MS Office Ubuntu

Microsoft Office or Office is a family of server software, client software, and services made by Microsoft. First, it was released by Bill Gates on 1 August 1988 in Las Vegas at COMDEX. Initially, it was a marketing phrase for an office suite (productivity applications set), the first Office version contained Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Word.

Over the years, the applications of Microsoft Office have developed substantially closer with distributed features like basic spell checker, Visual Basic for scripting language of applications, and OLE data integration. Also, Microsoft positions Office as an integrated platform for line-of-business applications upon the brand, i.e., Office Business Applications. Softpedia stated that Office is used by more than a billion users worldwide on 10 July 2012.

• The Office is generated in many releases targeted towards distinct computing and end-user environments.
• The most widely used and original release is the desktop release, present for PCs executing the macOS and Windows operating systems.
• Also, Microsoft maintains mobile applications for iOS and Android.
• On the web, Office is a software version that executes in a web browser.
• Microsoft has advertised Office 365 as the main means of accessing Microsoft Office since Office 2013, it permits the software use and many services over a subscription business model and all users get aspect updates to the software for the subscription's lifetime including cloud computing integration and new features that aren't essentially contained in the "on-promises" versions of Office sold upon license terms.

Components of Microsoft Office

Core applications and services

• MS Word is a word processor contained in Microsoft Office and a few editions of now-discontinued MS Works. The initial Word version, published in the fall of 1983, was for the Microsoft-DOS OS and published computer mouse to users.
• MS Excel is an editor of the spreadsheet that was originally challenged with the Lotus 1-2-3. In 1985, Microsoft published the initial Excel version for the macOS and the initial version of Windows in November 1987.
• MS PowerPoint is a program for presentation used for creating slideshows composed of graphics, text, and other objects, which could be shown on-screen and displayed by the printer or presenter on slides or transparencies.
• MS OneNote is a program for notetaking that gathers typed or handwritten notes, audio commentaries, screen clippings, and drawing. Notes can be distributed to other users of OneNote using the internet or any other network.
• Initially, OneNote was published as a standalone application that was not contained in any edition of Microsoft Office 2003. Although, OneNote became a core element of Microsoft Office along with the publication of Microsoft Office 2013.
• It was contained in every offering of Microsoft Office. Also, OneNote is present as a web application on Office over the web, a mobile app for Symbian, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone, a Metro-style application for Windows 8, and a freemium Windows desktop application.
• Microsoft Outlook can be defined as a personal information manager that substitutes Schedule+, Microsoft Mail, and Windows Messaging beginning in Office 97.
• It contains an address book, task manager, calendar, and email client. Microsoft provided many Outlook versions in the late 1990s on the macOS, but just for use with the Microsoft Exchange Server. It announced an extra application with a slightly distinct aspect set which is known as Microsoft Entourage in Office 2001. In Office 2001, it re-announced Outlook, substituting Entourage.
• Microsoft OneDrive has been described as a file hosting service that permits users for syncing files and later authorizes them using a mobile device or web browser.
• Microsoft teams is an environment that combines workplace notes, meetings, attachments, and chat.

Windows-only applications

• Microsoft Publisher is an application of desktop publishing for Windows. It is widely used to design postcards, websites, newsletters, business cards, greeting cards, calendars, labels, and brochures.
• Microsoft Access is a DBMS for Windows that incorporates the Jet Database Engine (relational Access Database Engine) with GUI and the tools of software development. Microsoft Access saves data in a way that is based on Access Database Engine. Also, it can directly link or import data stored in many databases and applications.
• Microsoft Visio is an application of flowcharting and diagram for Windows, not included in any Office Suite.
• Microsoft Project is an application of project management for Windows for keeping track of tasks and for creating Gantt charts and network charts, not included in any Office Suite.

Server applications

• Microsoft Exchange Server is a calendaring server and mail server.
• Skype for Business Server is a server of real-time communications for video conferencing and instant messaging.
• Microsoft SharePoint has been described as a web-based collaborative environment that incorporates Microsoft Office. Primarily, SharePoint is sold as a storage system, and document management launched in 2001, but the product is usable and configurable varies among organizations substantially. The services of SharePoint include:
  • Microsoft Search Server
  • InfoPath Forms Services have been specified as a server of form distribution same as the Microsoft InfoPath.
  • Excel Services have been described as a server of spreadsheet editing same as the Microsoft Excel.
  • Microsoft Project Server is a server of project management same as the Microsoft Project.

Mobile-only applications

• Office Remote is an app that turns a mobile device into any remote control for many desktop versions of PowerPoint, Excel, and Word.
• Office Mobile is an application of unified Office Mobile for iOS and Android which combines PowerPoint, Excel, and Word into an individual application and defines new abilities as creating quick notes, transferring files, scanning QR codes, and signing PDFs.
• Office Lens has been described as an image scanner used for mobile devices. It can capture the document (for example, whiteboard, paper, business card) by a camera and then straighten the portion of the document of the image. The output could be exported to Outlook, PowerPoint, OneNote, or Word, or stored in OneDrive, transferred by mail, or positioned in the photo library.

