If you wish to move away from Microsoft’s Office 365, what are your options? We have a look.
Once upon a time, Microsoft’s Office was found on a disc and was installed locally on your PC. Considered by many to be the best and most powerful office suite around, the Office series was hugely popular and was found in both homes and offices around the world. It pretty much set the standard for office suite features and design, and has introduced much more power and flexibility into the genre of software than mere word processing and spreadsheets.
Of course, it still is popular and you can still buy Office on disc if you like and if you can afford the steep price. However, there’s another way to experience Microsoft’s premier suite of productivity tools and that’s via Office 365, the cloud-based, subscription service the suite has evolved into.
This service still retains the locally installed apps for home users, much like a standard disc variant, but the software is grabbed from the internet and comes with a range of extras not usually available. This includes the ability to work across multiple devices, such as PC, laptop, tablet and so on, and there’s a larger amount of online OneDrive storage. Subscriptions can also span more than one user, so the whole family can use it, and it integrates Skype (60 minutes per month per user on the licence). The software can also be accessed anywhere, thanks to the cloud-based nature.
This isn’t an advert for Office 365, though, and although it’s an undeniably good office suite, not everyone wants to use it or wishes to keep paying for the subscription. Often, people who do use the software do so because a subscription came with their hardware, such as a new tablet. These may include a free, limited time subscription, and once it’s up, payment needs to be made to continue using the service. It’s not uncommon for users to shy away from this, but there’s a problem. You’ve got work you’ve undertaken using it, and you have a wealth of contacts and other information within the suite. What can you do if you want to move on, and what choices are there for alternatives? Can you even get your data out of Office 365 to use in another package? Let’s find out.
Leaving So Soon?
First, it’s wise to consider why you’re leaving Office 365 and if you really wish to. This may sound like a silly question, and most would simply quote the price to carry on using the app. Be aware, however, that Office 365 is a very good suite, and it does have features others lack, especially some free options. This may not be much of a problem for home users who don’t make use of many advanced features, but it may affect some. It’s certainly wise to have a look at the competition, which we’ll be mentioning later. If a subscription doesn’t bother you too much and you want to find a cheaper option, still consider these features, because packages that may be cheaper might not have what you need or have become used to in your time with the free trial.
The cost of a standard, five-user home version of Office 365 is currently £7.99 per month. If you only need a single-user licence, it’s £5.99 per month. A one time purchase of Office Home and Student 2016 is £119.99. This is to buy the full package for one PC, with no need for a subscription. That’s a lot of money.
Still, money isn’t the only reason to move. Many users who previously used Office and swore by it now find themselves drifting to other software, either due to changes made to Office or simply because of more accessible and convenient options. For example, although Microsoft’s OneDrive (previously SkyDrive) services are popular, the dominance of DropBox continues, and many prefer the alternative online storage. It’s free (for limited storage) and requires no ties to a subscription. Other alternative services appeal in this way. Some users just don’t want complexity, and while the free subscription period saves time and money, granting access to a decent service, when it comes to paying, there’s just no point if you’re only going to use a tiny fraction of the power on offer.
Then there are the people who want to leave, but are afraid to do so. As we’ve already mentioned, people may have data and information they need, and their concerns about losing this could prevent them from turning down an Office 365 subscription. This shouldn’t be a concern, and there are ways to take your data with you when you leave. We’ll also look at this soon, so whatever your reasons for leaving, let’s move on to the options.
Alternative Offices
Google Apps (apps.google.com)
Without a doubt, the most popular alternative to Microsoft’s Office 365 in terms of online functionality, and perhaps even better in terms of cloud integration, Google Apps is a truly great option for almost everyone. Well, at least that used to be the case. Once totally free, Google Apps is now a paidfor service like 365, but if you already accessed it before the change in pricing, you should still have free access. This is likely, as many will have used it at some point. Unlike 365, it’s heavily cloud-based, with no need for local installations of software, Google Apps features a full office suite of tools that are accessed online, with full online storage and collaboration tools, including the ability for multiple users to edit documents at the same time.
It’s very flexible and is also easy to use and manage. It makes use of several modular apps that can all communicate with each other, much like any decent office application. However, as always, there are some downsides. For one, Google Apps is not as powerful as Office for advanced users, especially those who like to customise their office tools with VBA scripts and a bit of coding. Google Apps has some script support, but it’s just not as powerful, which is a common downside to moving away from Microsoft’s suite. MS Office, in whatever guise, has always been the powerhouse, and it’s why it’s always been successful in the business sector. Still, Google Apps has a lot of third-party tool support, so if there’s something you need the vanilla package doesn’t have, you’ll probably be able to add it.
Still, even with this loss of power, Google Apps is a constantly growing presence in the workplace and is used more and more as a professional collaboration tool. Although it’s not totally free for everyone any more, and there’s a business cost for branded email addresses, for home users with existing Gmail accounts and previous access to the service, it’s a prime solution. Even if you need to pay, the cost is less than 365, weighing in at £3.30 per month for the base package and £6.60 for the premium option.
