Only office is available to me. Which is better OnlyOffice or LibreOffice. Project coordination using Gantt chart

ONLYOFFICE is a service for creating your own online office, team activities and running a business. The system provides a package for working with documents without additional toolbars and integrates built-in editors into companies. Provides shared access, version and revision management, the ability to embed documents in a single workspace, as well as create corporate mailboxes.

Manufacturers suggest using the program for educational institutions, personal offices of corporations, or non-profit organizations. It will be especially useful for the back office, including marketing and sales departments, or administrative departments.

ONLYOFFICE has options for linking email chains and single messages to and integration with the calendar. Quick registration of potential clients, online invoicing, and creation of a project hierarchy using milestones, tasks and subtasks are provided. will allow you to analyze the progress of work, and the differentiation of access rights will allow you to control the participation of personnel. The effectiveness of the team can be assessed using the time management function. The service's editors combine the formatting quality of Word and the collaboration capabilities of Google. The platform supports all popular document formats, and also allows you to create online presentations to visually demonstrate your project and use third-party add-ons, such as YouTube videos.

Key Features

Control over document flow
Connecting accounts to the mail archive
Creating corporate mailboxes
Sales management
Cloud and server version

This day has come: we have opened the source code of ONLYOFFICE desktop editors. They are now completely free for home and commercial use. License AGPLv3, download, code on GitHub.

And in this article we will simply give several arguments in favor of switching to ONLYOFFICE rather than Libre if you abandon Microsoft Office for economic or ideological reasons. Read on to experience the pain.

You probably expect that now we will measure functionality and argue with foam at the mouth over who has implemented what better. Nope. Of course, you can find something that we have implemented better, and something that they have done better. We didn’t finish something, they have bugs somewhere. And in general, all this is very subjective. Let's take a closer look at the factual side of the matter.

Reason #1. ONLYOFFICE opens more documents correctly

Brief history of formats

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, the main document formats were binary. And their names were doc, xls and ppt. The world of documents is already ruled by the Microsoft Empire. But brave OpenOffice rebels appeared who wanted to free the galaxy from the oppression of the Empire and create their own document editors.

The difficulty was that Microsoft formats were closed, and their secrets could only be learned through reverse engineering, which was prohibited by the Jedi code. And the brave OpenOffice rebels made their own open format based on XML and called it ODF (odt, ods, odp). They did very well! Even representatives of the empire understood this, who simply took advantage of the idea of the resourceful rebels and in 2007 released a new version of their office, which saved documents in a new format - OOXML (the painfully familiar docx, xlsx and pptx). And then this is what happened: Microsoft had more resources and programmers and they simply made their format cooler - improving and expanding it. By the way, Microsoft’s old binary formats were also opened, lifting the veil of secrecy so that developers who did not have a sufficient number of midi-chlorians could also legally use them.

It must be said that the seemingly related formats ODF and OOXML turned out to be completely incompatible with each other. One has objects that are not in the other, and the second has properties that are not in the first. In general, to convert one into another, a simple XSLT transformation will not do.

Almost all documents are stored in doc or docx

Now let's return from history to the present moment and realize this: almost 99% of all text documents in the studied part of the galaxy are stored in doc or docx formats. Moreover, most of it is still in docx, because since 2007, every new document created by MS editors is saved in it by default. Mostly old documents are stored in doc. (And by the way, for older versions of Word, Microsoft has added a plugin that allows you to save documents in docx. Their goal is to completely move away from the old format). At the same time, there are just over one percent of text documents in the odt format in the world.

You might say: you pulled these numbers out of thin air (no, that’s not true, we did a lot of analytical work before our editors started writing). Perhaps someone will try to prove that the ratio is 90 to 10. But this does not change the essence, since it is not 50 to 50 or even 60 to 40. Otherwise, Libre Office (as the heirs of Open Office) would already rule the world on a par with Microsoft . And Microsoft really rules: after all, not just the majority of documents, but ALMOST ALL documents on the planet are in docx format.

When we chose which of the open formats - ODF or OOXML - to be the main one, we had practically no doubt. We wanted to open and work correctly with more documents, not less.

When we display a document, we are essentially displaying a collection of objects - a specific object model. In LibreOffice, the document object model corresponds to the ODF format created by Open Office programmers; in ours, the object model fully corresponds to the OOXML format created by Microsoft. Therefore, we open docx format files better than Libre, and odt format files - worse. But there are many more docx files. In this way, we are better able to open most of the text documents on the planet.

(Please note: we are not saying now that Libre Office is worse. Their format is objectively rarer, so there will be many more problems and difficulties with compatibility)

What about ODT?

Of course, we work with this format as well. How to support it when our main format is incompatible with it docx? There are two options: either develop a separate editor (expensive and cumbersome), or convert it. We chose the conversion option: when you try to open odt in the ONLYOFFICE editor, odt will automatically be converted to docx. Unfortunately, some conversion losses are very likely, although we of course strive to keep losses to a minimum.

