Table of Contents
This guide is about Google Workspace vs LibreOffice: Which one is better for you?. So read this free guide, Google Workspace vs LibreOffice: Which one is better for you?. If you have query related to same article you may contact us.
Google Workspace vs LibreOffice: Which one is better for you? – Guide
LibreOffice is a free and open source office productivity software package, a Document Foundation (TDF) project. It was forked from OpenOffice.org in 2010, an earlier open source version of StarOffice. The LibreOffice suite consists of programs for word processing, for creating and editing spreadsheets, slide shows, diagrams and drawings, for working with databases and for creating mathematical formulas. It is available in 115 languages.
Google Workspace (formerly known as Google Apps and later G Suite) is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software, and products developed and marketed by Google. It was first introduced as Google Apps for Your Domain in 2006 and renamed G Suite in 2016. Google Workspace consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet and Chat for communication; Chains for employee engagement; Storage unit; and the Google Docs package for content creation.
An admin panel is provided for the administration of users and services. Depending on the edition, Google Workspace may also include the Jamboard digital interactive whiteboard and an option to purchase add-ons such as the voice telephony service. Education Edition adds a Google Classroom learning platform and is now called Workspace for Education.
Google Workspace vs LibreOffice: The Big Picture
Before looking at the performance of individual applications, such as word processors and spreadsheets, it is worth reviewing some of the general differences between these two groups. One big difference is the cost: LibreOffice is free, and Google Workspace starts at $6 a month and grows with the size of your business and your needs. Free is better, of course, but you’ll find that the benefits of Workspace are well worth the price.
Another big difference is that Google Workspace is fully online while LibreOffice is fully online offline. While it might not seem all that important at first, it looks very different if you use one for a while and then switch to the other. On the one hand, saving or creating backups is completely unnecessary when using a workspace. Virtually all of your work is automatically saved as soon as you do it, and multiple versions of each file are also saved.
Using LibreOffice is like traveling back in time: you have to press Ctrl + S every few minutes to make sure your work is saved – autosave works, but only at certain intervals – and when you want to set the version, you need to create different files for the same document.
You also have a problem if something happens to your computer: if these files are not backed up up, these files will be gone forever.
Sharing is easier online
Another great benefit of always being online is sharing: you can easily share any file or document on Google Workspace with other people, even if they need a Google email – good Gmail. When sharing, you can write in the same document (“real-time collaboration” to use marketing jargon) and leave comments for each other at the same time, which is great.
Sharing a LibreOffice file is more complicated and reminds you of days gone by: you need to save the file in the correct format – if you send an ODT file to a Mac user, you will have a bad time – and then an email send. Then they make their changes and leave comments, and you both hope the comments survive the transition between the different wards. Your pain.
The joys of being offline
With all that said, there’s still something to be said for being offline. For one, you don’t have to worry about running out of storage space. While Google gives users free 15GB of very large storage (making it one of the best free cloud storage), your hard drive easily overcomes this even if you are using a middleman. laptop.
The second and most important benefit is that you are in control of your files. If your Workspace account is suddenly terminated for any reason or if you lose access – as if you lost your password – your documents will also disappear. They can still be restored, but it may take some time. This only happens to files on your hard drive if the hard drive itself completely fails.
The biggest benefit of all, however, is the sense of privacy that comes with maintaining local storage. You don’t have to trust your files to a cloud service provider like Google, even if Google is committed to protecting your privacy. If you don’t want to trust your files to another organization, offline mode is the way to go.
Comparing Workspace and LibreOffice Apps
Let’s get away from the big picture and see what apps can do within each group. Here we focus on word processors and spreadsheets as they are the most popular. The other programs the two have in common are slideshow apps, but they look the same.
LibreOffice has no equivalent to Google Forms, which is unfortunate. It’s also worth noting that Workspace doesn’t have a drawing program or anything that specifically focuses on formatting math and scientific equations like LibreOffice Math does.
LibreOffice Writer vs Google Docs
Google Docs is a great word processor when all you need to do is write and maybe add some basic stuff like spreadsheets and the like. In fact, the first draft of this article was written on Google Docs because it’s simply a great program that you can write seconds after your first launch.
However, if basic text formatting and some admittedly ugly tables aren’t enough for you, LibreOffice Writer is by far the best option. If Google Docs is basically just an application you can type with, LibreOffice Writer is very similar to Microsoft Word in that it has a lot of options and you can even play around with the page layout.
If you love or need all those extra worms, LibreOffice is a great choice, especially if you’re not interested in using Microsoft Office (we compared LibreOffice to Microsoft Office). If all you want to do is write a bunch, Google Docs is the best. However, large documents (eg anything longer than 50-60 pages) take a long time to load in Google Docs, even with a fast connection. LibreOffice is much better as long as your processor is scratch-ready.
One final note about LibreOffice is that it doesn’t have the most popular fonts while Google Docs does. If you’re a big fan of Times New Roman, Arial, or other traditional message types, you’ll need to import them to make them work in LibreOffice. It’s not a big deal, but it’s worth checking out.
LibreOffice Calc vs Google Sheets
The simplicity that makes Google Docs so attractive hurts its sibling, Google Sheets, Workspace’s spreadsheet app. While it does a pretty good job – and it’s really good – if you just want to tabulate some basic data, anything beyond a few simple formulas will leave you annoyed and frustrated. It just doesn’t have the emotion of Excel.
LibreOffice Calc is not an Excel program, they say, but it does a much better job than Google Sheets. it supports more features and fixes problems faster too. When you have more than a few dozen cells in Google Sheets, changes can take a long time to apply and a spreadsheet can take a long time to load – none of that with Calc. Works like a lubricated lightning bolt, even on older devices.
LibreOffice or Google Workspace?
The decision between Google Workspace and LibreOffice depends on personal preferences. The big advantage that LibreOffice offers is its performance: it can do more and faster than its web equivalent. It also won’t suffer from serious connectivity and privacy issues.
Google Workspace can be used on any device from anywhere and automatically backs up up your data without any action on your part. The apps might be simpler, but if your needs aren’t too advanced, that might be a good thing. This is especially the case when privacy is not a priority. Either way, they’re solid wings and you can’t go wrong with any of them.
Final note
I hope you like the guide Google Workspace vs LibreOffice: Which one is better for you?. In case if you have any query regards this article you may ask us. Also, please share your love by sharing this article with your friends.