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submitted 5 months ago by FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

TLDR: can I edit docx files on word without a subscription and if not what are some apps that can allow me to do so

Like the title says I need the ability to edit .docx for college (sadly other file formats aren’t accepted AFAIK) and my Microsoft 365 subscription is expiring and will not be renewed thanks to you lovely people getting me on the Proton family of software and obsidian for note taking.

However i created a .docx file today and and got a popup in word saying my Microsoft subscription is expiring soon (in march I believe) and that I would lose many feature.

This scary message wasn’t very helpful as to what features id lose (probably a lot of them I don’t even use) but the internet has not been helpful in telling me if I can still view and edit all my docx files that I have been collecting and creating over the years and have migrated to my proton drive

If I won’t be able to access docx files in word what are some apps that can open them from my proton drive (this is a hard requirement for me).

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[-] mozz@grits.dev 4 points 5 months ago

Libreoffice can help, or (as long as the formatting's not too complex) you can upload them to Google Drive, edit them, and then redownload them exporting back to .docx.

[-] FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee 1 points 5 months ago

As I said in another comment about Google drive “For obvious reasons I’d like to avoid Google as I’m still migrating away but good to know I can use that as an absolute final resort”

As for Libre Office: define complex

Some thing like my class syllabuses (syllabi?) have things like like different font sizes and some formatting that you would find in a detailed class syllabus

As for my own documents it really tab in a few line to write numbered questions, go back a few line for answers, maybe a spash of holding and highlights and slap the enter key a few times in-between to make it easier to read for me

[-] mozz@grits.dev 2 points 5 months ago

Yeah Libreoffice will probably work fine for you then. You can use that and be privacy-happy and still have Google Docs as a last resort if you need.

[-] FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee 1 points 5 months ago

Yeah I think I’m going to go with libreoffice as it seems like a popular choice here and fits my use case

Stupid question though

As for opening the files do I have to open libreoffice then open the file within it or is there a way to set libreoffice as a default in windows and open from file explorer

This really isn’t a make or break question I’mhust curious

[-] pricklypearbear@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

I don't windows as much anymore, but I think if you right click the file and hit 'Open with', you can set a different program as default.

[-] FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee 1 points 5 months ago

Hm I rarely hit open with so maybe that’s something I missed that’s been right there but otherwise I’m sure there’s some way that the internet gods know of

this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2024
48 points (92.9% liked)

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