You can save the edited file back to odt. You will get a scheme with two conversions: odt - docx - odt. Here you need to take into account that if conversion is hay passed through a horse, then double conversion is hay passed through a horse twice.

What we want to say with this part of the article: we had to sacrifice the quality of the odt opening. However, we believe that the loss of quality in 1% of cases is much less significant than the loss of quality in 99% of cases. If you understand where we're going with this.

Reason #2. Working online and co-editing

The world is moving into the clouds, and for many people working together on documents is no longer just a pleasant bonus, but a vital necessity. Libre Office is also working on an online version of editors (Collabora Office).

How does the Libre online editor work (no way)

The developers chose a scheme in which the desktop editor runs on the server, and a picture of what is happening in the cloud is broadcast to the end user in the browser. The user’s actions are transmitted to the server, the changes made are processed by the editor, after which a new picture is sent to the user. Thus, the developers decided not to develop an online editor, but simply to place their finished desktop in the cloud and debug the broadcast mechanism.

This approach has pros and cons. Plus: with this scheme, all the functions that are on the Libre desktop will be available online. Minus: in order for a large number of users to work in such an online editor, you will have to install REALLY MANY servers. Something tells us it won't be cheap and very slow.

Also, Libre doesn't currently have collaborative editing. At all. And since their online editor is a desktop placed in the cloud, in order to do any collaboration, someone will have to get into its core (more precisely, into the code of three different desktop editors, which were also written by different teams) and produce significant changes, since all the mega-functionality of editors should be available in collaboration. In other words, three editors will have to be refactored. As you understand, rewriting editor code and creating a relay mechanism are quite far from each other. In general, our forecast is that LibreOffice will not have collaborative editing for a long time. But all desktop functions will be available.

ONLYOFFICE desktop is a browser

We believe that we were luckier in this regard: we first wrote an online editor and then converted it to a desktop. Let's just say that we have co-editing by default, since the ONLYOFFICE desktop is essentially a browser that does not open all pages, but only our documents. For this we use the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF), you can read more about this in our article on the anatomy of desktop editors.

Among other advantages - we believe that our editors are the editors of the “future”, they will work on anything that supports HTML, be it a new Chinese operating system or alien technology with the ability to access the earthly Internet (we assume that aliens are all they will decide to set up the Internet for themselves in order to better study our civilization).

(Very) Brief Conclusions

The main format that ONLYOFFICE works with is OOXML (docx, xlsx, pptx). Libre's main format is ODF (odt, ods, odp).
ONLYOFFICE opens docx better, Libre opens odt. But most of the documents existing on Earth are saved in docx.
Libre Office is in the process of creating an online version. There is no talk of collaborative editing yet.

Working in Linux, we always have to choose which of the office packages for working with documents to choose to work with tables, with ordinary text files Word, Excel, with presentation files, with formulas, etc. Yes, the choice is not easy, today I will try to describe the capabilities of OnlyOffice and LibreOffice of these two wonderful office suites.

LibreOffice

An office suite that contains:

- a very convenient text editor that is included with LibreOffice. You can use it for any text documents, for example (writing letters, layout of a book, publishing illustrations, writing a biography or something else, compiling a portfolio, creating diagrams. You can also use the functionality (auto-completion, auto-formatting and built-in spell check) , these are difficult tasks for WPS Office, but easy for LibreOffice. If necessary, Writer is powerful enough for everyday desktop tasks, such as creating newsletters and multi-column brochures. Your options for formatting text are limited only by yours. imagination!

Calc- master of numbers and assistant in solving difficult problems. Using Calc, you can perform analysis on many mathematical data, which you can eventually display in a form that is convenient for you (such as a graph or chart). Calc's fully integrated help system makes it easy to work with complex formulas. It is also worth adding that you can import data from external databases (such as SQL or Oracle), after which, if necessary, sort or filter them for subsequent statistical analysis. You can use the graphics functions to display a wide variety of 2D and 3D graphs from a list of 13 categories (including lines, areas, bars, pie charts, XY) - with dozens of options, you're sure to find one that suits your project.

- Master of Presentations, the fastest and easiest way to create impactful multimedia presentations. You can use animation or add special effects, which will help impress your audience for whom the presentation was prepared.

Draw- Master of Diagrams, allows you to create diagrams and sketches from scratch. Using this tool you can easily draw, for example, line charts and rectangles. Or go even further and create 3D illustrations using effects. Draw is at the same time a very simple and at the same time very powerful toolkit with which you can do a lot, it all depends on your wishes.

