Microsoft Office has always been the first choice for Windows users and the Word, Excel and Powerpoint programs are now a world standard. The only problem with Microsoft Office is its price, which is high for those who simply want a writing or calculation program.
Until some time ago the free alternatives were the Open Office programs, free but not compatible with the files created by Microsoft Office.
Today, however, there are several, ranging from the open source programs LibreOffice and OpenOffice to free software such as Kingsoft Office.
To that list is added another new alternative of excellent thickness, a light and functional program that can be used without limitations, for free, even in small companies and offices
READ ALSO: Top 10 free alternatives to Microsoft Office
This is FreeOffice SoftMaker, now in 2018, a complete suite that includes all the functions of the most important Office programs, namely: Excel, Word and Powerpoint .
The program is composed of:
- A word processor for writing documents called TextMaker, the equivalent of Word;
- A spreadsheet compatible with Microsoft Excel called PlanMaker ;
- A program for creating slides and graphic presentations compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint, called SoftMaker Presentations .
TextMaker opens from the Start menu> Programs> TextMaker and, the first time, asks for name and address.
This is not to have user data but only to create a custom template to be used when writing documents, in order to precompile some text fields in the letters
All TextMaker commands are sub-menus arranged clearly and visible under the title bar.
The FreeOffice program is all in Italian .
In the options (from the Tools menu) you can also add the Italian language to the automatic correction tool.
The program is so similar to Word that it won't take long to get used to using it normally.
Below the Standard toolbar is the formatting toolbar for changing the font, font size, bolding and so on.
Documents written with FreeOffice TextMaker and other programs are saved by default in a proprietary file format.
You must therefore make Save As and select the Doc or Docx format from the drop-down menu of " Save As " so as to make it readable even if it is opened by the classic Word.
FreeOffice PlanMaker is the Excel program with more than 330 arithmetic functions and a chart creation module.
There are cell and character styles with which you can apply different formatting.
SoftMaker Presentations is used to create Powerpoint presentations without Office, with images, sounds and transition effects for slides.
Many graphic models are included in the program to find an attractive design to be applied to the presentation.
SoftMaker FreeOffice is not a complete suite like Microsoft Office just because Microsoft Outlook is missing, but otherwise it can be used without problems to write any document as you would with Word, Excel and Powerpoint.
What I like is the fact that it is much lighter than any other alternative Office suite, that it is fast, functional and, above all, completely free .
You can download SoftMaker FreeOffice from the official website by clicking on Download
First you are asked to enter a name and an email address that must be provided just because it is necessary to receive the registration number of the program via email.
You can then download the Italian language correction file from the download page.
There are no commercial restrictions.
