A universal set of applications for working with text files (Word), tables (Excel), presentations (PowerPoint), mail (Outlook), notes (OneNote) and other types of documents. First Microsoft version Office was released 27 years ago, but thanks to constant development, this product still remains one of the most popular on the market.

Programs from Microsoft package Office combines powerful functionality and ease of use. Therefore, they are excellent for creating and editing office documents of any complexity. Plus, they are integrated with cloud services Microsoft: You can access files on any device and collaborate on shared documents with others.

Microsoft Office goes far beyond the basic functionality. For example, for comfortable work With text, Word has a built-in translator and a speech recognition feature that prints the user's dictated words. And OneNote can recognize text in pictures.

2.iWork

• Platforms: macOS, iOS, web.
• Price: free.

Apple's proprietary office suite, which any Mac user can download for free. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are almost as good as their Microsoft counterparts, allowing you to create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations while editing them with colleagues on macOS, iOS, or in the browser.

• Price: free or from 1,000 rubles per year.

This popular digital notepad is a great tool for managing a large collection of text, image and voice notes. Evernote offers a tagging system that you can use to mark your added entries. For greater convenience, tags can be grouped and nested within each other. This unique approach makes it easy to structure hundreds and even thousands of notes and, if necessary, quickly find the ones you need.

Supports synchronization between devices and allows you to work without connecting to the Internet.

4. Spark

• Price: free.

None office work It’s impossible to imagine without interaction with mail. Spark will help you sort through your inbox and respond to your colleagues’ emails as quickly as possible. Thanks to a carefully thought-out interface, automatic sorting of letters, smart search and many others useful functions your work with mail will turn into a real pleasure.

• Price: free.

Office workers often have to deal with documents in PDF format. In such situations, it is important to have a convenient PDF viewer at hand. And even better - a program with which you can not only view documents, but also annotate them. A good candidate for this position is the program Foxit Reader. It is fast and easy to use. With its help, you can read PDF files, make notes in the text and leave your comments on the pages.

• Platforms: macOS, iOS, watchOS.
• Price: 3,790 rubles.

The flow of daily tasks is completely impossible to keep in mind, and therefore recording ideas and planning things is the key to success in work. Unlike Todoist, Things is created meticulously, with attention to every detail of the interface and design, so that getting all your things in order is quick and convenient. Following the philosophy, the application helps organize work projects, structure and plan tasks. All that remains for you is to just complete them.

• Platforms: Windows, macOS.
• Price: Free or $25.

If you find yourself too often distracted by inappropriate websites and programs while working, Cold Turkey Blocker will help you. This app blocks all distractions for a time you set. Until the period expires, you will not be able to open the sites and programs included in the list. Cold Turkey Blocker can turn on blocking automatically according to a user-specified schedule.

• Platforms: macOS, iOS.
• Price: 2,290 rubles.

MindNode will be useful to anyone who works with complex projects and will allow you to visualize the development of an idea into a final product. With this application, you can brainstorm, create any complexity and quickly share them with colleagues, as well as export tasks to Things, OmniFocus and other applications or services.

• Platforms: Windows, Android, iOS, web.
• Price: Free or starting at $3.33 per month.

This small utility synchronizes your computer with your smartphone, tablet or other gadgets. All you need to do is install Pushbullet clients on all devices and connect them to a common account. After this, you will be able to see all mobile notifications on your computer and transfer notes, links and small files between gadgets.

If your mobile device runs on Android, then you can also send and receive SMS and instant messenger messages directly from your computer. Additionally, Pushbullet integrates clipboards different devices: Any text copied on a smartphone or tablet can be immediately pasted into a text field on a computer, and vice versa.

10. Bear

• Platforms: macOS, iOS.
• Price: free or 949 rubles per year.

A simple and lightweight analogue of Evernote, which can be used to record ideas, code and any texts in general. Bear has a powerful tagging system with subtags, easy search and supports simplified Markdown markup, as well as export finished text to various formats including HTML, PDF and DOCX. The application also boasts a laconic interface and beautiful design themes to suit every taste.

• Platforms: macOS, iOS, watchOS.
• Price: 379 rubles.

The Pomodoro Technique is well known for its effectiveness and is widely used. For an avalanche of routine and not very office tasks, it is perfectly suited. With the FocusList timer, you can not only track work periods and rest breaks, but also see how much time certain tasks take. And this, in turn, will help you analyze your work process and procrastinate less.

