Tip of the Day: The Power of Free Word Processors

Computers are wonderful machines that can be our best friend or our worst enemy. If one wishes to harness the power of that friendly side of computers, it helps a great deal to understand computer word processors. 

In the computer world, if one wants to type a statement, letter, or some other kind of document, a word processor program will typically be used. The most common word processor program in use today is Word which is sold by Microsoft. There are some other options that may be used for typing documents that are free. OpenOffice Writer and LibreOffice Writer are free options.

Issues

The only major obstacle to using these particular free options is that the file extension (.odt) generated by the program when a document is saved might not be readable by the word processor program installed on another computer.

For example, say a document is typed and saved with a .odt file extension. Then, sent to a computer with Microsoft Word installed. Depending on which version of Microsoft Word is being used, Word might not be able to read the document. However, the free options mentioned above both have a function to convert .odt files into .pdf format. Most computers have software installed that can read .pdf file types. If no software is installed to read the .pdf file type, simply download and install a free .pdf reader program.

As implied, there is no exact science to collaborating with word processor programs. However, the benefits are many including saving money. Furthermore, the information herein only skims the surface of what word processors can do. If a business has several employees requiring the use of a word processor but there is no budget for purchasing such software, the free options could serve nicely as an alternative.

Please contact us if consultation is needed with regards to word processor options.