Can I edit .docx files without a Microsoft 365 subscription and if not are there any alternatives (lemm.ee)

submitted 10 months ago by FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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TLDR: can I edit docx files on word without a subscription and if not what are some apps that can allow me to do so

Like the title says I need the ability to edit .docx for college (sadly other file formats aren’t accepted AFAIK) and my Microsoft 365 subscription is expiring and will not be renewed thanks to you lovely people getting me on the Proton family of software and obsidian for note taking.

However i created a .docx file today and and got a popup in word saying my Microsoft subscription is expiring soon (in march I believe) and that I would lose many feature.

This scary message wasn’t very helpful as to what features id lose (probably a lot of them I don’t even use) but the internet has not been helpful in telling me if I can still view and edit all my docx files that I have been collecting and creating over the years and have migrated to my proton drive

If I won’t be able to access docx files in word what are some apps that can open them from my proton drive (this is a hard requirement for me).

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[-] HumanPerson@sh.itjust.works 7 points 10 months ago

Aren't the specifications also insanely long and complicated for good measure?

[-] infeeeee@lemm.ee 8 points 10 months ago

Yeah, wiki says it's 6000 pages. But that's not that long compared to other similar file standards, and it also contains pptx and xlsx.

For comparison PDF standard is about 1000 pages, HTML (without CSS, just pure HTML) is 1500 pages.

[-] unrelatedkeg@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 10 months ago

Not only are they insanely long, MS strategically doesn't follow its own specs in places so other software using the specs "fuck up formatting" even if they follow MS's specs perfectly.

this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2024

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