12. f.lux

• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.
• Price: free.

During the working day, the lighting in the office changes. But the temperature of the colors on your work display is always the same, both in natural daylight and under evening lamps. This difference can make the screen appear too bright and cause eye fatigue. f.lux automatically adjusts display colors to lighting conditions. A similar feature is built into Windows 10, but f.lux contains more settings and allows you to achieve maximum eye comfort.

13. Paste

• Platforms: macOS.
• Price: 749 rubles.

The small Paste utility significantly expands the capabilities of the clipboard, which is simply invaluable when working with various documents and tables. The application will remember copied text, files and links, giving you convenient access to your clipboard history. In the settings, you can configure the number of remembered objects, set hotkeys, and enable synchronization with all your devices.

14. GIMP

• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.
• Price: free.

Even if you're not a designer, you still probably edit images for various office tasks. For example, you crop a photo and adjust its colors for the next presentation or post on a corporate portal. Installing Photoshop for such purposes is stupid. It's easier to use its free alternative - GIMP. This editor may be inferior to Photoshop in the number of functions. But for non-professional tasks it will definitely be more than enough.

• Platforms: macOS.
• Price: 229 rubles.

But the Look Up application will take care of your health, or more precisely, your vision. It helps reduce eye muscle tension from working at a computer by reminding you every 20 minutes to look away from the screen for a few seconds and look into the distance. Look Up also has a selection of simple exercises for stretching a stiff back and other muscles.

• Platforms: macOS, iOS, Windows.
• Price: $45 $4.16 per month.

TextExpander will save time for everyone who works a lot with texts and is forced to frequently enter the same information. With its help, you can set up keyboard shortcuts that will instantly expand into predefined text of any size. For example, with TextExpander you can insert email, replies to letters, payment details and any other information that you often type manually in a couple of clicks. Thanks to synchronization, abbreviations will also be available on iOS, where input is carried out through the TextExpander keyboard.

• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, web.
• Price: free or from 2,190 rubles per year.

Todoist can be used as a regular daily or work planner. Everything is as usual: create tasks, set reminders, mark completed tasks.

At the same time, the capabilities of this service are enough to manage the most complex office projects with a multi-level structure, a large number of participants and subtasks. Todoist has tools for delegating and customizing task hierarchy, labels, filters, and other advanced features. Thanks to them, the application can easily adapt to your personal and professional goals, no matter how large they become.

By installing the Todoist client on your device, you can manage tasks even without the Internet.

Annual income is about a billion dollars. Today, Microsoft Office in one form or another is taken for granted, but attempts to completely legalize it continue to fail at the price barrier. Meanwhile, many developers are ready to offer real alternatives to this most popular set of programs for working with electronic documentation on more favorable terms.

1. Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013

Along with previous version 2010 is the most commonly used set of office programs today (for both corporate and home users). Anyone who activated version 2010 before April 30, 2013 can upgrade for free until May 31, 2013.

The trial version is often pre-installed on new computers and laptops. The distribution contains the most a large number of applications for creating documents yourself different types, their editing and collaboration - see the short presentation.

An extensive library of templates is available, and it is possible to download additional materials from the Microsoft website. Here it is worth remembering the “90/10 rule”. According to one interpretation, 90 percent of users use 10 percent of a program's functionality.

In fact, the office software package from Microsoft is a de facto standard, the disadvantages of which include resource intensity and high price. The professional version will cost more than 15,000 rubles.

Microsoft Office 2013 comes in 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Both require Windows 7/8 installed and hardware support for DirectX v.10, so will not work on older computers. The speed of the programs is relatively low due to the heavy interface and strong fragmentation of components (their total volume after installation takes up about three gigabytes). The speed problem is partially solved with the help of an SSD and/or large capacity random access memory. The x64 version requires at least 2 GB of RAM.

2. Microsoft Office 365

A product similar in functionality, but different in operating logic. If Microsoft Office, up to version 2013, was distributed as classic boxed distributions for installation and local use, then Office 365 is offered as a subscription and is a cloud solution.

Office 365 is more convenient for collaborating on projects. It is aimed at corporate users and owners of laptops with a constant Internet connection. In addition to the classic set of office programs, the cloud service offers a set of web tools for planning, access to SkyDrive online storage and free regular backups on the company’s servers.