Base- database master, allows you to work with databases from the LibreOffice package without using additional software. With the Base tool, you can easily integrate existing databases into LibreOffice components, or create an interface for using and administering data as a separate application. You can import tables from MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft Access and many other sources, and you can also create your own database with a convenient front-end that can provide support for managing modern forms, reports, etc. There is built-in support for HSQL, MySQL, Adabas D, Microsoft Access and PostgreSQL, in addition you can easily use many other DBMSs.

Math- master of LibreOffice formulas. A very simple formula editor that allows you to easily display mathematical, chemical, electrical or, if necessary, scientific equations using standard symbols. You can present even complex calculations in an understandable form, for example E = mc2.

The main file format used in the application is the open international format OpenDocument (ODF, ISO/IEC 26300), but it can also work with other popular formats, including Office Open XML, DOC, XLS, PPT, CDR.

The office suite is distributed under the GNU LGPL public license, so it can be freely installed and used in public and commercial organizations, as well as on home computers and educational institutions.

Installing LibreOffice

If you installed the system from scratch and it is Ubuntu or Linux Mint and similar Debian-based distributions, this office suite is installed by default without the need to perform a manual installation. If you uninstalled it, you can install it very simply, open a terminal CTRL+ALT+T and run the command:

Sudo apt install libreoffice

Alternatively, you can download the deb package from the official website:

Uninstalling LibreOffice:

sudo apt purge libreoffice && apt autoremove && sudo apt -f install

An excellent multifunctional office application, the package of which includes the ability to work online, allowing you to work with text, tables and create presentations using in addition the functions of joint editing, a document management system, CRM, project manager, email client, calendar, corporate social network. Using ONLYOFFICE, you must understand that using this office application, you will be able to work with documents both locally without the Internet and online by storing your documents in the cloud. Data is stored on remote servers anywhere in the world convenient for you.

OnlyOffice features:

Support for working with Word, Excel, presentations and formulas.
Online document editor (you can edit your documents using a browser).
Support for working with doc, docx, pptx, xlsx formats will also open (odt, ods, odp and odf) without any problems, but it’s worth noting that when opening documents in odt format, the application converts them to docx.
Collaboration and document management system (there is built-in functionality for editing documents together with colleagues in offices, built-in chat, the ability to comment on documents, editing a document for several people, the ability to hiddenly edit documents and other other functionality).
CRM system (Has a built-in CRM system that allows you to integrate mail, a calendar for sales management, monitoring potential transactions and maintaining a customer database, etc.).
Project Manager (built-in task scheduler, you can schedule work for each employee and monitor deadlines).
Built-in calendar and email client.
ONLYOFFICE desktop editors (you can install the editor on Windows, Mac OS and Linux).
In terms of performance and operating speed, OnlyOffice is inferior to LibreOffice; this is very clearly visible when creating or opening documents, or when launching the application.

The developers honestly admit that when converting odf and odt to docx, you will have a loss in document quality of 1%, but this is still good and tolerable, this is not a loss of 40-50%, but only 1%.

Installing OnlyOffice

Open a terminal CTRL+ALT+T and run the commands:

Cd /tmp && wget http://download.onlyoffice.com/install/desktop/editors/linux/onlyoffice-desktopeditors_amd64.deb && sudo dpkg -i onlyoffice* && sudo apt -f install

Uninstalling OnlyOffice

sudo apt purge onlyoffice-desktopeditors && apt autoremove && sudo apt -f install

It’s up to you to decide whether to use it or not to use it and what to use, both the first and second office packages are very good, of course, the first is a little weaker in functionality than the second, but you can use it. This concludes our brief overview of the capabilities of LibreOffice and OnlyOffice, if you still have questions, ask in the comments.

I would advise you to familiarize yourself with the materials - a large overview of both office packages and

– more than just an office suite in a browser. This is a multifunctional collaboration portal that includes document and project management. It allows you to schedule work tasks and milestones, store and collaborate on corporate or personal documents, use social networking tools such as blogs and forums, and communicate with team members through corporate instant messaging.

OnlyOffice is intended for small and medium-sized companies looking for an effective platform for managing business processes.

The package includes:

document management
online document editors supporting Word, Excel and Powerpoint formats
project management
gantt chart
mail aggregator

After the publication of an article about OnlyOffice in InfoboxCloud, speculation appeared on the Internet that, in fact, OnlyOffice is not a Russian product and something else should be used.
Comment from the developers:
OnlyOffice is developed in Russia by CJSC New Communication Technologies (100% Russian company), all development and all management are located in Russia, in Nizhny Novgorod. The company has a Latvian subsidiary, Ascensio System SIA, for sales in Europe and the USA. As part of the import substitution program, the product took 1st place in the “Custom Office Software” direction. This victory is due to the fact that the developers were really able to create excellent editors and a good corporate environment for them.

The other good news is that the package is open source and you can change and modify the project if necessary.

