1. Softmaker Office Suite 2016
2. Download Softmaker Office Suite 2.0
3. Softmaker Freeoffice 2019
4. Softmaker Office Free

The office suite market is pretty much dominated by two applications: Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org. So much is the market dominated by those two, that most other suites rarely get any attention. But there are other tools available, worthy of not only your attention, but your budget dollars. Softmaker Office is one of those tools. Not only is Softmaker Office compatible with the de facto standard Microsoft Office, it is also inexpensive, and ready for your Windows mobile devices. But is it right for you? Let's take a look.

Specifications

SoftMaker Office is an office suite developed since 1987 by the German company SoftMaker Software GmbH, Nuremberg. SoftMaker is available as a one-time purchase option, in Standard and Professional editions, as well as a subscription-based version known as SoftMaker Office NX (available as Home and Universal editions). SoftMaker FreeOffice is a free office suite and an alternative to Microsoft’s Office, which comes with a lot of the same functionalities at only a fraction of the size and at none of the cost that Office has, because like we already mentioned this office suite distributed by the SoftMaker team is completely free. LibreOffice is a powerful office suite – its clean interface and feature-rich tools help you unleash your creativity and enhance your productivity. LibreOffice includes several applications that make it the most powerful Free and Open Source office suite on the market.

• Supported platforms: Windows, Pocket PC, Windows CE, Linux
• Applications included in the suite: TextMaker 2008, PlanMaker 2008, SoftMaker Presentations 2008, BasicMaker 2008
• Cost: USD $79.99

Who's it for?

Softmaker Office is for any SMB looking to cut costs in the software arena. With solid compatibility with MS Office, Softmaker should meet nearly all of your needs. Larger business can still benefit from Softmaker because of its outstanding Word and Excel compatibility.

What problem does it solve?

Softmaker Office allows businesses on a tighter budget to enjoy a light-weight office suite for far less cost than Microsoft Office and a smaller footprint than OpenOffice.org. And soon Softmaker Office 2010 will release which will include DOCX import and export XLSX import, document tabs, and a more powerful spreadsheet application.

Standout features

• Lightning-fast opening and closing
• High compatibility with MS Office
• User-friendly interface
• PDF export on all applications
• OLE Server to enable seamless document exchange between applications
• Lossless Word conversions

What's wrong?

There are a couple of issues I have found with Softmaker Office. The first is the GUI has issues with any Linux desktop running Compiz. When Compiz is enabled the widgets have a tendency to disappear or become garbled.

The other issue is that the presentations cannot handle some of the advanced features like freeform movement paths for images. The presentation application also does not include pre-installed templates, so the user will have to either create their own or search for templates, open them, and save them as a compatible template.

Finally, Softmaker does not include all of the standard tools necessary to complete an office suite. Missing are: a drawing application, a database manager (There is a simple database tool, but nothing along the lines of Base or Access), a formula tool, or a groupware suite.

Competitive products

Bottom line for business

Softmaker Office is a solid solution for any budget-conscious office looking for an office suite that is fast, reliable, Microsoft Office-compatible, and ready for both Windows and Linux. If, however, you are looking for an office suite that includes every tool included with Microsoft Office, you might want to look towards OpenOffice.org.

Softmaker Office Suite 2016

User rating

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SoftMaker Office is an office suite developed since 1987 by the German company SoftMaker Software GmbH, Nuremberg.^[4] SoftMaker is available as a one-time purchase option, in Standard and Professional editions, as well as a subscription-based version known as SoftMaker Office NX (available as Home and Universal editions).

A freeware version is released as well, under the name of SoftMaker FreeOffice. FreeOffice supersedes SoftMaker Office 2006 and 2008, which were released as freeware after originally being available for purchase.^[6][7][8]

Components[edit]

SoftMaker Office includes:

• TextMaker, a word processor^[4]
• PlanMaker, a spreadsheet application^[4]
• SoftMaker Presentations, a presentation graphics application^[4]
• BasicMaker, a VBA-like programming tool (Windows only)
• a modified version of Thunderbird, an e-mail client (Windows and Linux only)

The Professional edition (and Universal edition of Office NX) additionally includes:

Download Softmaker Office Suite 2.0

• A Duden spell checker,^[4]
• Two Duden dictionaries,
• Four Langenscheidt dictionaries.^[4]
• support for Windows Group Policy

Functionality[edit]

SoftMaker Office has similar functionality to other office suites such as Microsoft Office or LibreOffice, and can also run from USB flash drives and supports integrated reference works. Multi-language spell-checking, hyphenation and thesaurus is supported, and it has an integrated five-language translation dictionary (English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish).

It has its own native formats, and can read and write file formats of Microsoft Office,^[9]OpenDocument format (word processor only^[9]), RTF and HTML. Support for the OpenDocument spreadsheet (ODS) format was added in the Anniversary update released for SoftMaker Office 2018.^[10] It can export to PDF and EPUB.

The user interface is similar to the Ribbon utilized in Microsoft Office 2007 and later, and there is an option to use menus and toolbars instead of the Ribbon. A dark mode is available. Documents can be opened as tabs in a single window, to allow easy switching between multiple documents.

Android version[edit]

A version of SoftMaker Office, called SoftMaker Office HD, is available for Android tablets, and includes TextMaker, PlanMaker, and SoftMaker. SoftMaker Office HD only has menus and toolbars, rather than allowing the option of menus and toolbars or Ribbon.

Softmaker Freeoffice 2019

A free version, called SoftMaker Office HD Basic, is also available.^[11]

See also[edit]

Softmaker Office Free

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abAndy Updegrove (5 July 2006). 'The Emerging ODF Environment, Part IV: Spotlight on SoftMaker Office 2006'. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
2. ^ ^ab'Infos zu PlanMaker 97'. 3 June 1997. Archived from the original on 3 June 1997. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
3. ^SoftMaker. 'Service packs: List of changes in SoftMaker Office 2018 for Windows, Mac, and Linux'. SoftMaker. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
4. ^ ^abcdefghLindner, Mirko (15 November 2012). 'SoftMaker Office 2012' (in German). Pro-Linux.de. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
5. ^SoftMaker. 'List of changes in FreeOffice 2018 for Windows, Mac, and Linux'. FreeOffice.com. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
6. ^'SoftMaker Office 2008 now available for free'. 22 May 2011. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
7. ^'SoftMaker Office 2006 for Windows'. 2009. Archived from the original on 14 March 2009. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
8. ^'Register SoftMaker Office 2006 for Windows'. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
9. ^ ^abBrors, Dieter (2018). 'Das Linux-Office-Duell'. c't (in German) (14). Heise Magazine. p. 110. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
10. ^'SoftMaker Office 2018 – Anniversary Update'. www.softmaker.com. SoftMaker. 10 April 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
11. ^SoftMaker. 'SoftMaker Office HD Basic for Android'. www.freeoffice.com. Retrieved 5 May 2019.

External links[edit]

• SoftMaker FreeOffice (official site with info & downloads)
• SoftMaker Office 2018 (North America distributor)