOffice and MS Office, check this The Document Foundation.

As for the worthiness of it, what do you think any OO/LO user, including this one, would say :)
Posted September 01, 2015
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Tallima: I've used OO, which I hear has closer 1:1 to Excel than LO. And it's not great.

I use a lot of formatting and calculations in my spreadsheets, and it doesn't all transition correctly. I haven't tried to convert anything with any VBA.

If it's for personal use, I'd say make the switch (I did). If it's for business use, I'd keep using Excel. You'll be able to communicate and present better, cleaner, crisper. And you won't have any embarrassing formatting or calculation differences (as I have :D).
Don't use OO, it's basically dead. And at any rate, LO ought to have better excel support as it has a ton of compatibility fixes that were left out of OO.
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RWarehall: I use OpenOffice. Pretty much any basic spreadsheets just open right up. As to Visual Basic macros and such, they are not compatible. I believe OpenOffice has their own variation on it, and can be programmed to do most of the same things, but it would take the effort and wouldn't be backward compatible.
This is the main reason to stick with Excel. Things like that aren't reliable at the present, but most of the basic things that people do are going to work between the two.

Especially if one uses an open format.
Post edited September 01, 2015 by hedwards
Posted September 01, 2015
Apparently as of 5.0, LO has made Calc far more powerful. Like Vegeta after his first encounter with the Z warriors!
Posted September 01, 2015
I use LibreOffice. Some minor changes, but it's a matter of getting used to. More complicated macros don't work however, which might be a reason for me to switch back to Excel.
Posted September 01, 2015
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Tallima: If it's for personal use, I'd say make the switch (I did). If it's for business use, I'd keep using Excel. You'll be able to communicate and present better, cleaner, crisper. And you won't have any embarrassing formatting or calculation differences (as I have :D).
Well, on my home PC (using Excel 2007) the stuff I have is for personal use really. Some of my spreadsheets are just lists, like my game backlog, simple calculation spreadsheets (totalling rows and columns), etc. But then there's my own finances spreadsheet which has a number of sheets working via calculations, and using VBA code to insert rows and copy in formulae triggered on button presses rather than doing it manually, with some more VBA to take totals over multiple spreadsheets due to changing cell references from the insert rows. Not too complicated but it needs the VBA and I daresay that OO/LO has an equivalent code to do this, but how much work that would be I just don't know.

My workplace uses Excel 2010 and so I will still have access to that via my work laptop should I need it. Work is where a lot of my Excel knowledge comes from as frequently we'll use VLOOKUPs and Pivot Tables, dynamic ranges and other complicated formulae, and sometimes VBA code for report formatting (not my preference but that's how it is at work). There are rare times when I've taken a spreadsheet from work, emailed it to myself to continue work on my home PC and then emailed it back afterwards, but as I already mentioned, I can get around this by using my work laptop (which is what I should be doing anyway). For reference, I work in Management Information so I see an awful lot of spreadsheets at work, but thankfully we generate most of our reports via Oracle SQL queries and use Excel to display the data/reports. :)

The other MS Office program I tend to use is MS Word, again because we use it at work. So things like my CV and job applications from the past I've created in Word as they can be opened at work and most of my job applications have been internal anyway. I wouldn't have thought there would be much of an issue with using Word documents in OO/LO as I don't use VBA code in them.
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v3: Ideally, if I may say, would be if you entangle yourself from any proprietary formats, not just the Office suite. That way you'll be guaranteed unobstructed usage in every sense, of the files you create in such a way, without the need to rely on any single company or application (including OO/LO) ever again, which is actually the main benefit of switching, aside from not having to pay for an office suite. For said reason I would recommend you convert all your documents to corresponding OpenDocument Format and the best way to do that is from within the MS Office you are already using, in order to ensure the best compatibility. MS Office 2007 SP2 onward have builtin ODF support while earlier versions can be expanded using an add-in.
But if I'm right in reading that Wiki page you listed, ODF doesn't have any macro capability, but I do use a little bit of VBA here and there.
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korell: Which is the preferred version?
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v3: Whether you're asking about preferred ODT or OO/LO version, the answer would be to always aim for the latest.
I meant as in which is preferred, OO or LO? But from reading the rest of your response it looks like you prefer LO.

I do have the option to remain with Office 2007 as the disc I have doesn't bind to motherboard or anything like that, but that software itself is quite old, considering there has been Office 2010, Office 365 and Office 2013 since.
Post edited September 01, 2015 by korell
Posted September 01, 2015
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nightcraw1er.488: Personally, and this goes for my professional life, I wouldn't recommend Excel (OO etc.) for anything. Regardless of what task you are attempting to do, other than maybe make a colored pivot chart for managers meeting (whoah look at the pretty colors and the numbers all change if I do this...), it is pretty hopeless in any role. Storing data, use a database, transferring data use XML, CSV or a transport file, etc.

Personally I am moving my tracking grids over to a DB format.
I see where you are going with this, but I feel spreadsheets do still have a place. They are simple to put together in comparison to a database, so if you are just doing a list, totalling up values in rows and/or columns, pivoting data, charting data, spreadsheets are the way to go because they are quick to use and I feel they are easily understood.

