converting microsoft files to linux or libre office equivalent

[zosnoob25]

I have thousands of MS files I work with in windows - .doc , .xls , .pps , and huge outlook .pst histories ........... assuming I want to ditch MS altogether and not simply run MS "apps" in Wine (Zorin os) is there a utility that will convert these files into the Linux - libre office equivalent files (e.g., writer, calc, impress, evolution) ? I see a lot on using wine to run windows apps but nothing on how to migrate work product en-masse into a Linux environment. Almost like you have to abandon your past everything in favor of the borg vs staying tethered to gates & co.

 

[KGIII]

Before going further, LibreOffice can usually open those files - often displaying the older versions even better than MSFT's products do. You shouldn't need to convert anything unless you really want to.

You can test this. Install LibreOffice on Windows and then use it to open the various document types. If they work there, they'll work the same way in Linux. But, if you need to, there are tools like unoconv.

 

[Brickwizard]

I have an old folder on one of my spare drives, labeld saved from MS, I haven't needed to access it for many years, it contains .doc, pdf [and other doc formats], bit mat along with jpeg [and other picture formats] and multiple formats of music, wmp, ogg, mp3 and so on
So ok its old [over 20 years] but i can still open everything using one or other of the Linux standard apps,

for LibreOffice save installing and messing about see https://www.libreofficehelp.com/libreoffice-calc-supported-file-formats/

 

[zosnoob25]

I have an old folder on one of my spare drives, labeld saved from MS, I haven't needed to access it for many years, it contains .doc, pdf [and other doc formats], bit mat along with jpeg [and other picture formats] and multiple formats of music, wmp, ogg, mp3 and so on
So ok its old [over 20 years] but i can still open everything using one or other of the Linux standard apps,

for LibreOffice save installing and messing about see https://www.libreofficehelp.com/libreoffice-calc-supported-file-formats/

Thank you both. That helps. I'm not quite ready to implement yet, but will report back to this thread with my comments at that point re any specifics or problems I encounter unless told that is not necessary. In the mean time, I welcome any more suggestions!

 

[KGIII]

As mentioned, you can look at the compatibility list but I find it's safer to actually check them - just to be sure. You may have used features in those files that aren't well/completely solved with LibreOffice. Odds are VERY GOOD that you won't have any issues, but I'd still check a few files.

This is especially true with proprietary formats, like .doc (as compared with .docx).

There may be errors in how the format is displayed. If that's the case, you can probably use Windows tools to do batch processing to get rid of any nuances.

Again, this is exceptionally unlikely.

 

[Fanboi]

Just as a note, fonts will change, because MS 365 (formerly Office / Office 365) defaults to MS fonts. That said, Google Fonts has a massive collection, many look-alikes, and there are certain sites happy to infringe on font copyright, though I don't recommend this because piracy is very very bad (read between the lines -- does that count as "actionable speech" I wonder).

If you get stuck on a format that isn't working -- and you shouldn't, I've never had issues and my company is MS-centric -- you can still use MS 365 online for free (apparently there's a free plan; work put my on a paid plan; there are so many plans for everything with MS)... though it's not my personal recommendation, I'd just fire up a VM (not Wine) for the outliers -- which will be few if any.

Just remember to keep all your original files, always, no matter what, even if things appear to work. You can never have too much redundancy. You can never have too much redundancy. You can never have too much redundancy. You can never have too much redundancy... Or rather "The cautious seldom err."