3. LibreOffice v.4.0.x

A fully featured, free, cross-platform office suite with open source code. Works on computers running Linux, Windows 2000 SP4 and higher, even runs on ancient configurations with Pentium III and 256 MB of RAM. It takes up about one and a half gigabytes of disk space (half as much as Microsoft Office 2013). Requires installation of the free Java Runtime Environment component, which is usually present on most computers.

LibreOffice supports most common formats, including Office OpenXML (files with extensions .docx; .xlsx; .pptx and others). Due to the implementation of this format, which is selected by default in Microsoft Office 2007 and newer versions, it is supported in all third party programs significantly limited. Problems still arise if you try to edit documents with complex formatting in LibreOffice created in Microsoft Office and saved in Office format OpenXML.

The main document format used by LibreOffice itself is ODF (OpenDocument Format). It complies with GOST R ISO/IEC 26300-2010, which came into force on June 1, 2011. Its support has been included in Microsoft Office since version 2007 SP2. Actually, there is no reason to stick with the Office OpenXML format, other than the fact that it is offered by default in Microsoft products. There are half a dozen other equally convenient formats.

4. Apache OpenOffice v.3.4.x

In fact, it is the predecessor of LibreOffice, developing separately from it. Besides Linux and Windows everyone current versions, Apache OpenOffice is supported by Mac OS X, OpenSolaris and FreeBSD. There is even a portable version that does not require installation. OpenOffice with all your personal settings and templates can be carried on a flash drive and run on almost any computer.

The commercial version of another package, InfraOffice.pro, from Infra-Resource, is based on OpenOffice. It contains additional cryptography tools, original design and a set of various improvements. InfraOffice.pro can also be used as a portable assembly on a flash drive. Current cost is 646 rubles. This version is especially relevant for commercial use, as it completely eliminates the specific problems of the software licensing process.

5. Corel Office

The distribution turned out to be extremely lightweight, since it contains only a set of the most frequently used programs - text editor, spreadsheet and presentation application.

The software package can even work on old computers with Windows XP and a screen resolution of 800x600 or higher. The single language version takes up only 125 MB after installation. Both early and latest versions of Microsoft Office formats are supported. Integrated support for cloud solutions works through the Dropbox service.

Corel Office is optimal for netbooks and low-performance configurations. The current price for one license is 45 euros.

A distribution kit with extended functionality of Corel WordPerfect Office X6 is available only on English language. Additionally, it includes the Nuance PaperPort 12 SE document manager and PDF editing tools.

6. Ashampoo Office 2012

Like Corel Office, this distribution is limited to the three most current applications: TextMaker (similar to Word), PlanMaker (similar to Excel) and Presentations (replacement for PowerPoint).

Support for Microsoft Office formats includes latest versions. Saving to PDF is also available. The cost of a license is 1,200 rubles, and an update costs 300 rubles.

This office suite can be installed on a flash drive and used in the portable version. During such an installation, you will notice that the destination directory is called SoftMaker Office 2012. This is because the Ashampoo Office code is partially licensed from the German company SoftMaker Software - the authors of the next set of office programs under consideration.

7. SoftMaker Office 2012

A compact distribution of three basic applications, the main code of which was included in Ashampoo Office 2012. The professional version additionally includes mail client with task scheduler and contact library management functions.

SoftMaker Office 2012 is available in fourteen languages, including Russian. It supports ODF and all Microsoft Office formats. There are versions for Windows (since XP), Linux and Android (since v.2.2). The basic version for Windows costs $80, and the professional version costs $100.

8. Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012

This distribution was developed in China, but this fact should hardly be considered a disadvantage. Most programs today are written by programmers from China or India.

Like many of the alternatives discussed above, Kingsoft Office includes three main programs: text document and spreadsheet editors and an application with the self-explanatory name Presentation.

Among the distinctive features of the latter is support for flash graphics (.swf) and the ability to output presentations in different modes simultaneously on two monitors. To protect files, encryption using the RC4 algorithm with a key length of 128 bits is used.

The distribution is extremely lightweight (68 MB) and undemanding in terms of resources. Minimum system requirements record lows: Pentium II and 128 MB of RAM.

While the program still has problems with Russification, the purpose of most user interface elements is clear even without translation.