But I agree in that complicated spreadsheets are better as databases, which is why my own spreadsheets at home are mostly free of VBA, just a couple here and there where I've added in some VBA more for laziness than anything else. In my workplace I get to use Oracle databases and have built some APEX applications (albeit only small ones as I've only had basic APEX training and the rest has been learned by practice and Google searches).
Posted September 01, 2015
I use LibreOffice pretty exclusively now, as others have mentioned your main issue would probably be the VB stuff, as LO can't convert it.

Otherwise, I've had no problem what so ever using LO for spreadsheets, both those I've created and those from others. In fact, I would say I have less issues with formulas and formatting being off with Calc then I do when I open Word documents in Writer.

I also save spreadsheets as Excel files quite often and I've never had any trouble with them in Excel (if that's important).

All in all, I would definitely recommend switching (it's been a long time since I used OO, but I never liked it, I much prefer LO)
Posted September 01, 2015
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korell: But if I'm right in reading that Wiki page you listed, ODF doesn't have any macro capability, but I do use a little bit of VBA here and there.
It states:
Different applications using ODF as a standard document format have different methods of providing macro/scripting capabilities. There is no macro language specified in ODF. Users and developers differ on whether inclusion of a standard scripting language would be desirable.

That means there is no standardised ODF macro language.

LO (OO) uses its own LibreOffice (OpenOffice) Basic language and additionaly it offers macro recording, but it also does have fairly limited VBA support, but if you're going to switch to non-proprietary formats, getting rid of VBA should go with it.

I would assume you're not too eager to learn a new language, but it might turn out to be a matter of small changes in the beginning if you utilise this online VBA to OO Basic converter.

If you're interested though, there are good tutorials on writing macros in Basic. The official LibreOffice Basic Help and Macros are also excellent starting points, where you will find everything needed for the task.
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korell: I meant as in which is preferred, OO or LO? But from reading the rest of your response it looks like you prefer LO.
Yes, I would definitely recommend LO, but whichever one works for you is fine.
Posted September 02, 2015
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korell: So how difficult is it to convert existing spreadsheets to the OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc format? Especially considering that some of my spreadsheets contain embedded VBA (nothing too complicated, mostly recorded stuff that was then edited).

Are there any differences in the conversion to LibreOffice than OpenOffice? Which is the preferred version? What are the key things to look out for on conversion and should I expect masses of formatting changes to be needed after conversion? Any hints and tips?

And I suppose the big question is: is it worth it? Are OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc easy to use? Do they have pretty much the same functionality of Excel? Any major omissions, additions or changes?
If your worried about conversion, then you need to reconsider OO and LO. they have issues with Micosofts XML and formulas. Many spreadsheets and word docs break or don't load at all.

If this is your primary concern there is an option designed from the ground up with MSOffice compatibility in mind.

http://wps.com/

WPS Office was Kingsoft Office and from day 1 they have been making sure every single line of code and formatting would translate over in their program. The only down side is when you install it you get the "pay for version" and after the trial it goes to free version. The main changes are: less encryption options and reduced extensions on how you save files.... but it can open and convert all current office formats. Something that OO and LO cannot reliably achieve.
Post edited September 02, 2015 by Starkrun
Posted September 02, 2015
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nightcraw1er.488: Personally, and this goes for my professional life, I wouldn't recommend Excel (OO etc.) for anything. Regardless of what task you are attempting to do, other than maybe make a colored pivot chart for managers meeting (whoah look at the pretty colors and the numbers all change if I do this...), it is pretty hopeless in any role. Storing data, use a database, transferring data use XML, CSV or a transport file, etc.

Personally I am moving my tracking grids over to a DB format.
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korell: I see where you are going with this, but I feel spreadsheets do still have a place. They are simple to put together in comparison to a database, so if you are just doing a list, totalling up values in rows and/or columns, pivoting data, charting data, spreadsheets are the way to go because they are quick to use and I feel they are easily understood.

But I agree in that complicated spreadsheets are better as databases, which is why my own spreadsheets at home are mostly free of VBA, just a couple here and there where I've added in some VBA more for laziness than anything else. In my workplace I get to use Oracle databases and have built some APEX applications (albeit only small ones as I've only had basic APEX training and the rest has been learned by practice and Google searches).
Simple, easy to put together etc. Equals a recipe for disaster. Unvalidated coding/practices with dodgy software, makes you wonder how the financial crisis happened eh? Will see if I can find the article where people discuss whether an incorrect excel formula was responsible quite literally for the collapse. Give a fool a tool and he will injure himself, give him a toolbox and he will injure everyone.
Posted September 02, 2015
I use old version of MS Office. 2003 or something. I couldn't get into newer versions because of interface changes, and when I wanted to buy newest one, I couldn't find how to do it. MS offers subscriptions and what not, but not the actual Office.

I will stay with old MS Office. I tried using OpenOffice/Kingoffice, etc., but they kept screwing up formatting and aren't capable of showing page as is when it will be printed, and as such they aren't suitable for any serious work.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionAnyone moved from MS Excel to OpenOffice/LibreOffice Calc? How was it?(23 posts)solved(23 posts)solved
(23 posts)solved