for some background, I'm on latest stable Kubuntu. able to use Microsoft Office via a KVM+Winapps setup currently. it mostly works but there are a few kinks like the display frame getting fucked up when going full screen or windowed, drag and drop being hit or miss and whatnot...
i did read up on Office 2019 being installable using Wine, but wasn't able to find any methods to activate it. MAS isn't really a thing on wine since we don't have Powershell I believe. any ideas?
SoftMaker OnlyOffice is a good option. I use it, and it works with everything I've thrown at it, including paid templates from designers. I would say the compatibility is 100% in my own experience. There is a trial available if you want to take a test drive before you set sail ;)
Libreoffice is the most atrociously structured piece of software I ever encountered. not only is the UI absolutely dated and god awful trash, it can fuck up microsoft office formatted documents. i possess a special hate for it since it decided to crap out on me when I REALLY positively needed it.
it can fuck up microsoft office formatted documents
everything can.
That is because Microsoft doesn't follow the 1000 page docx standards they wrote themselves.
And I will defend the decent UI against modern words ribbon-trash to my death.
libreoffice ui can certainly be improved a lot, but microsoft office is definitely worse.
100% can confirm. It always takes me ages to find what i need in the ribbon interface. Especially the things that aren't visible all the time. First time I was asked to print something, I really struggled with that. And it used to be File->Print. And I have no interest in finding out if they made it easier or worse to do things like conditional formatting or alternating row colors in tables.
Regarding the issues with formatting: It's Microsoft's fault. They're doing this deliberately to get rid of competition. And they'll ensure it stays that way in the future.
There is one exception, however: You need to install the correct fonts. If you don't have the specified font available, a document will look differently and things might get misplaced, because your characters might now be wider or narrower.