The main difference between Kingsoft Office is the ability to legally use it for free for home users and educational institutions. A commercial license will cost a little more than two thousand rubles (the actual price is tied to the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate).

Nominally almost everything alternative developments They now support Office OpenXML, but this office suite only works with such files for opening, saving them after editing in any other format.

9. SSuite Office

This unusual product is distinguished by an abundance of versions with interface optimization for different screen resolutions and system requirements. Personal Edition is a modern minimalistic distribution. It is great for very old computers (even works in Windows 95) and monitors with a resolution of 800x600 or higher. There is a separate version of Excalibur Release, aimed primarily at owners of netbooks with a specific screen resolution of 1024x600. OmegaOffice HD+ version for FullHD screens is also available.

All distributions are as lightweight as possible (from 20 to 40 MB) and contain from six to eighteen programs, including the Tetris game. All of them install without rebooting and do not require Java or .NET. Personal and extended edition works in all Windows versions(from 95 to 8 inclusive). The release of "The Fifth Element" is intended for Windows users 95 – XP. "Excalibur", "Premium" and "Omega" are designed for the Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/7/8 line.

10. Google Docs

This is a set of three main online services that replace the installation of any office software package on local computer. To connect to them you only need free client Google Drive– watch the presentation video.

Versions for Windows XP, Vista and 7 are already ready. Work is underway on a client for Windows 8. Currently, MacOS (v.10.6 and higher), iOS and Android are also supported. You can work with documents from your smartphone without even copying them in advance. There is still no full-fledged local client for Linux users, but there are simple, unofficial ways to use the service.

Documents, tables, presentations - everything can be viewed and edited directly in the browser window, and joint work is allowed. The only thing required is an Internet connection (not necessarily high-speed). Officially supported Chrome browsers, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer, but usually everything works in others.

Among the available formats there are all common ones, including OpenDocument and Office OpenXML. User files are stored on the company's servers with the ability to export to any local media. Backups are created automatically and are available within a month. Initially, 5 GB of cloud storage is provided for free. Additional volume can be purchased according to the prices of the selected tariff plan.

A classic from the founder of the “genre,” Microsoft. Mobile Office version is represented by five well-known products: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. They are installed separately and offer the user an impressive arsenal of tools for working with documents. The product's assets include: a convenient user interface, the availability of data synchronization tools with home and work PCs, the ability to collaborate on documents, support for various cloud services, built-in spell checking in texts in Russian and other functions. Control devices deserve special mention public access to data, templates for various topics that simplify the creation of documents, as well as support for PDF files that can be converted directly to an editable format on a smartphone or tablet.

A basic set of functions for editing documents in mobile Microsoft Office is provided free of charge (provided that the gadget's screen diagonal does not exceed 10.1 inches). For use additional features such as tracking and viewing changes, setting up headers and footers for different pages, adding and editing chart elements, inserting and editing SmartArt objects, quick creation presentation slides using the Design tool, etc., a subscription to Office 365 is required. If you purchase the most affordable Personal edition, the price will be 270 rubles per month or 2,700 rubles when purchasing an annual subscription. Expensive? Maybe. But the product is worth the money and definitely deserves attention.

⇡ Google Docs

Developer: Google
Product website: google.com/docs
Download on Google Play

A suite of office applications developed by Google, including a text editor and programs for working with spreadsheets, presentations and notes. As with Microsoft Office, all products are presented as separate applications that can be installed by the user as needed. This approach, in our opinion, is the most correct and allows you to avoid cluttering the memory of your mobile device with unnecessary programs.

A distinctive feature of mobile Google Docs is the verified minimalism of the user interface, common to all software products search giant and is in no way inferior in functionality to the Microsoft offer mentioned above. Google Docs provides a rich set of tools for creating, editing and designing texts, spreadsheets and presentations, easily finding mutual language With Microsoft files Office and allows multiple users to work on the same document at the same time.

Among other features of Google Docs, it is worth noting the ability to work offline without connecting to the global network, the ability to convert Word, Excel, PowerPoint files into Google documents and vice versa, as well as automatically save all changes made to them. The only thing that disappoints about the product is that it is strictly tied to Google Drive, and the lack of ability to connect third-party cloud services and support PDF format. Otherwise, it’s an excellent suite of office applications that you can use completely free of charge without any restrictions. We recommend.

