Comparison of office packages. Choosing Office for your home PC

Free office software that is easy to use, has many features, and is fully compatible with Microsoft Office documents.

Every one of us, no matter what operating system you use, sometimes needs reliable office software, and some of the best programs of this kind are completely free.

The new Windows 10 operating system comes with a trial version of Microsoft Office, but this package expires quickly and you will have to find a replacement. The Mac operating system has its own office suite, but if most of your colleagues use Windows, then you should try multi-platform programs.

Here we describe the best software solutions for the office - both those installed on a computer device and browser-based programs that work online. Therefore, you can easily choose exactly what you need.

Everything you could want from an office software package. Fully compatible with Microsoft formats and completely free, even for commercial use.

Huge software package
+ Fully compatible with MS Office
+ Absolutely free

LibreOffice is so good that you will regret ever paying for office software. All of its applications are compatible with Microsoft document formats and it has almost all the features of the latest versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel. If you are used to Microsoft Office, then choose LibreOffice without hesitation.

The package contains six programs to perform all standard office tasks: Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math and Base. The last three tools you won't find in many other free office applications are for creating vector diagrams, mathematical functions and databases, respectively. The latter program is especially useful: it's hard to find a free alternative to Microsoft Access.

LibreOffice is open source and supported by a large community of enthusiastic volunteers who are constantly working to improve the stability and new features of the product. There are many extensions and templates that make it even more flexible. And don't forget that it's all free for both home and commercial use.

Works on different platforms
+ Integrates with Google Drive
+ There are applications for mobile phones
– Opening old files can be difficult

Provided you have a stable internet connection, Google offers an excellent free suite of office programs. Especially if you work with someone or frequently use devices with different operating systems.

For any person who is familiar with the Android operating system, this software package will be a natural choice. All three programs in the Google Docs Sheets and Slides package run seamlessly in any browser and are available for mobile devices on iOS and Android.

This free software package from Google doesn't provide the extra tools you'd find in "desktop" desktop apps like LibreOffice (no spreadsheets or database, for example), but it's very clear and logical, and all your files will be saved and saved. are synced automatically, so you don't have to worry about transferring or backing them up.

The main disadvantage of Docs, Sheets and Slides is that opening files created using other office applications can be quite problematic, and the files are not always converted correctly.

This is partly because Google's office tools use web fonts rather than the ones stored on your PC, but also because sometimes Microsoft documents have their own quirks that Google doesn't support. If this is critical for you, read on...

Do you like the online service but need native support for Microsoft documents? Then Office Online is for you!

Fully compatible with PC apps
+ Works with OneDrive
– Some additional tools are missing

The Microsoft office suite installed on a PC requires a paid subscription. But at some point the company saw the threat from Google's online packages and created its own set of similar free applications.

Office Online works just like its PC counterpart, and while advanced tools like spreadsheets aren't available, Microsoft's product is no different than Google's.

Today, in addition to the purely online version of Office Online, there is also an extension for Chrome and mobile versions for iOS and Android.

• Download applications for Android: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote.

Office suite with free features for Windows, Linux and Android

Supports file formats from Microsoft
+ Middleware
– There are advertisements

WPS Office Free is a slightly simplified version of Office, but most likely you won’t notice the difference. Each of the three programs included in this package looks as good as the latest versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint and is packed with the same number of functions. WPS Office Free applications have a ribbon interface that is very similar to the one used in Microsoft Office.

It should be noted that the programs included in this package sometimes display advertising. But it does not appear often and should not interfere with your work.

There are versions of WPS Office Free for Windows, Linux, and also for Android devices. But Apple users will have to look elsewhere.

Cross-platform office software that stores your information in the cloud

Supports PC and mobile devices
+ 1 gigabyte of cloud space
– Comes with unnecessary additional programs

If you have a Samsung phone, then you are probably already familiar with the mobile version of Polaris Office. This multi-platform free program supports Windows, macOS, Android and iOS operating systems, and also comes by default on some Samsung devices. It is compatible with all Microsoft file formats and also has a user-friendly interface with individual settings.

