If you need to work with files created in Microsoft Office, or create files compatible a Microsoft Office application, many free options are available.

Offline solutions

There’s several free programs that can be installed on your computer to open Microsoft Office documents and other office or rich-text documents. Below is a selection of our favorites.

  • Offline solutions

  • Microsoft Viewer applications.

  • OpenOffice

  • LibreOffice

  • Online solutions

  • Google Docs

  • ThinkFree

  • Microsoft Viewer applications.

  • OpenOffice

  • LibreOffice

  • Google Docs

  • ThinkFree

Microsoft Viewer applications

Microsoft has several “Viewer” programs that can be downloaded and used to view Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, without having Microsoft Office installed on the computer.

Links to download each viewer application from Microsoft’s website are listed below.

  • Microsoft Word Viewer
  • Microsoft Excel Viewer
  • Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer

OpenOffice

A free and open-source project from Sun that includes different solutions. It is available for all major platforms including Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, and Linux. Below is a listing of programs this package includes.

  • Base - Database

  • Calc - Spreadsheet

  • Draw - Drawing program used to create logos and flow charts.

  • Impress - Presentation program

  • Math - Allows a user to create scientific formulas and equations.

  • Writer - Word processor and text editor.

  • OpenOffice website

LibreOffice

A popular free office suites that supports Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher documents, and support for ODF (OpenDocument format).

  • LibreOffice website

Online solutions

There are also many free online solutions as well. Below is a listing of our favorites.

Google Docs

Google Docs, available from Google, lets you freely open and create files and collaborate and share files with anyone who has Internet access.

Google Docs is compatible with many file formats, including .doc, .docx, .rtf, .sxw, .pdf, .ppt, .pps, .csv, .xls, .xlsx, .ods, and .html.

  • Google Docs website

ThinkFree

Another solution capable of opening and viewing many Microsoft Office and other rich-content file formats.

ThinkFree is compatible with many file formats, including .doc, .dot, .rtf, .ppt, .pot, .pps, .xls, .xlt, .docx, .pptx, .xlsx, .pdf, and .hwp.

  • ThinkFree website
  • How to prevent the Office task pane from automatically opening.
  • How to determine which version of Microsoft Office I’m using.
  • See our Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Word definitions for further information and related links.
  • Microsoft Office help and support.