What You'll Learn
"Can I still open my Word documents?" is the most common question from people switching to Linux. The short answer is yes. Several office suites run natively on Linux, all of them open and save Microsoft formats, and Microsoft 365 itself runs in the browser. This page compares every option, maps each Office app to its Linux replacement, and fixes the three things that cause most compatibility problems: fonts, default file formats, and macros.
Quick recommendation:
- Most people: LibreOffice — the most complete and fully open source. Switch on the tabbed (ribbon-style) interface.
- You exchange lots of .docx/.xlsx/.pptx with Office users: OnlyOffice — it uses Microsoft's formats natively and looks like Office.
- Your job requires exact Office fidelity or Teams/SharePoint: Microsoft 365 on the web, in the browser.
Every Office Suite Compared
| Suite | Cost / licence | Looks like | MS format fidelity | Best for | Flatpak ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LibreOffice | Free, open source | Classic menus, or optional ribbon ("Tabbed") | Good; complex layouts can shift | Everything; the most features | org.libreoffice.LibreOffice |
| OnlyOffice Desktop Editors | Free, open source (AGPL) | Very close to Microsoft Office | Excellent (native OOXML) | Swapping files with Office users | org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors |
| WPS Office | Free with ads / paid | Very close to Microsoft Office | Very good | Office look-alike; proprietary | com.wps.Office |
| SoftMaker FreeOffice / Office | Free / paid | Ribbon or classic | Very good | Fast, polished, proprietary | download from softmaker.com |
| Collabora / Nextcloud Office | Free with Nextcloud | LibreOffice in a browser | Good | Editing together on your own server | — |
| Microsoft 365 (web) | Free basic / subscription | Office | Perfect (it is Office) | Work accounts, Teams, SharePoint | Use a browser |
| Google Docs / Sheets / Slides | Free with Google account | Good | Real-time collaboration | Use a browser |
App-by-App: What Replaces What
| Microsoft app | LibreOffice | Other good options |
|---|---|---|
| Word | Writer | OnlyOffice Document Editor |
| Excel | Calc | OnlyOffice Spreadsheet Editor, Gnumeric (fast, statistics-focused) |
| PowerPoint | Impress | OnlyOffice Presentation Editor |
| Access | Base | For real projects: SQLite + DB Browser for SQLite, or a small web app |
| Visio | Draw | draw.io desktop (com.jgraph.drawio.desktop) — opens .vsdx |
| Publisher | Draw (simple flyers) | Scribus (net.scribus.Scribus) for professional layout |
| Project | — | ProjectLibre (opens .mpp files) |
| Equation Editor | Math | LaTeX |
| Outlook | — | Thunderbird, Evolution (see Windows apps) |
| OneNote | — | Joplin, Obsidian |
| Acrobat (edit PDFs) | Draw can edit PDF text | Okular (annotate/sign), Xournal++ (write on PDFs), PDF Arranger (merge/split) |
Step 1: Install
# LibreOffice is often pre-installed. Newest version from Flathub:
flatpak install flathub org.libreoffice.LibreOffice
# OnlyOffice
flatpak install flathub org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors
# Or from your distro
sudo apt install libreoffice # Ubuntu / Debian
sudo dnf install libreoffice # FedoraYou can install both LibreOffice and OnlyOffice and choose per file with right-click → Open With.
Step 2: Fix Fonts (the #1 Cause of "Broken" Documents)
When a Word document uses Calibri or Times New Roman and those fonts aren't installed, the office suite substitutes another font with different letter widths, so lines wrap differently and pages shift. Install the fonts and most "compatibility problems" disappear.
# Microsoft's classic core fonts (Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana, Courier New…)
sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer # Ubuntu/Debian — accept the licence prompt
sudo dnf install mscore-fonts-all # Fedora (from the RPM Fusion repository)
# Free fonts with IDENTICAL letter widths to Calibri/Cambria (Carlito, Caladea)
sudo apt install fonts-crosextra-carlito fonts-crosextra-caladea
sudo dnf install google-carlito-fonts google-caladea-fonts
# Refresh the font list, then restart the office apps
fc-cache -fCheck which fonts a document uses: in Writer, File → Properties → Font tab. Missing fonts show in italics in the font box on the toolbar.
Step 3: Make LibreOffice Feel Like Office
- Ribbon interface: View → User Interface → Tabbed → Apply to All.
- Save as Word/Excel/PowerPoint by default: Tools → Options → Load/Save → General → "Always save as": Word 2007–365 for Text documents, Excel 2007–365 for Spreadsheets, PowerPoint 2007–365 for Presentations. Untick "Warn when not saving in ODF".
- Grammar checking: install the LanguageTool extension (Tools → Extensions → Get more extensions online), then enable it in Tools → Options → Language Settings → Writing Aids.
- Icon theme that matches Office: Tools → Options → View → Icon Theme → Colibre.
Excel Power Users: What Works in Calc
| Excel feature | In LibreOffice Calc |
|---|---|
| Everyday formulas (SUM, IF, VLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH) | Yes. Same names and syntax |
| XLOOKUP, FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, LET | Yes, in recent versions (24.8 and newer) |
| PivotTables | Yes. Called Pivot Table (Insert → Pivot Table) |
| Conditional formatting, charts, data validation | Yes |
| VBA macros | Partly. Simple macros often run; complex ones usually need rewriting in Basic or Python |
| Power Query / Power Pivot / Power BI | No. No equivalent — use Python (pandas) or keep Excel on the web for these |
OnlyOffice's spreadsheet editor handles Excel formatting more faithfully, but runs macros in JavaScript, not VBA.
PDF Tasks Without Acrobat
| Task | Tool |
|---|---|
| Export any document to PDF | LibreOffice: File → Export as PDF (options for fillable forms, PDF/A archiving, passwords) |
| Highlight, comment, fill forms | Okular (KDE) or your distro's document viewer |
| Sign a PDF (drawn signature) | Xournal++ — write or paste your signature image, then export |
| Merge, split, reorder, rotate pages | PDF Arranger (com.github.jeromerobert.pdfarranger) |
| Edit the text in a PDF | LibreOffice Draw opens PDFs for editing (best for simple layouts) |
| Scan to searchable PDF | OCRmyPDF: ocrmypdf scan.pdf searchable.pdf, or Paperless-ngx |
Working With Other People
- Sending files to Office users: save as .docx/.xlsx/.pptx (Step 3). For anything final, send a PDF — it looks identical everywhere.
- Track changes and comments round-trip with Word in both LibreOffice and OnlyOffice.
- Real-time co-editing: Google Docs, Microsoft 365 web, or your own Nextcloud with Collabora/Nextcloud Office.
- Work/school Microsoft account: use Office on the web in Firefox or Chrome/Edge. Edge has an official Linux version if your organisation requires it.
Troubleshooting
- Document layout is off / pages don't match — install the fonts (Step 2). Then try opening the file in OnlyOffice to compare.
- "Keep current format?" prompt every time — set the default formats and untick the ODF warning (Step 3).
- Macros are disabled — Tools → Options → Security → Macro Security. Only enable macros from sources you trust.
- Flatpak LibreOffice can't see a network drive — give it access with Flatseal, or use the distro package.