# Microsoft is making Word automatically save new documents to OneDrive by default
LibreOffice Writer doesn't.
And it is free.
And really rather good.
Discussion
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@neil
>linux laptop
>open any libreoffice app
>background usage
>*crickets*
>it closes down and i cannot write
@neil OneDrive is the bane of my life (I have to use Windows because WORK). I wish they'd stop nagging me about it. I DON'T WANT TO USE IT, GUYS! Sheesh.
I would happily switch to LibreOffice for Word purposes. I'm more worried about giving up Excel, of which I've been a "power user" since the late 1990s and I basically run my life on it. Might be some adaptation effort there...
@neil
Faster, easier to navigate, transparent, free. Never use Microsoft.
@neil This is quite worrying, I wonder how are they handling export control on all those docs they are now shipping off shore? This may make Word unusable for anyone who works on export controlled technology.
@neil Wow
Microsoft is ass
@neil What is wrong with Microsoft anymore as that's very anti consumer?
why isn't this being reported as a spyware attack by the US Empire ?
@neil I switched recently but I have a major issue: nearly all documents I work on are collaborative. I much prefer to collaborate in markdown or overleaf because they’re easy to control with git, but not all my collaborators are used to it so then we have to use “office” formats. And LibreOffice does not have a collaborative mode (I checked extensions). It doesn’t even work as a shared document in OneDrive, if using Word online to edit. We also have nextCloud-based Collabora, but it is very slow and destroys formatting. So by attrition I ended back with Word but only on OneDrive 🤦♀️ not exactly as intended. Are there apps that would work online with .odf and be compatible e.g. with nextcloud? How do people deal with this? #LibreOffice
@neil This was the very reason I moved to Libre office full time for writing in my personal time.
Sadly for work, I still use Excel for compatibility reasons.
@neil A good time to reshare this pictorial:
@neil
Is there a reason to install libre Office if one already has Open Office on his computer ?
Or are the two program about the same ?
@neil Yes, but LibreOffice has slight imperfections here and there, thus it isn't good enough and that makes it fine to let MS have direct access to all of one's personal info including private documents.
<big /s>
@neil
Why is desktop software going backwards. Teams is a bloody nightmare. Skype was much better.
@neil that's why I prefer for example linux oriented Firefox, plugins like VideodownloadHelper are free, where as Google Chrome version of the same stream grabber is for money!
@neil
The OneDrive thing is a serious pain, it's confused the crap out someone I've just turned it all off for on a new laptop.
OneDrive was also on her android phone and suggested she had to backup her phone to her Microsoft account, so it appeared on her ms signed in laptop.
All gone now.
@MostlyTato @neil Maybe for people who insist on still using Microsoft products it might be better to straight up block the entire address of OneDrive?
@neil OneDrive can be uninstalled.
I looked into this fairly heavily recently, and @neil is right, you need to adopt an eclectic strategy when manipulating .pdf document's.
However, in the end, I concluded, when actually signing legally binding documents, the only really trustworthy thing to do is to print the document and use a pen.
Keep the physical copy, re-digitise it with a scanner and send that copy over the net.
Messy, yes, but at least you can defend yourself if need's be...
Just a thought...
@neil OneDrive..
@neil Time to donate to LibreOffice.
MS Word was already getting too aggressive about saving to the cloud which is the main reason I stopped using it.
@neil LibreOffice > Nacho Libre
@neil I've been a Libre Office fan for years!
@neil You know, markdown is pretty good as a tool that is low effort. It can be easily integrated with AI workflows, and it can be rendered to PDF.
@neil Stop using Notepad as well for the same reason.
Akelpad and Notepad++ are far better options.
@neil Ditched Windows in 2012, never looked back.
@neil I get SO weary of constantly fighting tech to just make my own documents, etc. Fuck their goddamn clouds.
@neil 100% true. If LibreOffice just had a proper ribbon menu! 😅
@neil Libre Office ROCKS
@neil The best feature of LibreOffice writer is not having support for OneDrive
@neil And you do not have to worry about what. weaselly move Microsoft will do next.
@neil and LibreOffice Writer has Fontwork, which is kinda like old school Word Art. you can make big, obnoxious text in LibreOffice too! (it's truly one of the most exciting things for me to learn exists in this suite)
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/HowTo/Draw/Fontwork
@neil @girlonthenet I'm strongly considering ditching Excel for its LibreOffice equivalent 🙂.
Does it support defining a range of cells as a table (not just a named range, a table which expands as new rows are added and which allows for referencing the table's column headers by name)? I use this quite a lot in Excel so would miss it if not.