Be careful - if you decide to install the Windows version, you'll be prompted to install a bunch of additional apps, such as McAfee's browser extension called WebAdvisor, the PremierOpinion market research tool, and antivirus software. You can opt out of all this during the installation process, but it will require a little attention.

Then you will have to log in via Facebook or Google, or create a new account. This is necessary because Polaris Office is a cloud-based service. Your free account has 60 megabytes of monthly traffic, 1 gigabyte of cloud storage space and can be used on three devices (1 PC and 2 mobile). If space is tight, you can connect Polaris Office to Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, Microsoft OneDrive, Amazon Cloud Drive, or save your work locally on the device itself.

Polaris Office lets you sync work across three devices for free. By purchasing a premium account, you get additional features such as a PDF editor, no ads, and the ability to search documents.

SoftMaker FreeOffice

Free version of the premium program with access to most professional features

Microsoft format support
+ PDF reader available
– No word checking dictionary

If you find Microsoft Office's ribbon interface difficult to navigate, you'll love SoftMaker FreeOffice's simpler approach. Like WPS Office Free, this package gives you equivalents of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint (TextMaker, PlanMaker and Presentations respectively).

As with other free office software packages, there is support for Microsoft formats from versions 1997 and later. The program also allows you to easily convert PDF and EPUB formats, which is a nice addition.

Unfortunately, some key features are only available in the premium version of the program. Some of them (for example, tabbed layout) are a good, but not critical feature, but the lack of a dictionary is a serious drawback for those who often type.

FreeOffice doesn't look as sophisticated as WPS Office, but if you don't like Microsoft's ribbon interface, then a more old-fashioned approach to navigation will suit you.

• Download applications for Android:

  Open365 is more than just office software - it's full-fledged open source desktop applications that are available in your browser and live on your server. There are important components of the LibreOffice software package (Writer, Calc and Impress), as well as the GIMP image editor, the Linux email package - Kontact, and cloud storage from Seafile. Everything the PC versions of these programs can do is possible here, and the same file formats are supported.

  There's a desktop client to manage file transfers and sync your cloud storage to your hard drive, but you'll still have to run the software in a browser. Completely local software for a personal computer is heavy both in terms of loading time and in terms of required system resources.

  But if you decide to involve your entire team in the work, the collaboration tools in this package will significantly help the process. Especially if you work on the “hot desk” principle or use different equipment.

  A really interesting alternative to Google Docs

  One-stop solution for SMB and related people
  – Sometimes it gets confusing

  Google Docs is much more popular due to its brand, but Zoho's office suite is very good in its own way. It's definitely closer to a PC office suite, and powerful enough to attract behemoths like the BBC and Nike as regular users.

Hello. As you may have noticed, links to editorial reviews of the best software have appeared in the header of the site, and gentlemen Taras Zhukov And Dmitry Romanov We have already written review articles on various types of programs for iOS and Android. Now it’s my time to join the crowd with a review and comparison of office/text editors.
Having gone to the section of the same name on the website and sorted the programs by downloads and ratings, I chose the top five, which we will take a close look at. Namely:

• Office Suite
• Polaris Office (4)
• QuickOffice
• Smart Office 2
• Word to Go

To conduct testing, I asked our editor-in-chief Alexandra Bobyleva send me a couple of particularly tricky documents that have already appeared several times in our trash casts and could not be displayed normally in their “native” environment - in a program written by Microsoft for a Windows background. Let's see how our today's applicants cope with these difficult tasks. I won’t build a top list, let’s just go in order.

As a “standard” I took LibreOffice Writer. It is worth admitting that even he sometimes “mess up” - pay attention to the notes on the screenshots. Unfortunately, I am not the owner of a Microsoft office, which, however, I consider a plus and I always remember to mention this when meeting girls, so we have one standard on the computer.