⇡ WPS Office

Developer: Kingsoft Office Software
Product website: wps.com
Download on Google Play

Development of the Chinese company Kingsoft Office Software, combining in one software solution text editor, spreadsheet processor, application for preparing presentations and viewing PDF files. WPS Office gets along well with documents in Russian, but when you try to open any file, it immediately reports that there are no suitable fonts and sends you to the built-in store with an offer to purchase a basic package for $5. Only after parting with this amount of money can you count on the correct display of the viewed and edited texts - there is no other way. Take it out and put it down, as they say.

The second point that attracts attention is related to the annoying advertising banners that are crammed throughout the WPS Office interface. There is only one way to get rid of their dominance - by subscribing to the Premium version of the office suite. This pleasure costs $4 per month or $30 for an annual subscription.

Overall, WPS Office is a rather interesting product. It supports a huge number of file formats, can work in conjunction with cloud services Box, Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, OneDrive, Yandex.Disk and file servers via WebDAV/FTP protocols, allows you to encrypt documents, check spelling (Russian is not supported) and even if you have a subscription, convert PDF to Word document format for subsequent editing. Here you can also add an interesting from a practical point of view implementation of a user menu with controls scrollable left and right and quick access to the right tools, the presence of tabs and an impressive set of document templates, offered both free and commercial.

⇡ Office Suite

Developer: MobiSystems
Product website: officesuitenow.com
Download on Google Play

Another suite of office applications from the all-in-one series, supporting work not only with Microsoft Office documents, but also with files OpenDocument formats(ODT, ODS, ODP), PDF, RTF, TXT, LOG, CSV, EML and ZIP. OfficeSuite supports work with cloud services such as OfficeSuite Drive, Box, DropBox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Amazon Cloud Drive, allows you to restrict access to documents using a password, can convert text to speech and check spelling in more than 40 languages, including Russian . It also reports the ability to convert PDF files into various formats, support for team work on documents, and the function of synchronizing user data between various devices with OfficeSuite installed.

Let’s say right away that you shouldn’t be deluded by the impressive set of OfficeSuite functions, since all of them are available only in the Premium version of the product worth 690 rubles. You will additionally have to pay a similar amount for the Font Pack. Concerning free version program, it is like a Christmas tree hung with banners, making it quite difficult to use.

⇡ PolarisOffice

Developer: Infraware
Product website: polarisoffice.com
Download on Google Play

The brainchild of Korean coding gurus, its functionality is a cross between the above-mentioned WPS Office and OfficeSuite. It makes no sense to examine the product in detail, since Polaris Office, even as an application for viewing files, does not cope with its responsibilities: the program mixes text, pictures, tables, gets confused in their structure and is frankly weird in reproducing the style of even the simplest Microsoft documents Office - let alone documents with complex layout. At the same time, the developers themselves assure that Polaris Office is 100% compatible with documents of all types. Oh?

In general, Polaris Office is clearly not an option for those who value high-quality and reliable software. The program may be of interest only to researchers, IT observers and those who like to gaze at colorful advertising banners, of which there is an unprecedented number in the free version of the application.

⇡ SmartOffice

Developer: Artifex Software
Product website: artifex.com
Download on Google Play

Perhaps the most minimalistic and easy-to-use office suite for Android, compatible at the file format level with Microsoft Office and supports working with PDF files. Take a look at the screenshots. SmartOffice does not have a clutter of all sorts of and often unnecessary functions - only the essentials for editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations on a quick fix. Text formatting, image insertion, page management, search, templates and file manager with cloud support Google services Drive, Box, Dropbox - that’s the entire simple set of tools available in the program.

SmartOffice is distributed free of charge and makes a pleasant impression in operation: it starts in a split second, opens documents instantly (including multi-page ones), quickly responds to user actions and does not irritate with advertising. But there is a fly in the ointment - the application incorrectly displays the formatting of some Word documents. Also in our case, the program crashed when opening PowerPoint files. It is for these reasons that we cannot include SmartOffice in the category of recommended office suites, although it is a very interesting product.

⇡ Docs To Go

Developer: DataViz
Product website: dataviz.com/dtg-android
Download on Google Play

A typical multifunctional “harvester” that supports work with Word files, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and cloud storage data and includes the necessary set of tools for editing documents and proprietary InTact technology, which guarantees one hundred percent preservation of the original file formatting when editing them. Among other features of the product, the developer names built-in tools for synchronizing data with a PC, the ability to protect documents with a password, and support for as many as 111 formulas (functions) of the Excel spreadsheet processor. It’s not hard to guess that all these goodies are available only in the Premium version of the office suite for 800 rubles.

