SoftMaker FreeOffice 2024 Released: Here’s What’s New

A new version of SoftMaker FreeOffice has been released.

SoftMaker FreeOffice 2024 is a free (like beer) version Office 2024a paid, cross-platform office suite developed by a German software company SoftMaker.

The paid version was first released in 1994, and was made available for Linux in 2003.

The three basic components of FreeOffice: Text creator, PlanMakerAND Presentationsare also included in SoftMaker Office (and the newer, subscription-based version SoftMaker Office NX), but not all features are shared.

That said, everything necessary functionality you would want in an office suite is included. The “missing” stuff is mostly on the gimmicky/comfort end, like AI/ML writing/translation, cloud integrations, premium dictionaries, additional fonts, ability to create ePUB files, etc.

FreeOffice has a ton of in-app links, descriptions, and buttons recommending/promoting the commercial version, but for regular use these upsells are subtle enough not to be distracting.

FreeOffice 2024: What’s new?

What’s new in FreeOffice 2024 compared to the previous version, FreeOffice 2021?

New features across all apps include:

• Ability to use modern ribbons or classic menus and toolbars
• Menus are also available in the ribbon user interface
• Quick Access Toolbar with Important Features
• Touch mode option for larger icons and increased fill
• PDF export option to export lower resolution images
• “Paste Special” option to include/remove formatting
• Support for embedding WebP images into documents
• Support for rotating table cells from the ribbon UI

Additionally, new features in Presentation To fool someone:

• Dynamic slide transitions compatible with PowerPoint
• Music and videos in presentations can be played on Linux
• Creating presentations with embedded fonts on Linux
• Toggle to hide/show rulers in full screen mode

Spreadsheet PlanMaker adds:

• Importing and exporting to SQLite databases.
• Sort and filter by color options
• Set date order when opening CSV files
• Chart titles, axis titles, and data labels are now pulled dynamically from cells
• Pivot tables can be sorted using user-defined lists
• You can enlarge the input line or set it to automatically expand

AND Text creator adds the following key information:

• Select multiple non-contiguous text ranges using control key key
• Embedding Fonts in TMDX and DOCX Documents
• File paragraph styles by All styles, Styles UsedOr Styles in the document
• Now supports numbered lists with leading zeros
• List numbering can now be right aligned
• Use =rand() Or =lorem() generate placeholder text

As far as I know, FreeOffice 2024 does not have any of the features introduced with the SoftMaker Office 2024 service packs (point updates). Only the basic features that were delivered in the first commercial version. Unfortunately, this means no dark document backgrounds if dark mode is set.

Download FreeOffice 2024

SoftMaker, the company that produces the FreeOffice suite, claims that “No other free Office suite offers such a high level of file compatibility with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.”

The Document Foundation has invested heavily in interoperability with Microsoft Office file formats, and I see enough people praising ONLYOFFICE for its efforts in this area. FreeOffice has been around for years, and has built up a following and good reviews, so that claim may have merit.

if you find LibreOffice is lacking, ONLYOFFICE If you’re too dense or anything else is too niche, you can download FreeOffice 2024 for free on Windows, macOS, and Linux to see if that suite better suits your needs.

You can download the FreeOffice DEB installer or set up the official APT repository to install FreeOffice on Ubuntu and receive future updates (the DEB installer does not do this). Packages for RPM-based distributions and a binary runtime are also available.

While this software is free to download and use, a few days after installation you will be asked to register for a “free license key” to continue using it. This requires a valid email address, but nothing else.