Office tools like Open Office are very important building blocks for your business. Documents received for translation are, in many cases, provided as a document in Microsoft format (doc, docx, etc.). Microsoft Office (or compatible software) is, therefore, the tool most people would go for, and you would need a version with at least the following: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The email software Outlook from MS Office is not absolutely needed. We would recommend Thunderbird, which is a free email client with an integrated calendar.
However, Microsofts Office Suite may be a bit expensive for the beginner. Therefore I recommend OpenOffice: It is fully compatible with Microsoft Office and sometimes even a bit better, and it’s free!
Why should I use Apache OpenOffice?
Apache OpenOffice is the leading open-source software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases, and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. All your data is stored in an international open standard format, and the software can also read and write files from other common office software packages. And most important, it can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.
Available for: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Download Open Office:
Note: There are, of course, many other good alternatives on the market of free word processors or complete office suites. One that got a lot better over the last few years is LibreOffice. And it seems that we will have to have another look to make sure we got the best alternative for our readers.
One thing to be cautious about is that the office suite you choose needs to be compatible with MS Office. At the end of your project, you will need to send the translated/localized documents back to your client. And your client does not want to spend much time fixing the formatting or anything else in the delivered documents.