ZoHo (www.zoho.com)
Free for personal use, ZoHo is probably the most feature-packed online office suite around, and it crams in a mass of tools and applications, including word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, email, notes, wikis and much, much more.
The suite is aimed at business use when you dig deeper into it, and the premium rates come into action for additional user accounts. As we said, however, it’s free for personal use. For this reason, it’s a good option for those who need power, but we found the interface to be less appealing than the wealth of features. There’s little uniformity, and some apps run differently, which can throw you off a little as you move from one app to the next. If you’re used to a more uniform application, you’ll have a bit of adjusting to do here, but with the power and variety on offer, it’s a small price to pay.
ThinkFree Online Office (member.thinkfree.com)
This free suite has been created using Java, so there is an installation, although it still runs within a browser. Unlike a lot of online office suites, which rarely look or behave exactly like a standard program, ThinkFree does feel like a real application and looks and feels just like MS Office.
It’s a very capable suite that can hold its own, although it’s not all that speedy in operation, mainly down to the use of Java, which we all know isn’t the fastest language in the world. Also, you cannot use the suite offline unless you buy the £35 suite outright. As we’re looking at alternatives to Office 365, which is very expensive to purchase, this isn’t all that much of a problem. Even if you do need it to run offline, it’s far cheaper than Microsoft’s package, so you’ll still be saving a lot of money. The use of Java doesn’t quite make the offline option all that attractive, though.
Acrobat Document Cloud
While ThinkFree uses Java, which can be slow, it’s faster than some, including Adobe’s Acrobat Document Cloud suite. This is a Flash-based service, and it can actually run slower than ThinkFree on some systems, although this will depend on your system spec. We’re including it is mainly to show how not to do an online service, which extends past the language used and performance speed.
Acrobat Document Cloud is very basic compared to other options, with far less in the way of tools, and the free status of the package is very limited. Documents you create have to be exported out of the service in PDF form, and you can only do this a limited number of times before you’re forced to pay for a subscription. This effectively robs the package of any use for those looking for a free option. Even if you pay, being forced to use Adobe’s PDF format is just plain silly and means this is one to avoid, but it’s a good lesson that not all products from well-known names are worthwhile.
Of course, if you’re looking for a package that deals with PDF files and it’s the only format you need to use, you’ll find no option better than one from the company that created the format in the first place.
Live Documents (www.live-documents.com)
A flash-based office suite done right is Live Documents, ‘Office for the internet Generation.’ This is a more accomplished office suite, and it uses a unique virtual desktop GUI system that makes it much more natural for users when browsing through files and folders. It includes word processing, spreadsheets and presentations.
The world processing isn’t as good as many alternatives, but we like the spreadsheet app. It may not be as powerful as local apps like Excel (let’s face it, not many alternatives are, online or local), but it’s better than a lot of alternatives. It’s also very similar in operation to many standard office suites, so you’ll instantly feel at home when using it.
OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org)
We’ve talked about OpenOffice countless times, and that’s for good reason, as it’s simply one of the best free office suites around. It’s not in the same style as Office 365 or Google Apps, as it’s a locally installed package, but if you’re looking for an office suite that is as close to MS Office as possible, this is probably the option for you.
Like Microsoft’s package, OpenOffice features the usual assortment of modules such as word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, databases, an image editor and more. These are all connected, and each functions much the same as MS Office, with a similar GUI, so as long as you’ve used an office package before, you’ll know the score here.
OpenOffice is open source, and it’s cross platform, supporting Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Like Google Apps, it also supports third party extensions that can add more functionality. This open-source nature means that authors of such extensions aren’t limited by a controlling overseer, which means it has a major advantage over MS Office.
Koffice (www.kde.org/applications/office)
This isn’t as well known as many office suites, and it doesn’t possess as many features, but does include three main modules (word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tool). It’s also no longer supported and was taken offline in 2012. You can still find downloads for it online, and despite its discontinued state, it’s still a viable alternative for those looking for a basic suite that does everyday tasks well.
It’s another open-source option (built under KDE) that boasts cross-platform support, and the app is easy to use without all the bloat normally associated with more powerful and expensive options. This makes it great for new PC users and casual users who simply don’t want all the fuss or cost of such complex packages.
LibreOffice (www.libreoffice.org)
If OpenOffice is seen by many as the major alternative to MS Office, you could say LibreOffice is the alternative to the alternative. This is mainly because it’s a ‘fork’ or developmental branch-off from OpenOffice using the same underlying source code, so it boasts many similarities.
One of the main benefits of LibreOffice over its parent project is the more active development, which seems to be graced with more updates and alterations than the more famous package. It’s seen some great changes made to the core suite, including a PDF import tool, wiki publisher and more of a focus on extensions and user templates. Of course, it also has all of OpenOffice’s core modules, so if you’re after a suite that’s always growing and you value new toys to play with, LibreOffice could be a perfect fit.