In addition, I would like to clarify that at first I tested the entire office package - boldness, italics, ordering, lists and the overall number of editor features, but after the article became overwhelming and I decided to get rid of these “repetitions”. All the editors presented here are “able” to use the standard set at the proper level, all actions on the text are carried out practically according to the same scenario, as written in the guidelines for the design of Android applications, so to describe how cool everything is with boldness in all I won't be editors.

Also, I did not check the editors for the ability to read PDF - if the ability is stated, then the editors cope with it without any problems.

Office Suite

The history of the development of this program goes back more than one year. At one time there was even a version for Symbian (and a pretty good one), with which, in fact, it all began. The developers claim that the program is almost omnivorous and can open formats such as DOC / DOCX, DOCM, RTF, TXT, LOG, XLS, XLSX, XLSM, CSV, PPT, PPTX, PPS, PPSX, PPTM, PPSM, PDF, EML, ZIP. I admit, I’m seeing a couple of extensions for the first time and have never used them.

OfficeSuite showed pretty good results when opening both documents, in some places the display was even better than on a computer. However, there were some problems: the note number in the footer was not displayed, the numbers in the graphs stuck together, but the problem is easily solved with a little stretching. All images and formulas were displayed as expected.

At the first direct (not opening a file) launch, the program will offer you to download a special set of fonts (documents were opened without them).

I was very pleasantly surprised by the ability to print directly from the device. To do this, just add a virtual printer in Chrome or your Google account, and then give the program access. I tried it - it works! Magic, and that's all. :)

OfficeSuite made 2 errors in formatting our documents. We'll score another point for the meager number of settings - 7/10.

Polaris Office 4

“Polaris” is an editor that came free with my device (Tab 2 7.0), which is why I indicated version 4, because at the moment there is already a fifth one, but, unfortunately, I was not able to try it. The reason for this: on top of the editor screen, the developers placed a message that I am already using the free version for my Samsung device, use it, why do you need the fifth version? And indeed. I did not remove the fourth and install the fifth.

As you can see, the package had some problems with the formulas - the picture was reflected, and in the subscript the font became too small to see everything comfortably.

There were no problems with displaying graphs and formulas, but the display of fields crossed out the numbers in Fig. 1, which can generally be considered a test failure.

There was also some rather strange blurriness, but the package did an excellent job of displaying the footnote number.

I was pleasantly pleased with the display of hyphens; in the previous one you couldn’t even turn this on.

In terms of functionality and ease of use, I liked the editor more than the previous one, so 7/10 (minus 3 points for errors, plus 1 for design and ease of use coupled with the reading function).

QuickOffice

From a product of a good (or evil?) corporation, I expected smooth and good work, but what I found was not at all what I expected. At first there were no signs of trouble, the formulas and images looked great, although a little sparse, the fonts too, the formatting in general, but everything changed when it came to more complex options. If here our office suite decided to show paragraph marks instead of symbols;

In the case of graphs, the editor simply did not show them! Didn't even try. Reminds me of Bobs' story about "Office" on a Windows background.

It is worth mentioning the speed of the application. I will clarify that all applications are launched “solo” - everything else is unloaded from memory, i.e. everyone has equal conditions for the use of resources. QuickOffice works very poorly: documents open slowly, rendering is slow, scrolling - what would you think? Yes, it's also slow! The program is simply not comfortable to use at the moment. I'm afraid that the online version of Google Drive, running in the browser, works many times faster and more pleasantly than QuickOffice. -3 points for errors (-2 immediately for completely ignoring the graphs) and another -2 for the appalling speed of work. Overall 5/10.

Smart Office 2

This office suite pleases you from the first seconds - documents open almost instantly, scrolling and scaling are the smoothest among those tested, and in addition to everything there is a beautiful iTunes-style leaflet and a nice interface in general.

Unfortunately, the display of documents is not so smooth. Symbols are sometimes replaced by squares, creeping onto each other, or even replaced by a Cyrillic “alternative”

At the same time, the most complex graph was displayed as expected. Well, except for the letters of the Greek alphabet.

