The Denver Post

Office 2007 still works with Windows a decade later, but without support, there are newer (mostly free) alternativ­es

- By Tamara Chuang

Q: Can I load my original Office Small Business Edition 2007 software on a new computer running windows 10? Tech+ Looks like yes!

At least that was the case when Windows 10 launched in 2015. According to Microsoft Q&A at the time, the company confirmed that Office 2007 is compatible with Windows 10,

Now, head over to Microsoft Office’s site — it, too, says that Office 2007 runs on Windows 10. However, there is a caveat: Microsoft no longer offers mainstream support for Office 2007. That means you should not expect any new features, fixes or security updates. And versions older than 2007 are “no longer supported and may not work on Windows 10,” according to the company.

This may have you thinking about upgrading — and it could cost you. Microsoft has moved most of its Office products to a monthly subscripti­on plan — which on the plus side means phone or chat support is included. There is still a home and student version of Office 2016 available for a one-time cost of $149.99, but that extra phone and chat support isn’t included.

There are other options, including some freebies.

• The most notable is Apache OpenOffice, found at openoffice.org.

It’s a software suite of programs just like Word, Excel and other Office software

tools. It’s free because it’s an opensource project, which means a community of developers are supporting it and learning from it. On the down side, users will need to keep a DIY attitude and hunt down fixes for problems they find. OpenOffice has community forums, a mailing list and other helpful resources online.

• Another free alternativ­e is LibreOffic­e, at libreoffic­e.org, another community-driven software that is based on Open Office. LibreOffic­e also has familiar Word-like products, which it calls Writer (documents), Calc (spreadshee­ts), Impress (presentati­ons) and more.

• Apple fans can now get iWork software (documents, spreadshee­t, the usual officetype suite) for free, too, via download to computer or mobile device. It’s at apple.com/ iwork but it’s only for Mac devices.

• WPS Office Software offers free and subscripti­on-based plans for its suite of office software.

The company, a subsidiary of China’s Kingsoft Corp., offers the complete suite free, if you don’t mind ads. But for $29.99 a year, it removes the ads and tosses in features like PDF signatures and splitting or merging PDFs to Word. Details at wps.com.

• For a pricier alternativ­e, there’s Corel’s WordPerfec­t, which was discounted $50 on Friday and selling for $199.99. It’s compatible with Microsoft Office and has features like PDF form creation, publishing to eBook formats and tons more. Details at wordperfec­t.com

If you don’t have much storage space on your computer or tablet, use web-based options like Google Docs. Microsoft has an online version of some Office tools for free.

• Google Docs: google.com/ docs

• Microsoft Office Online: products.office.com/en-us/office-online

• WPS Office Software for free: wps.com/office-free

• Dropbox Paper offers simple document creation and sharing: paper.dropbox.com

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