Data Migration
You may decide to give one of these alternatives a go and your next worry is your data, especially your collection of contacts contained within Outlook. How can you get this out of Office and into your new office suite? The answer will depend on your chosen package.
If you, like many others, are migrating from Office 365 to Google Apps, there are tools that can help you move your data. Specifically, there are options for moving data from Outlook to Gmail, some that cost money and others that are free. Perhaps the best option for most is Google’s own free tool – Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Outlook. This can be grabbed from tools.google.com/dlpage/outlookmigration, and using it you can easily transfer your email data to Gmail. This includes contacts, messages, folders, calendar info and more. It’s effective and takes much of the hassle out of manually moving data.
Even if you’re not using Google Apps, but instead plan on using another office suite, it’s an easy way to get your data out of 365 to another location that doesn’t require a subscription.
If you’re a business user wishing to move away from Microsoft Exchange to Google’s option, there’s even a tool for that, which can be found at tools.google.com/dlpage/exchangemigration, This allows the migration of Exchange data to Google Apps.
If you prefer an easier method that may take away some of the effort, which could be useful if you’ve got a lot of data and/or accounts to migrate, it may be worth using a paid for tool. An example of this is Cloudiway (www.cloudiway.com). This is a dedicated service for migrating data from Office 365 to Google Apps. It handles the migration of mailboxes, OneDrive and Sharepoint. Of course, this is mainly an option for large scale users, and home users are unlikely to need such power, but there are more suitable options.
CloudMigrator is one. Found at www.thecloudmigrator.com, this is a tool that scales to the user, be they a home user with a single mailbox to migrate or an enterprise user who needs to migrate a whole company’s worth of mailboxes. It moves mail, calendars, contacts and tasks.
You don’t need to use special tools or software to export your email data, however, and you can do so manually. This is really the best option, because it’s free and caters for all users, regardless of the suite you wish to move to. All you need to do is export the data out of Outlook and into a .PST file, which most other email clients will accept an import from, as well as other formats. PST is the most commonly used.
To do this, within Outlook click File, and then select the Export option, and select the option to export to a file, and pick the .pst option. Now select the user folder of the account to be exported, and make sure you tick the ‘Include subfolders’ option. Browse to a location for the exported data file and click OK.
Outlook will export your data into the file, and this can then be used to import your data. What does this file contain, though?
A typical Outlook.pst export will migrate emails, contacts and calendar info. Emails will include attachments, and data is copied, not cut, so Outlook will retain all information. It’s important to note that metadata is not exported. This includes permissions, folder properties and archive settings. This isn’t a problem when moving to another program, as this information will usually be handled differently anyway.
As for other data, such as documents, spreadsheets and other work, it’s simply a matter of saving items to your PC or another online storage location. That’s all you need to do. There’s no real trick to it and no need to worry about losing anything. Just carefully take your time and ensure you save all the important documents to a secure location. This is also a good idea generally for backup purposes. Online office suite may be secure, as they’ll have better security than your own PC, but they can still have problems and downtime, so having data elsewhere is always a good habit to embrace.
Staying With Office And Microsoft’s Next Move
Although we’re focusing on the wish to migrate from MS Office, we should also ask the question of whether you should migrate at all. We’ve outlined the major reason of cost, and in this regard there are few arguments for the home user that would persuade anyone not to ditch Microsoft’s suite in favour of a free option, especially when there are such solid alternatives around. Having to pay per month just to type up documents may seem too steep for many.
However, even home users need power from time to time, and there’s something to be said for MS Office’s lead in the office suite market. Microsoft’s tool are very good, perhaps the best around. This is debatable, of course, but with so many people using the suite, it’s hard to argue against the overall quality of the tool.
The problem here is Microsoft’s unwillingness to embrace the modern office suite marketplace. With the popularity of free suites like OpenOffice, control of the market is no longer possible for Microsoft, and with its suite traditionally costing a lot of money, a lot of ground has already been lost. The rise of online software could have been what Microsoft needed to recapture the home user, but with a monthly cost still involved and free options abundant, it leaves Office as a luxury for most.
For this reason, Office is and has long been considered more of a business tool. In fact, it’s always been the higher-end option, with Microsoft Works being the lowerend home package. Sadly, this affordable option was discontinued in 2009 and replaced by the Office Starter Edition. This was a pared-down version of Office, but it made changes to the way the older Works suite operated, forcing people to learn how to use the more businessfocused app. There’s a reason so many clung to the classic Outlook Express: it was easy to use and user friendly.
A truly free, limited edition of Office in the online space would be welcome and would likely mean a lot more people would be willing to stick with Microsoft’s option, perhaps even upgrading when needed, but in terms of 365, this isn’t really an option.