Showing posts with label free office. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free office. Show all posts

2013/06/26

2013: Kingsoft Office Free / Professional

I had already written about this product for the office, and even then I was very excited, (see this post: New: "Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012", but the new 2013 version has exceeded improvements in the previous !

Kingsoft Office 2013 has totally changed its graphical interface to align with the new standards of similar products competitors, so it looks very much like the so-called "Ribbon"  interface of Microsoft Office 2007/2010. However, you can also set the old interface similar to Microsoft Office 2003.
The software has a built-in PDF converter and an automatic spell check!




The compatibility with Microsoft products is always the first place:
Kingsoft Writer Professional 2013 is fully compatible with Microsoft Word 2007/2010.
Input file format: (97/2000/2003/2007/2010) doc, docx & dot.
Output file format: (97/2000/2003) doc & dot.

Kingsoft Office 2013 exists in two versions: totally Free fo personal use, and Professional ($ 69.95). In this table you can see the differences between the editions.

[Source LinkKingsoft Office 2013 Free
[Source Link] Release History

Updated 18/10/2013
Kingsoft Office exists in a "reduced" version for Android systems, and is an alternative to Microsoft Office for Tablet.
[Link] Kingsoft Office for Android Free

Updated 3/11/2013
There is also free Kingsoft Office for LINUX (in alpha).
[Link] Kingsoft Office for Linux Alpha version 12 patch 2 - Free.


PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
In my opinion the compatibility with Microsoft products has increased. In particular, examining some Excel files I noticed that some features such as Macro, notes and graphics, in the 2012 version were still partly incompatible, while in this 2013 version were fully compatible! Some Powerpoint files very large (with many photos and effects) are now handled correctly.
In addition to compatibility with read and write files to DOC and DOCX, I point out the extreme compatibility with RTF (Rich Text Format)
An other peculiarity is thas the suite is smaller (50 MB) and faster than most other office suites. 
The only downside now is always the same, or the lack of the other language (non english)!
However, there is the possibility of including a spelling dictionary ! To download and install it, follow the instructions (in Italian) provided by Kingsoft hereof other languages.
There is a support with questions and answers in English on the website of Kingsoft. Also on this web page are available some user guides  of all the products of the office suite (both in PDF and browsable online).
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2012/01/05

New: Kingsoft Office Suite Free 2012

A new suite of office software applications (freewae) was added in 2012, a new name to keep in mind, is: Kingsoft Office 2012 Suite Free.

This set of applications to be used as an alternative to Microsoft Office, contains the free version of:
  • a text editor (like Word)
  • a spreadsheet (like Excel)
  • a presentation software (like Power Point)



The strong points in my opinion are:
a. High compatibility for both reading and writing files with Microsoft applications, it allows you to:

Open, view and edit Word (97/2000/2003/2007/2010) .doc, .docx, .wps and .wpt formats; output to (97/2000/2003) .doc, .wps and .wpt format.
Open and view Excel (97/2000/2003/2007/2010) .xls, .xlsx, .et and .ett formats; edit and save (97/2000/2003) .xls, .et and .ett format.
Open and view PowerPoint (97/2000/2003/2007/2010) .ppt, .pptx, .dps and .dpt formats; edit and save (97/2000/2003) .ppt, .dps and .dpt format.

b. graphical interface of the three applications familiar to those who already uses Microsoft software (version XP/2003).
c. ability to convert a file directly to PDF.
d. use of the product completely free without any limitation


Required Operating System:
Windows 2000 / Windows XP / Windows Vista(32bit,64bit) / Windows 7(32bit,64bit)

Basic Configurations:
CPU: Pentium II 266 MHz or higher
Memory: at least 128 MB
Hardware: at least 200 MB available space

Recommended Configurations:
CPU: Pentium III 450 MHz or higher  Memory: 256 MB or larger
Hardware: 250 MB available


Consistency of Document Layout 
Open a 157-page word document (in *.docx format) with Kingsoft Writer and Microsoft Word 2007:

The number of pages are totally the same, which means the page margin, line spacing, character spacing, picture and all the content in the document are displayed according to the same parameters. When we tried to open the same document with other word processors, like OpenOffice.org Writer, the number of pages changed to 184. In this respect we can clearly see that different word processors usually apply different layout standard. However, Kingsoft Writer keeps the same with MS Word. Similar with Spreadsheets / Presentation, when we open *.xls / *.xlsx / *.ppt / *.pptx files created with Microsoft Excel / PowerPoint with corresponding Kingsoft programs, the layout and functions are successfully inherited and displayed. Conclusion: By installing Kingsoft Office, when you send or receive documents, you don't need to worry about file compatibility and layout issues. You can open Microsoft Office documents with Kingsoft Office, and others can open your documents created with Kingsoft Office with their MS Office.

