Free or low-cost, dirt simple, Word Processing Software

[C.G.]

I use LibreOffice. It's an entire suite of office software. Can read Word and Excel files, etc. But, as you mentioned, it is not bare bones or simple...

Yup, based on Open Office and continued with improvements.

https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/

[the86d]

I had my son using LibreOffice, on windows for years, but due to some weirdness of what I do with selecting and copying-pasting, it didn't work for me, so I started paying the $100/year for M$ Oraface 365. Worth it for me, especially with Onedrive and how many computers I might be using at different times at home/work.

[Cowboy T]

LibreOffice is very good indeed and what I've been using ever since the OpenOffice.org 641b Beta version. I used StarOffice before that. Several years ago, when my Dad was in his 70's, I updated him from Microsoft Word 6.0 (the 32-bit Windows NT version) to OpenOffice.org and later LibreOffice when I updated him from Windows NT 4.0 to CentOS. He took to the newer OO.o and LO just fine.

But if you want simpler, there's AbiWord for Microsoft Windows. Not only is AbiWord released under the GNU GPL, not only does it do OpenDocument, but also the Microsoft .doc and .docx formats. It's also a pretty darn slick word processor in its own right.

And if you want even simpler than that, then yeah, WordPad.

[morrcarr67]

I had my son using LibreOffice, on windows for years, but due to some weirdness of what I do with selecting and copying-pasting, it didn't work for me, so I started paying the $100/year for M$ Oraface 365. Worth it for me, especially with Onedrive and how many computers I might be using at different times at home/work.

Not sure if you know it or not.

You can still buy a lifetime license and not have to pay for an annual subscription.

https://smile.amazon.com/Microsoft-Student-One-time-purchase-Download/dp/B09H7GPR1G/ref=sr_1_4?crid=18B1EQOI59FYP&keywords=ms%2Boffice%2B2021&qid=1638026994&qsid=147-8485462-0887716&sprefix=ms%2Boffice%2B%2Caps%2C241&sr=8-4&sres=B09H7F77JR%2CB09H7GPR1G%2CB09HSCR294%2CB07F3TQ6DQ%2CB09HQVRQCQ%2CB07F3SNQT5%2CB06XNJB66F%2CB08L3GC72Y%2CB09M66LYRQ%2CB09DCTFF35%2CB091KJH72X%2CB09M7DNY73%2CB07N45MZVB%2CB06W9JQ1S1%2CB07YP93G2T%2CB09K3Q6KFL&th=1

[morrcarr67]

LibreOffice is very good indeed and what I've been using ever since the OpenOffice.org 641b Beta version. I used StarOffice before that. Several years ago, when my Dad was in his 70's, I updated him from Microsoft Word 6.0 (the 32-bit Windows NT version) to OpenOffice.org and later LibreOffice when I updated him from Windows NT 4.0 to CentOS. He took to the newer OO.o and LO just fine.

But if you want simpler, there's AbiWord for Microsoft Windows. Not only is AbiWord released under the GNU GPL, not only does it do OpenDocument, but also the Microsoft .doc and .docx formats. It's also a pretty darn slick word processor in its own right.

And if you want even simpler than that, then yeah, WordPad.

I had no idea that AbiWord was still out there. I hadn't heard anyone talk about it in years.

[Big Chudungus]

2003 vintage CDs of WordPerfect on Ebay for about $10.

I really liked my old about 1995 WP on an 8088 and dot matrix. Did fonts, mail merge printing of labels and letters, biz cards, dictionary, etc, just fine.

[MyOdessa]

WordPerfect still the best word processing program that can open any MS document and other formats. And it still doesn't have fuking ribbon.

Can be had fairly cheap.

[IronsightsRifleman]

If they're comfortable with the old version of Microsoft Word then use the old version of Microsoft Word.

[tvl]

Can't they Google what they cant remember what to do in MS Word? That would be easier than learning sonething new. Also, you can customize the toolbar at the top with icons that they use most frequently, so they're not overwhelmed with choices.

[Big Chudungus]

One of the best things I ever bought was an on-sale much out-dated "Learn MS Office Visually" coffee table type book from about 1995.

Nearly all programs just tack the extra garbage on with new releases but the basic stuff you actually use remains.

It shows the old basic icons so I just look for those and ignore the extra junk.

[xrMike]

Nearly all programs just tack the extra garbage on with new releases but the basic stuff you actually use remains.

What I hate is it takes you a fair amount of time to learn how to do a lot of different things with a given interface (like for Word, Excel, Outlook, etc), and then they come out with the next version and they move a lot of features around to a new location or new menu or whatever...

The features are still there, but they moved them all around! Takes you a while to figure out where everything is again. And most of the time, it's not even an improvement, it's just an excuse to sell a new version!

[sigfan91]

I know there is something called OpenOffice - not sure of its features but it is free

I use open office. In fact, I use portable open office.

https://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable

The good thing about portable open office is that it doesn't need to be installed. Just download, extract from zip into a directory that could be on the hard drive or a portable drive, and run the .exe file.

It will never ask you to update or do anything. It generates all the popular file formats. It's completely free.

[SactoDoug]

If they are used to an old version of Office, why not just get them that?

Here is an Office 97 Image.

https://archive.org/details/office97standard_201912

[Cali-Glock]

I use LibreOffice. It's an entire suite of office software. Can read Word and Excel files, etc. But, as you mentioned, it is not bare bones or simple...

I love LibreOffice.