In addition to a beautiful interface, the program can print using “Print Room” technology, as well as display images on projectors in a special presentation mode. The editor itself is also quite nice and convenient, action buttons pop up like in iOS near the text being manipulated. The only downside is the rather clumsy automatic translation of the program into Russian. 7/10.

Word to Go (Documents to Go)

The last contender for the throne in our review turned out to be the worst of all those presented to you today. Frankly speaking, I don’t even know what to praise this program for. Probably only for minimalism, and even then - this minimalism is such that it interferes with normal work. Just look at this interface.

I'll give this package a 2/10. Perhaps it is not bad, but only for some very simple tasks, but its convenience, or rather its absence, completely cuts off the possibility of normal use of the program for everyday purposes.

I would not like to summarize the applications completely. Let me just say that I didn’t find a clear winner - everyone screws up at some point, but if I were choosing an office suite for myself, I would choose from OfficeSuite, Polaris Office and Smart Office 2. The final choice is up to you - the users.

A universal set of applications for working with text files (Word), tables (Excel), presentations (PowerPoint), mail (Outlook), notes (OneNote) and other types of documents. The first version of Microsoft 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 the Microsoft Office suite combine powerful functionality and ease of use. Therefore, they are excellent for creating and editing office documents of any complexity. Plus, they're integrated with Microsoft cloud services, so you can access files on any device and collaborate on shared documents with others.

Microsoft Office goes far beyond basic functionality. For example, for convenient work with text, Word has a built-in translator and a speech recognition function that prints words dictated by the user. 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 allows you to easily 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.

No office work can be imagined without interacting with mail. Spark will help you sort through your inbox and respond to your colleagues’ emails as quickly as possible. Thanks to a well-thought-out interface, automatic sorting of letters, smart search and many other 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 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. In addition, Pushbullet combines the clipboards of 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 of 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.

Large screens and powerful processors on top Android devices are the perfect environment for working with office files. All that remains is to choose the application to your liking.

The official Google office application that works in conjunction with Google Drive. Until recently, it cost money, but now it is distributed free of charge, not only on Android, but also on iOS. Quick Office lets you view, create, and edit office documents and stores them in Google Drive. This saves space in the memory of your phone or tablet, but without the Internet the files will be inaccessible.

You can also open and edit office files in Google Drive, but there are much fewer options here than in Quick Office. This application is more suitable for managing saved files: deleting, moving, sending, etc.

An application from Microsoft with support for office files at the native level. Documents in it look exactly the same as in desktop programs and Microsoft web applications. An Office 365 subscription costs ten dollars per month.

A free “old man”, the developer of which prefers to upload each new major version as a new application. Polaris Office works with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. There seems to be nothing remarkable in this application, but many consider it the best among its kind.

One of the most popular applications with a wide range of features and support for almost all existing office file formats, including PDF. OfficeSuite integrates support for Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, SkyDrive and SugarSync.

An application with a beautiful but slightly confusing interface. What can be done very easily in others requires more effort in this one. The lack of intuitiveness is slightly offset by a pleasant bonus - the integration of Google Drive and Dropbox.

Having appeared quite recently, tablets have already firmly taken their place in our lives. Many people carry them with them not only at home, but also on the road, at work or at university. Among people unfamiliar with tablets or those who simply have not yet learned all the capabilities of these devices, tablets are often considered unsuitable for anything other than entertainment, games, surfing the Internet and watching videos. But they are mistaken, because anyone office for android turns the tablet into a good tool for studying or working.

Office applications For Android have long since reached the professional level. Fully functional, convenient, supporting all file formats needed for average office tasks. Paid and free, working in the clouds and files from a memory card. Many tablet manufacturers even began to add one of the many office suites to the default firmware.

But if you don’t have one on your tablet, then you are faced with the task of choosing from all this variety. And today we will make it easier for you by looking at the pros and cons of modern office suites for Android.