Is it worth giving your hard-earned money for Docs To Go? More likely no than yes. If in terms of functionality the product still at least corresponds to modern realities, then in terms of the user interface it resembles a hulking mastodon from the era of Android 2.x. Look at the screenshots - this is the last century! Mobile software developers abandoned such menu elements that pop up on the entire screen a long time ago, and DataViz still adheres to design decisions that were made almost ten years ago. In addition, the Docs To Go office suite in the Premium version was found to impose unnecessary software like Amazon on users App Store, and this is already evidence that the creators of the product do not shy away from dirty tricks in distributing affiliate software. Alas, you won’t get far with such a business philosophy.

⇡ AndrOpen Office

Developer: Akikazu Yoshikawa
Product website: andropenoffice.blogspot.com
Download on Google Play

The development of a Japanese enthusiast, which is ported to the platform Android version the original OpenOffice office suite with a classic desktop interface!

AndrOpen Office includes the Writer text editor, Calc spreadsheet processor, Impress presentation preparation program, vector graphics editor Draw and the Math formula editor - all with a full set of functions, including support for macros (macros) with which you can automate the execution of typical operations in documents of any size, be it creating and saving files, as well as formatting and converting their contents. None of the products discussed in this article can offer such a set of capabilities.

In other words, AndrOpen Office is a typical OpenOffice with its own advantages and disadvantages, which have been discussed more than once in 3DNews. We won't repeat ourselves. Let's just say that the mobile version of the office is ported to Android as is and is not at all designed for finger control (only a stylus will do, but how many people have this input device?). In addition, it slows down quite a bit when working with documents - this is due to problems associated with transferring the product to a new one. software platform technical nuances and costs.

AndrOpen Office supports working with extensions (you can install additional font packages, Russification tools, content libraries) and is available in two versions - free and commercial costing 300 rubles. The latter contains no advertising and contains additional functions. We won’t advocate in favor of AndrOpen Office, but it’s definitely worth taking a closer look at this software “product”.

⇡ OliveOffice

Developer: OlivePhone
Product website: olivephone.com
Download on Google Play

Another “Chinese” in our review. In terms of functionality, it is as simple as SmartOffice, but slow and thoughtful, like a turtle. OliveOffice has a particularly difficult time with Word files of several megabytes and text scaling - when performing these operations, the office suite goes into a stupor and begins to slow down terribly. This behavior of the program can drive anyone, even the most restrained and patient user, to white heat.

But that's not all. Immediately after installation, OliveOffice automatically launches the built-in File application Transfer deploys an FTP server on a smartphone without asking. According to the developers, this is done supposedly for the convenience of the user, so that it is easier for him to manage documents stored in the memory of the mobile device from the computer. A questionable decision, as indeed is the entire product. We don't recommend it.

⇡ thinkfree office

Developer: Hancom
Product website: thinkfree.com
Download on Google Play

The heaviest package of office applications in our review, the distribution kit of which occupies more than 225 MB! Thinkfree Office includes text Word editor with a built-in PDF viewer, a Cell tool for working with spreadsheets, and a Show tool for working with presentation files. A distinctive feature of the product is its interface, which is on par with Microsoft Office and Google Docs in terms of ease of use. There is no confusion: all controls, menus and settings are located at hand in their place and there are no problems with editing documents. It's clear that Thinkfree Office was created with close attention to detail - this is the strong point of this solution, for which an annual subscription costs $15.

In order to use Thinkfree Office, you must register an account in the Thinkfree Connect system and issue free subscription on the site for two months. Each time you start the program checks the relevance account, so without these formalities it simply will not start. It is noteworthy that to verify the data, the application every time contacts the developer’s server, which means that if there is no Internet connection on the mobile device, then it will not be possible to use the office suite. Such a strict connection to the Internet completely negates all the advantages of Thinkfree Office.

⇡ "MyOffice Documents"

Developer: "New cloud technologies"
Product website: myoffice.ru
Download on Google Play

Office suite domestically developed, designed for editing texts and spreadsheets, as well as viewing presentation files. “MyOffice Documents” supports working with cloud services, is equipped with quite convenient and well-thought-out in practical terms user interface, but at the same time suffers from a tendency to damage and distort the style of documents created in Microsoft Office. And this is unacceptable for products of this class. I remember that almost 2.5 years ago “My Office” we focused on the existence of this problem, but so much time has passed, and things are still there. Nothing has changed and, it seems, will never change.