Click here to reach the site where you can download Kingsoft Office 2012 Suite Free 

Upgrade 21/12/2012

The following is a list of updates for Kingsoft Office Suite. The list order is from the latest version to the initial version. Each version description includes the version number, release date and the update details.
Note: Features with * marks are only available in Professional and Standard Editions.

Kingsoft Office 2012 New Features List

Release Date: 17-09-2012

[Office Suite]
1. * Support various interface color schemes
2. * In the 2012 interface, support customization of Quick Access Toolbar
3. * In the 2012 interface, support CommandBar API
4. Support Ctrl+P Print Options, the cursor can be positioned at the Score option
5. Support Shift+F10 to call up the context menu
6. Support recently used document management function
7. Support recording recently used font list, memory task pane settings and memory to display or hide the function area feature.
8. * In the 2012 interface, the tab supports mouse wheel control horizontal scroll function
[Writer]
1. Support recording formats amendment
2. Support arranging windows side-by-side
3. Support watermark function
4. Support amendment function and recording revised format
5. Support background color for inserted text annotations
6. In the "Page Layout" tab, support 6 text direction options, and in the "Text direction" dialog box, support two direction functions
7. Support directly entering a space before the first word in the paragraph wrap
8. Support page background function
9. Support memory document map width function

[Presentation]
1. Support converting Kingsoft Presentation files into Kingsoft Writer file format
2. * In the "Home" tab of 2012 interface, added "Slide Show From Beginning" and "From Current Slide" quick play entrance

[Spreadsheets]
1. Support editing link function
2. Support "Pick From Drop-down list" option in the right-click menu
3. In the "Home" tab, on the "Paste" drop-down list, added "Paste As Unformatted Text" option
4. Support the formula evaluator by single-step function
5. Support edit and open file function
6. In the Equation Editor mode, support function insertion in name box
7. The statistical results of the status bar use thousands separator by default
8. Column width units support pounds, inches, centimeters, millimeters, character units Introduced new chart color scheme
9. Introduced the ET new engine to enhance the computing speed in Kingsoft Spreadsheets

Kingsoft Office 2012 Improved Features List

[Office Suite]
1. Fixed the backup management problems, improve backup management system
2. Solved dictionary crash problem including Youdao, Lingoes and Power Word
3. Optimized the document tab display problem, solve the problems of the document tab bar
4. * In the 2012 interface, optimized the layout and application button under the applications drop-down menu
5. * Solved crash problem after upgrade
6. * Optimized the bubble pop-up mechanism when click "upgrade online" from the "Help" menu before the serial number is expired.
7. Optimized the default background color when you save picture as GIF, BMP and JPG formats
8. * In the 2012 interface, fixed the controls display problem in the 1024 resolution on the "Home" tab
9. Optimized status bar display effect
10. Fixed the problem that title bar does not display the file name

[Writer]
1. Changed "Show / Hide paragraph layout" icon button in the "Home" tab
2. * Support navigating to the last cursor position before the document was closed
3. Optimized the document map
4. * In the 2012 interface, Text tool is presented as large icons
5. After continuously merge multiple cells in the same column, when set the merged cell text orientation to vertical, the height of the first row will change, this problem has been fixed
6. Optimized paragraph layout

[Presentation]
1. Optimized the notes pane below the slide
2. Adjusted the picture clarity in the "Slide Layout" task pane
3. Beautified the effect of slide thumbnails for the Hover and Check state
[Spreadsheets]
1. Edited reconstruction, including the Function Wizard dialog box, the Advanced Filter dialog box, edit field, the parentheses of formula coloring in the edit field
2. * Adjusted the "Draw Border" position in the "Home" tab
3. Improved circulation reference dialog box, the interrupt calculation (status bar) and automatic archiving experience
4. * In the 2012 interface, classifying and extracting functions in the "Insert Function" dialog box
5. In the pie chart, the percentage cannot be accurate to decimal places, now this problem has been solved.

Update 15/04/2013: Just for today (24 hour time), you can download and install the free standard version of the product (Kingsoft Office Suite Standard 2012) from the site Freebiest

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
I was extremely impressed by the product's compatibility with Word and Excel files. In particular I found that can properly handle some VBA macro that does not work on OpenOffice / LibreOffice.
For those who want access to a more professional version (, here is where to find a table comparing the various versions of the product. Only add that in the paid version you can edit and modify VBA macros and you can choose whether to use the new Ribbon interface (similar to Microsoft Office 2010).

NOW, you can see also: "2013: Kingsoft Office Free / Professional"