Google Docs + Sheets: a mobile office that is focused on working with the Google Drive cloud service

We'll start, perhaps, with Google Docs, a solution already familiar to many from the Android manufacturer.

Since this application is focused on working with cloud services, the documents in it are saved in Google Drive, into which you can, of course, transfer files created in other programs. The conversion is carried out at a sufficiently high quality so that they do not lose data or complex formatting.

Of course, we can create new documents using Google Docs itself. To do this, we are offered the necessary minimum of basic capabilities: changing the typeface and font sizes, lists and color design for text documents. Spreadsheets support simple formulas, entering and changing data in cells and coloring them.

Google Docs is more than capable of typing out simple text with minimal formatting, but it's not impressive in spreadsheets. In general, presentations can only be viewed with the parameters specified in them - there are no tools for creating and editing them.

In a word, Google in its office suite relied not on rich functionality, but on quick and convenient access to cloud services.

Microsoft Office: still a long way from being the best office program for Android

It would seem - who, besides the direct manufacturer and distributor of the number one office suite, will make a normal mobile version for it?
However, Microsoft disappointed users. And twice. For the first time, they proposed using a mobile office working through the paid (and very paid) Office 365 service. Few people were interested in this, and after a couple of years they decided to make Microsoft Office for Android free.

And then numerous critics and ordinary users immediately found many shortcomings in it, which pushed it into the background. In addition to the sluggishness of the application itself and the complex, confusing interface, extremely poor capabilities were also named among the shortcomings - compared to desktop office and smartphone analogues.

For example, Word Mobile works at the level of Wordpad. If you still remember this one. If you don’t remember, then imagine a simple application that allows you to write in different fonts, highlight, underline and... And that’s it. Such a primitive set of functions cannot claim the proud title of an office suite.

Excel Mobile looks a little better, which is more or less suitable for editing and simple formatting of spreadsheets. But overall, its advantages are outweighed by the third pillar of any office suite – presentations. Microsoft's creation only allows you to view them.

The shortcomings of the official application (and, to a large extent, its late entry into the market) forced developers to create alternative ones, many of which found a fairly wide range of users.

WPS Office: the most powerful office for Android at the moment

One of the most popular office for Android among users is WPS Office (formerly Kingsoft Office), which, in the best traditions of China, almost completely replicates the interface of a “normal” office. This will undoubtedly help any Windows office user get used to it quickly.

The control panel here is made in the form of a tape that can be flipped in both directions. This saves screen space, but can also make you spend a very long time searching for the desired function. It’s good that after finding it, you can create a shortcut to it.

Importing and exporting documents between WPS Office and desktop office works almost perfectly: tables do not move apart, formatting is not distorted, fonts are displayed correctly. In general, it should be noted that this is the only office suite for Android, which in its capabilities almost completely corresponds to the full version of Microsoft Office: the text editor not only has a full-fledged insertion of images and objects (formulas, tables, graphs, diagrams, etc.) , but also document statistics, spell checking, notes and comments.

True, the spreadsheets in this office suite look a little paler - they lack some pleasant little things that make for ease of use - a list of frequently used functions, for example. But one need only look at the presentations in WPS Office to dispel doubts that this office suite is the best. It perfectly opens the largest files with many styles and complex templates - and not only opens them, but also makes it possible to edit texts, pictures, and effects.

The bonus is a PDF viewer. The Chinese haven’t gotten around to the editor – but who knows, maybe this is just for now? Perhaps they simply haven’t gotten around to it yet, busy implementing a convenient file manager with a file filter, integration with Dropbox, Google Drive and similar cloud services, and even the rudiments of document printing. Yes, it’s all there, so WPS Office is the smartest choice for those who need maximum capabilities from their tablet for office tasks.

