Hi everyone,
can anybody assist me in setting up the easiest way for a Fedora 40 Workstation user to also use Word (for work purposes- special font and features needed).
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Tnx
Hi everyone,
can anybody assist me in setting up the easiest way for a Fedora 40 Workstation user to also use Word (for work purposes- special font and features needed).
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Tnx
I take it you mean Microsoft Word? Is Office 365 an option?
Yes, Microsoft Word and again yes.
If you need the desktop apps and your hardware has the guts for it, you could run a Windows VM in Boxes (included by default in Workstation) or VirtualBox. Microsoft has web apps for Office too, but they’re slimmed down and not on par with the desktop apps, if I recall correctly.
I wouldn’t even try with Wine. Highly doubt it would even start up.
Thank you, for confirming my understanding of the issue.
I even tried Bottles but it failed at the very start.
Now comes the question how can I install Windows in Boxes for free and easily ?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11
Windows is a free download nowadays, but it does lock a couple “personalization” features behind a paywall. You can download the ISO and use it in Boxes to install Windows.
Edit: looking into this more, as it seems Boxes has some issues with Windows 11’s HW requirements (TPM2 and Secure Boot)
Here’s a guide, but I haven’t tested it. How to run Windows 11 in GNOME Boxes (with UEFI and TPM2 emulation) | Ctrl blog
I would personally recommend using LibreOffice Writer instead, which is included in Fedora repos and via Flatpak. If you really need to use Microsoft Word, specifically, then Office365 Online is your best bet.
I have ran it in wine and in a VM before and you’re much more likely going to have a better experience with LibreOffice and/or Office online, frankly.
Thank you for the honesty, I have experienced issues wit h installing certain fonts with Fedora. To clarify, I have been using LibreOffice Writer and it’s great. The only issue is that I have a set of fonts I need installed which aren’t all as collaborative as one might think.
For work purposes, I need Monument Extended (two types), Roboto ( a whole variety ) and Titling Gothic (7 types). I did have some success with installing a few fonts but not all. That’s my only issue.
I run apps in WINE under Lutris. It is supposed to be for games, but works very well for other apps as well. Certainly no guarantees, but I think it is worth a shot.
There are few things more frustrating than being significantly into some document for Word on wine to crash and now you’ve just lost a bunch of work. What I did in my PhD program was used LibreOffice to write the document, but I also installed the Word Viewer (not the full program) with wine and viewed the document in Word Viewer before submitting it to make sure that the formatting was exactly what it needed to be. It generally was, but it was some cheap assurance to do it that way.
Unfortunately, that is no longer an option which is why I suggest you use Office Online for that instead if you need it.
It’s indeed true that
But please don’t give out the impression that Windows is a free (as in beer) operating system. It still isn’t; Microsoft expects you to pay for a license if you’re using it.
I’m going to go off the beaten path here. Why not use LaTeX?
You’re probably saying a few things as you read this.
What on earth is TeX. Or, yeah, I’ve heard about it but it’s way too complex.
Hear me out, though.
Yes, there’s a learning curve.
It’s not WSIWYG.
It can be frightening as it’s not a markup language like HTML.
So why am I suggesting this?
I started out using Word with what started out 3 years ago as a simple article. It quickly morphed into what is more accurately described as a technical book ( currently 100+ pages, with screen shots, etc.). Along the way, I found that the formatting I wanted was becoming increasing more finicky to apply under Word. Things didn’t always format the way I wanted them to - and every so often I’d find things got messed up and I had to fix them.
I also found that it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of all the editions of the book (it’s currently undergone 30 revisions since it was first published due to changes in the subject’s technology). Word document change tracking was becoming unwieldy and was slowing down the editing of the docunment. Plus the documents were getting bigger, chewing up disk space.
I figured there had to be a better way.
I bit the bullet and dove into the LaTeX world with the help of an introductory text. I converted the Word document (mostly manually) to a set of text files and .gif files. All the above is tracked through git (with the help of GitHub Desktop).
The book is now able to be edited using standard text editors on any platform (I switch back and forth between a Mac and Linux). Or, I’ll drop into LaTeX specific IDE environments such at TeXstudio or TeXShop on both Mac and Linux.
Editing is smooth and fast since the source is just plain old text. Document creation can be done with command lline utilites (great for automation). The IDEs let you edit and quickly see the results of your edits in a side-by-side display. Made my life a lot easier overall. Plus I learned a thing or two along the way.
It also doesn’t hurt that LaTeX is a rock solid piece of software. It’s been around a long time, is extremely stable, and has a very vibrant user community. It’s free. It’s available on a wide variety of platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux and others) and works the same way on all of them - ensuring that you get the same output regardless of where you run it.
Might be overkill. But then again, maybe not.