⇡ Let's sum it up

So which office application package should you choose for? Android platforms? The assortment is huge, but in terms of the totality of characteristics - ease of use, user-friendliness of the interface, functionality, cost - Microsoft Office and Google Docs lead by a significant margin from the rest. Hardcore geeks and lovers of open source software may be interested in AndrOpen Office. Don’t write off Thinkfree Office, whose capabilities are more than enough for editing texts, spreadsheets and presentations, but only if your mobile device has constant access to the Internet.

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WPS Office

Acquaintance

How long ago have you met office applications, which look beautiful, can do a lot of things and, on top of all this, are absolutely free? This is exactly what the office suite called WPS Office is. Is he really that good or is there some kind of catch?

Key features of the WPS Office application:

• One small app combines Presentations, Editor, and Spreadsheets;
• Specially designed for Android smartphones and tablets;
• Fully compatible with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel;
• Open almost any file format, including DOC, XLS, PPT, TXT, PDF and many more;
• Open documents stored in Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive and WebDAV;
• Synchronize documents with your PC using file roaming and the Kingsoft Cloud service;
• Send documents via Wi-Fi or DLNA;
• Send documents via email. mail and text messages;
• The security of your work is ensured by auto-saving and encryption of documents;
• Compatible with USB and Bluetooth keyboards;
• Use familiar keyboard shortcuts such as Ctrl+C and Ctrl+P;
• Full wireless printing support;
• Supports 47 languages.

Beginning of work

When we launch WPS Office for the first time, we need to accept the license agreement, then we will be introduced to some of the benefits of the application: fast rendering PDF files and a new interface. I wonder why the developers did not indicate more interesting features, at least expanded support for office files?

WPS Office meets with a very simple menu in the Material Design style. The main screen contains keys for opening, creating and searching documents, as well as recently open documents. Separately, you can note the key open windows, just like in a browser.

It turns out a kind of multi-mode - when editing a text document, we can open a presentation, another Text Document, tables and switch between them. This is something I have never encountered before.

We proceed to open the file by pressing the appropriate key. We are shown a convenient menu in which files are sorted by format and location. In the same menu, you can connect the cloud, of which there are already six: Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Evernote and WebDAV (FTP).

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By the way, there is currently a promotion going on in WPS Office, according to which New user Dropbox gets 10 GB for three months.

Now let's move on to creating documents and start with the most important thing - Word document. We immediately see a typical menu, where control keys are located at the top and various elements at the bottom.

As for the features, WPS Office will please any user. The application has full support for character and paragraph formatting; pages can be numbered, page breaks can be set, a figure can be added, a table can be inserted, and so on.

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An interesting feature is the spell check function. However, to do this you need to download a special extension called WPS Office Extra Goodies. There is a function, but it doesn’t work well, or rather doesn’t work at all. Of course, spell checking is also present in other applications, but is available exclusively in paid versions, like in the same Office Suite.

You can also transfer fonts from your computer to WPS Office. I don’t know how useful this function is in real life, but it’s an interesting idea.

When creating spreadsheets, we have a wide range of options available to us. There is support for character formatting, automatic numbering, filtering, formulas, symbols, and so on.

At first glance, there seems to be nothing unusual, but all the necessary functions that I use in MS Office 16 are there.

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With presentations, just like with documents and spreadsheets, everything is fine. There are plenty of tools, but we can't choose the flipping style. I can’t say how critical this is, because each user has a different use case, but it’s worth remembering. But the presentation can be easily broadcast to a TV or any other device!

I don’t know how often users create notes now, but WPS Office provides such an option. And in the usual text file(txt) we can add images, shapes and even tables.

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And now about the functions that are available for all files (except text notes). You can draw and write over text in any document. Before saving the document, you can encrypt it by setting a password.

For ease of use, the document can be exported to PDF. And you can save files both on your gadget and directly to the cloud, so as not to take up extra space in the memory of your mobile device.

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Using WPS Office on a smartphone is quite convenient, at least as far as it goes. But on a tablet, the program is incredibly easy to use; just like Office Suite, it is very similar to MS Office 16.