For those users who often only need to quickly skim a document or correct a few words in it, lighter alternatives are recommended. For example,

QuickOffice: office for Android from Google itself

Owned by Google for a very long time, QuickOffice is good enough for everyday use on both tablets and smartphones with small screens. It is moderately simple and understandable, but this in no way limits its capabilities, including:

• View and edit Word, Excel, Power Point documents,
• Integration with cloud storages - iCloud, Google Docs, Evernote, Dropbox and many others,
• Built-in file manager that even opens zip archives
• Sending documents directly from the application via SMS and Bluetooth (the only thing missing is Wi-Fi) or posting them to social networks (even Facebook and Twitter),
• External display support for presentations.

QuickOffice quite correctly converts files in doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx formats and views PDF. It is rightfully considered the most accurate in conveying on the screen of mobile devices all the subtleties of formatting office files, so it will be an ideal choice for everyday use by those who regularly perform important office tasks.

Polaris Office: Vendor Recognized Office for Android

Another popular alternative for office work on tablets is Polaris Office. This is a professional office suite for Android, which has deservedly received recognition among many manufacturers who install it in the factory firmware of their devices.

They do this because Polaris Office is ideally optimized for working on large (from nine inches) screens, in addition to the fact that the developers really tried to bring its capabilities closer to the functionality of desktop applications. With Polaris Office, we can not only open documents of any format that Microsoft Office works with, but also create them from scratch or using templates.

Among the interesting and useful functions of this application are not only basic text formatting, but also inserting ready-made images and template shapes, drawing, zooming, viewing, highlighting, searching for text, working with formulas in spreadsheets, and even speaking a selected fragment or the entire contents of the document. .

The main identified shortcoming of Polaris Office is not entirely correct document saving. If you open a file made on a PC and see it in the same way as in the original, it still allows, then the reverse operation can lead to loss of formatting.

Smart Office 2: another interesting office application

A rather original option for creating a mobile office is the Smart Office 2 package, which has a slightly unusual interface at first glance with a menu divided into two parts, one of which is a moving ribbon of buttons.

Smart Office 2 displays documents created on a computer almost the same as they should be, but these, of course, are not limited to its capabilities - you can also create a file in the desired format, optionally using a template for this.

In terms of functionality, this is a strong average. Smart Office 2 provides the user with the opportunity to enrich text documents with formatting, changing the typeface, size and color of fonts, inserting lists, tables and images. A simple Excel file editor can edit, copy and paste the contents and format of cells and change their sizes. And in the presentation application, you can edit parts of slides, change colors and edit texts.

Needless to say, this office suite also includes a traditional file manager and access to cloud services? They have already become the de facto standard for applications of this class.

Office Suite Pro: professional office suite

Our review ends with an interesting application, divided into two parts - for viewing files and editing them. The first can be used indefinitely, the second is provided for a week-long trial period, after which (or earlier) it can be purchased at a fairly affordable price.

And a week of trial is more than enough to make sure that it’s worth it. The wealth of functions is amazing, not inferior in this regard to Microsoft Office for personal computers, all formats of which Office Suite Pro chews with a bang.

Don't hesitate to choose Office Suite Pro if you not only need to format text, insert images and hand-drawn tables, but also add comments and footnotes, which only Android and Kingsoft Office can handle. And the XLS file editor surpasses all the others that exist: only in it, in addition to supporting formulas and charts, it also automatically calculates the sum and displays various statistics on the contents of selected cells.

Office Suite Pro falls short of ideal for only one reason: editing presentations is poorly implemented, although viewing is quite good.

To summarize

We will not impose on you our conclusions about which office application for Android we considered the best. Suffice it to say that in terms of the variety of supported functions, WPS Office leaves all its competitors behind. Office Suite Pro is not deprived of functionality either. For those users who are not interested in working with presentations, we can only recommend it. Indeed, in many other aspects, this office for Android is head and shoulders above its competitors.

However, for those who do not require such a powerful combine for work, Quick Office will be enough, the developers of which consider the accuracy of converting and displaying all Microsoft Office file formats on tablet screens to be a priority.

Well, the author of the review has the task of viewing office files on mobile devices once a year, so out of laziness he uses only Polaris Office for this, carefully installed by the smartphone manufacturer. The fast and lightweight app is perfect for this.