OnlyOffice developers have a SaaS solution, but it is located in foreign data centers. You can comply with the requirement to host personal data in Russia using the Moscow cloud region.

In our solution, data will not be lost thanks to triple replication and backup of all user data. The basic version of the package is free

including for corporate users. An Enterprise version will soon appear, which will have the following features:
version control
review
mail merge

desktop applications

However, all existing features of the free version will remain free.

In general, this solution will be as cost-effective as possible, which is very important for small businesses.

In this article you can familiarize yourself with the capabilities of OnlyOffice and simply install a corporate portal in the InfoboxCloud cloud. If you have any questions, we will be happy to help.

Possibilities

Edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations online

Document management

Collaboration coordination

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Project coordination using Gantt chart

Online project management

user management

Setting access rights

Installing OnlyOffice

Creating a cloud server
To comply with the requirement to store personal data in Russia, when registering, select a data center in Moscow.

Minimum configuration for running OnlyOffice based on testing configuration:

4 CPU cores at 2.3 GHz
8 GB Ram
swap file 4Gb
20GB disk space
Virtual machine with CentOS 7

Specify the required amount of resources, 1 external IP address and maximum network speed. Check the box "Allow management of the OS kernel" and click Next.

Select CentOS 7 from the list of available operating systems and complete server creation.

You will receive server access data by email. Connect to it via SSH.

Quick installation

We have prepared a quick installation script specifically for users, taking into account the product configuration features and simplifying deployment.

Install OnlyOffice with the command:
bash<(curl -s http://repository.sandbox..sh) domain.tld , где domain.tld – имя домена, который будет использоваться для OnlyOffice.

If you find an error in the script, please let us know
After installation, reboot the server with the command
reboot
After loading the server, enter the server IP address or domain name in the browser (if the DNS has already been updated).
The system will initialize:

After a few minutes you can start using it.

If you need manual installation instructions, they are .

How to update OnlyOffice?

The update is very simple:
bash<(curl -s http://repository.sandbox..sh) domain.tld , где domain.tld – имя домена, который необходимо использовать для OnlyOffice. Если в процессе эксплуатации пакета необходимо изменить домен - просто запустите скрипт обновления и укажите новый домен. Данные при этом повреждены не будут, т.к. хранятся отдельно от контейнеров приложений.

Let's get started

To get started, set:

administrator password;
email address to which system notifications will be sent;
Timezone;
system language.

After that, click "Save".

The OnlyOffice portal is ready to go!

Account activation

For full functionality, the administrator account must be activated. Without activation, when you go to any section of OnlyOffice, you will see a warning:

Check your email (including spam). You will see an email from OnlyOffice. Activate your account using the link in the email.

To prevent emails from being classified as spam, specify the SMTP server parameters in the OnlyOffice settings. You can also configure the built-in mail server in OnlyOffice by registering the required parameters in DNS, but we recommend using

ONLYOFFICE is a multifunctional software package for deploying a company’s Internet service. Allows you to optimize the company's document flow, facilitates project activities and communication with clients.

There are two main ONLYOFFICE distributions: paid use of the service, which does not require special knowledge and administrative skills, or server use (with the purchase of a license) within a private or corporate network. The server version can be installed on platforms running Windows and Linux (installed exclusively on licensed versions).

The CRM module allows you to create a company's client base, editing it to suit the needs of the organization, by adding new types of contacts, special information fields and categories of assigned tasks. To automatically replenish the list of potential clients, just embed the ONLYOFFICE CRM contact form into the company website.

ONLYOFFICE includes a list of ready-made tools for group work and developed integration tools (API, application programming interface) within the company and relationships with clients. The mail aggregator is not tied to a specific mail service; in the program settings you can easily set up the receipt and processing of mail messages from various sources.

Using the “Document Management” module, you can use accounts of different cloud resources (and edit them), which will be displayed on your computer in the “My Documents” folder. Any text document, table or presentation located on the cloud servers of the network can be edited online in special editors. The calendar module of the program is integrated with the ONLYOFFICE CRM project management system.

The only drawback of the OnlineOffice system modules is the impossibility of using them offline.

Key Features and Functions

cloud service for document management;
two distributions;
Russian-language interface;
guarantee of confidentiality;
cross-platform server version of the distribution;
equipped with a number of self-sufficient tools for carrying out the company’s activities (mail aggregator, file storage, document editors, etc.);
project management system;
well-built CRM system;
adding documents to the storage using drag-n-drop method;
works only in online mode.

Special Requirements

random access memory (RAM) 4 GB or more;
processor (CPU) dual-core 2 GHz or more;
free disk space (HDD) of at least 2 GB;
operating system: 64-bit Red Hat, CentOS or other compatible with kernel version 3.8 (or later), as well as 64-bit Debian, Ubuntu or other compatible.