Softmaker FreeOffice

[Stone Tablet]

[Moderator notes:

• The present is the official forum topic for Softmaker FreeOffice.
  (FreeOffice database entry is at https://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1463)
• FreeOffice is a freeware 32-bit only version of the paid Softmaker Office suite.
  (Which has its own forum topic: viewtopic.php?t=3938)

/notes]
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Softmaker FreeOffice is a Lite version of their commercial Office Suite.

More info at http://freeoffice.com/

Instructions to run from USB are shown under the support tab and is pasted below.

Tips & tricks for installing FreeOffice on a USB flash drive

If you want to carry SoftMaker FreeOffice for Windows and important documents with you, you can copy FreeOffice to a USB flash drive. You can then insert this USB flash drive in any Windows-based computer (for example, those of friends or in Internet cafes) and run SoftMaker FreeOffice. When you unplug the USB flash drives, no traces of FreeOffice are left behind on the PC.

Proceed as follows:

1. Install SoftMaker FreeOffice on your regular PC's built-in hard disk. This lets you work with the applications in the regular way, even without a USB flash drive.
2. Click on the Windows Start button, then select Programs > SoftMaker FreeOffice > Utilities > Install SoftMaker FreeOffice on a USB stick.
3. Follow the instructions in this program. The program now copies the complete SoftMaker FreeOffice folder and the complete folder
4. My Documents\SoftMaker to your USB flash drive. This makes all SoftMaker FreeOffice program files, all documents and all settings from My Documents\SoftMaker available on the USB flash drive.
5. When the program is done, your USB flash drive contains a fully functional copy of SoftMaker FreeOffice which does not register itself in Windows, as well as all your documents and configuration files.

To launch one of the programs, open the SoftMaker FreeOffice folder on the USB flash drive and click on the program you wish to run (for example, TextMaker.exe or PlanMaker.exe).

[freakazoid]

That's good news! Hopefully it's more stealthy than the last time I tried Softmaker's older office version.

Next to LibreOffice / OOO.org clones, Softmaker has probably the best conversion of existing Word docs. However, Softmaker is way smaller compared to those suites.

Don't like the fact that you need to install this first though.

[webfork]

Couldn't find a difference between the free and pro versions. Anyone know?

[lautrepay]

Couldn't find a difference between the free and pro versions. Anyone know?

Softmaker FreeOffice = TextMaker + PlanMaker + Presentations = Free
SoftMaker Office Standard 2012 = TextMaker + PlanMaker + Presentations + Three licenses in the box + BasicMaker = US$ 79.95
SoftMaker Office Professional 2012 = TextMaker + PlanMaker + Presentations + Three licenses in the box + BasicMaker + SoftMaker eM Client Professional + 4 Berlitz Basic Dictionaries = US$ 99.95

The best part is that (apparently) the components of SoftMaker FreeOffice are the same included in the paid suites.

[webfork]

The best part is that (apparently) the components of SoftMaker FreeOffice are the same included in the paid suites.

Thanks for the clarification and yes, that's fantastic.

Update: download requires an email address and then they'll send you a link. Free temporary email services might be useful.

[stevegutry]

[quote="webfork]
Update: download requires an email address and then they'll send you a link. Free temporary email services might be useful.[/quote]

For what its worth - I find that Softmaker are not as aggressive as Ashampoo - who as you know rebrand softmaker as their own.

[Ennovy]

Couldn't find a difference between the free and pro versions. Anyone know?

Softmaker FreeOffice = TextMaker + PlanMaker + Presentations = Free
SoftMaker Office Standard 2012 = TextMaker + PlanMaker + Presentations + Three licenses in the box + BasicMaker = US$ 79.95
SoftMaker Office Professional 2012 = TextMaker + PlanMaker + Presentations + Three licenses in the box + BasicMaker + SoftMaker eM Client Professional + 4 Berlitz Basic Dictionaries = US$ 99.95

The best part is that (apparently) the components of SoftMaker FreeOffice are the same included in the paid suites.

There are more differences between de free en pro versions. I installed the software on an USB drive and found this document which explains it: Office comparison.tmd

In addition to free-of-charge SoftMaker FreeOffice, there is also a commercial edition, SoftMaker Office Standard 2012, which adds important features:

Spell checking using high-quality commercial dictionaries covering 20 languages
Synonym dictionaries (thesauri) in eight languages
Seamless import and export of the modern Microsoft formats DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX
Documents are presented in tabs, just like in a web browser.
The extended sidebar gives you a bird's eye view over your document and its stylesheets.
Free technical support by SoftMaker
... and much more!

SoftMaker Office Professional 2012 expands upon the features of the standard edition by adding:

SoftMaker eM Client Professional 4.0, a complete replacement for Microsoft Outlook which manages your e-mail messages, contacts, tasks, and appointments competently.
Four Berlitz dictionaries for translations from/to English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish

In this document you can also find a table with Functional differences in detail: http://www.peterlievers.nl/forumbijlage ... arison.pdf

[webfork]

There are more differences between de free en pro versions. I installed the software on an USB drive and found this document which explains it: Office comparison.tmd

Cool, thanks.

Having used the awesome OfficeTab MS Office tweak, I can attest to the awesomeness of having a tabbed Word Processor. For the past few months I've been using Firefox + Google Docs to achieve this. I keep hoping LibreOffice will integrate this awesome function.

Of course, you could also use WinTabber.

[3K3]

My findings after giving Softmaker FreeOffice "portable" a quick test drive
- When running with admin rights it leaves tons of reg keys
- USB app does not copy all the files to USB key (this could be just my comp)
- No way to permanently hide sidebar - only per session (really annoying)
- No tabs (I really do not like this)

[Goofy]

My recommendation:

http://freeoffice.com/de/download

FreeOffice is a full-featured office suite including word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation-graphics program with the best interoperability with Microsoft Office formats, much better than LibreOffice & Co.

FreeOffice can be used portable from USB stick without installation, size is 57,8 MB.

Would be cool if you put it on your website for download, or at least the link, because I think many users will love FreeOffice as I do.

Best regards

[SYSTEM]

My recommendation:

http://freeoffice.com/de/download

FreeOffice is a full-featured office suite including word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation-graphics program with the best interoperability with Microsoft Office formats, much better than LibreOffice & Co.

FreeOffice can be used portable from USB stick without installation, size is 57,8 MB.

Would be cool if you put it on your website for download, or at least the link, because I think many users will love FreeOffice as I do.

Best regards

SoftMaker FreeOffice is already discussed here: http://www.portablefreeware.com/forums/ ... =4&t=17207. If you want it to be added to the database, please wait a day so that you'll get the "add entry" privilege and add it yourself.

@moderator: Please merge these two posts into that thread.

[webfork]

@moderator: Please merge these two posts into that thread.

Thanks SYSTEM. All set.

[webfork]

FreeOffice is a full-featured office suite including word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation-graphics program with the best interoperability with Microsoft Office formats, much better than LibreOffice & Co.

Checked up on this again and still requires an email address to download.

[Midas]

Checked up on this again and still requires an email address to download.

It's true but, as noted before, a disposable email will do fine.

I'm a big fan of SoftMaker Free Office -- it's the most MS Office compatible suite I've found, can easily be made portable and it works on Linux, too...

[Caramb]

You provide information and download links for SoftMaker Office 2006 and 2008, but they're both outdated.

The current free office suite from SoftMaker is called FreeOffice. It has, compared to the older SMO suites, a wider scope of features and import / export filters for modern Microsoft Office formats docx, pptx, xlsx, it's faster, and has several more merits.

Everyone can download it here for Windows and Linux:

freeoffice.com