Web services

• Microsoft Bookings is an application of appointment booking on the platform of Microsoft Office 365.
• Microsoft Stream is a service of corporate video sharing for organization users with an Office 365 Enterprise or Academic license.
• Microsoft Planner is an application for planning present on the platform of Microsoft Office 365.
• Outlook on the web is a client of webmail same as Outlook.com but more extensive and present only from Microsoft Exchange Server and Office 365 offerings.
• Outlook.com is non-paid webmail along with a user interface same as the Microsoft Outlook.
• Microsoft To Do is a service of task management.
• Microsoft Forms has been described as an online survey creator, present for Education Subscribers of Office 365.
• Delve is the service that permits the users of Office 365 for searching and managing their documents, social networks, contacts, meetings, and emails saved on OneDrive or Sites inside Office 365.
• Microsoft Sway is an application of presentation web published in October 2014. Also, it contains a native app for Windows 10 and iOS.

Office on the web

It is a lightweight and free Microsoft Office web version and mainly contains three different web applications: PowerPoint, Excel, and Word. Also, the offering contains OneDrive, OneNote, and Outlook.com which are usable from a unified app switcher.

All users can use the on-premises release of this service which is known as Office Online Server within private clouds in partnership with Microsoft Lync Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, and SharePoint.

PowerPoint, Excel, and Word on the web can each natively open, save, and edit the files of Office Open XML (pptx, xlsx, docx) and the files of OpenDocument as well. Also, they can open the previous file formats of Office (ppt, xls, doc) but will be transformed into the newer formats of Open XML if the user online wants to edit them.

Common Features of Microsoft Office

Almost every release of Microsoft Office (like office 97 and later) apply their widget set and doesn't exactly the same as the native operating system. It is most possible in Microsoft Office 2003 and XP, in which the classic menus were substituted with shadowed, flat-looking, and colored menu style. Often, the UI of a specific release of Microsoft Office heavily influences a release of Microsoft Windows.

For instance, the colored buttons, toolbar, and the grey-colored 3D appearance of Office 4.3 were included in the ribbon, Windows 95, defined in Office 2007, has been consolidated into many programs with Windows 7 and later versions. Office 2013 reproduced the box-like and flat look of Windows 8 in 2012.

Microsoft Office users may access outside data by connection-specifications stored in the files of Office Data Connection.

Both Office and Windows apply service packs for updating software. The Office contained non-cumulative service releases, that were no longer in use after Service Release 1 of Office 2000.

The older releases of Office often included Easter eggs. For instance, Excel 97 included a logically functional flight simulator.

Installing Microsoft Office in Ubuntu

Getting MS Office in Ubuntu is easy. In this article, we will cover some methods to run the Office software of Microsoft in a Linux environment.

The most frequently used productivity suite of Office around the world is Microsoft Office. It does not matter if our PC runs macOS or Windows 10, it is likely that we are using Microsoft Office. If we are not, we have an assistant who is.

How we can install MS Office on Linux?

We have three methods to run industry-defining Office software of Microsoft in a Linux System:

• Use MS Office over the web within a Linux Browser.
• Installing MS Office with the help of PlayOnLinux.

Note: Microsoft Office 365 is not available for Linux. Also, there is no MS Office for Linux, however, these ways enable us to run MS Office on Ubuntu, without improvements Office 365 brings.

Use MS Office within a Browser

It may not be the complete Microsoft Office, however, what is made available by our browser is good enough for a large part of office-based tasks. It is an easy way for getting begun without paying for the complete Microsoft Office Suite. Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and Word can each be accessed by our Microsoft account browser.

The users of Linux can take benefit of the integrated browser-based tools that make this release of Office almost as full as the mobile, Mac, and Windows versions.

It is not going to be accessible offline because the Suite is browser-based. Although, we can make things effortless by setting office.live.com as any desktop shortcut. All files will be stored in the cloud and a great way for managing them is using a Microsoft OneDrive account.

We will get a stripped-back set of features without Office 365. It does not do everything we expect though helpful in a pinch.

Installing MS Office with the help of PlayOnLinux

We need to install MS Office to completely access it. Probably, we think that it is not possible for installing Windows software in Ubuntu, and to some degrees that's true. Fortunately, some other tools are available to support us installing Windows software such as MS Word on Linux with the other Office Suite.

The easiest way for installing MS Office is with the help of PlayOnLinux. The below instructions are to install Office 365 in Ubuntu, but we can customize it for many distributions that use distinct package managers.

Installing PlayOnLinux

1. First of all, we need to open our terminal window and install winbind. The command for installing winbind is mentioned below:

2. It is a tool that will ensure that PlayOnLinux connects the Windows login correctly on the software we are attempting to install. Also, we need to install p7zip-full and cUrl if they are not installed already.

3. Next, we can use the below command for installing PlayOnLinux:

4. We can alternatively open the app installer of our distribution. On the 20.04 LTS version of Ubuntu, we can use Ubuntu Software to find PlayOnLinux and press the Install button. Wait for the installation process to complete.

5. All we need to do is open PlayonLinux using Menu > Applications for installing MS Office, press the Office tab, either browse the list or apply the search field.

Note: We will need to install the complete Suite as no single application (aside from Project 2010, Excel Viewer, and Word Viewer) is available.

We will notice that a compatibility summary is shown on the right with all apps we choose in PlayOnLinux. Press the link button for more details about it. A browser window will take us to WineHQ in which we can search more.

In Linux, we are restricted to Microsoft Office 2016 as the current version (32-bit release at best). For the most stable and best outcomes, we recommend using Microsoft Office 2016. We will need a setup file or installation media (ISO file) with the genuine product key.