Settings

In the application settings we can delete the browsing history and set a launch password. A password is a convenient thing, but there are not enough other options. However, most users are not interested in all sorts of fancy parameters, and it’s much easier to optimize the application in this way.

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Testing

Happy opening txt files, doc, exel, ppt and PDF I did not have any problems. Moreover, I was pleased with the speed of opening files and the surprisingly smooth scrolling of large documents.

conclusions

WPS Office is by far the best office app for Android devices. The program turned out to be excellent: simple and understandable, easy to use and even beautiful.

As for the functions, WPS Office will please anyone, since it provides everything you need and even more. Moreover, all functions are available for free, and the program itself does not ask for anything for its use. Coincidence? Don't think…

I only have one question about the application: why is it free? It has no paid features or advertising. Perhaps the developers are releasing mobile version, to expand the audience of users and “lure” them to paid WPS Office for PC. But this is just speculation, but for now you can “enjoy” using WPS Office on Android devices absolutely free.

Tools for working with Microsoft Office files on mobile devices, and especially on tablets, are absolutely necessary things. Demand creates supply, so there are a lot of different office applications. Now we will try to highlight from all this diversity only the best that is available today among offices for Android.

Due to the fact that on a small phone screen it is normal to Office files working is problematic due to the small diagonal of the screen; the main test device for us was a tablet running Android 3.1. However, all conclusions from this material are fully suitable for phones.

Among the tools for working with Microsoft Office files, a group of the most famous and popular applications, a total of 7 items: the already reviewed ThinkFree Office, Polaris Office, OfficeSuite Pro, Picsel Smart Office, Documents to go, Olive Office and Quickoffice HD.

During testing, there were no concessions to the applications, therefore, looking ahead, even the most popular office applications waved a white flag and left the race.

The first such application was Olive Office, which refused to even work in landscape mode. In general, he turned out to be a clear outsider in this testing; he could not cope well with any of our tests.

And there were quite a lot of them. We checked the correct display of formatted text, the presence of graphs and charts, their updating when data changes, the ease of working with tables and editing various texts, the speed of work, and the usability of the interface.

The first step was to check the work with doc files no pictures, graphs. Only text, but with rather complex formatting and some semblance of columns (as we really like, made with just a bunch of spaces). The simplest of all our tests, but it also turned out to be overwhelming for some applications. ThinkFree Office was the first to disgrace itself, completely ignoring any formatting and “scattering” the text across the entire sheet in a completely unreadable manner, and in the end it had to be abandoned. Polaris Office was on the verge of a foul, spoiling the alignment, but not so critically (this, however, did not save it; it failed further). The rest of the “offices” showed the file exactly as it should look.

The following test tested working with Excel tables with graphs and diagrams.

Immediately, having received two marks, Documents to go and OfficeSuite Pro dropped out of the race, without even showing any graphs or diagrams. The remaining offices managed to cope with this work.

Next we launched PowerPoint presentation. It contained lists, pictures, and graphs, in general, everything was as usual. But even here it did not work out without losses. Quickoffice HD was immediately disqualified. He was somehow able to show the list, but the graphs were not visible. At all. Polaris Office again played on the verge of elimination, showing charts and lists well, but completely ruining the captions to the charts. Picsel Smart Office performed excellently in this test as well.

In the test with Word files with pictures and tables, both applications performed well.

However, when we decided to check a specific table with a chart tied to the values ​​in the table, we found best app for working with Microsoft Office, or, more precisely, the last disgrace is excluded. Polaris Office was completely unable to redraw charts when data changed; the charts simply did not redraw, completely inconsistent with the changed values. But Picsel Smart Office coped with this task perfectly.

Although Polaris Office dropped out of our office competition, there is a small caveat that may be key for some users. The thing is that on Samsung devices Polaris Office is already installed out of the box completely free of charge. Other manufacturers are rarely puzzled by this issue.

As a result, after all our tests, the only application that did not stain itself was Picsel Smart Office, which coped with all the tasks described above with 5 points. This, in our opinion, is becoming the best office for Android today. However, it is still too early to say that office on a tablet will soon be able to replace its original PC counterpart, but to comfortably view files and make adjustments to them, Picsel Smart Office will be the most best choice for Android.

The cost of Picsel Smart Office in the market is $10 (other offices cost an average of $15):