Office Suite on Linux: Microsoft 365, OnlyOffice or LibreOffice

Part 2 of 8 in the Linux Business Playbook.

"But does Word work?" It is the first question we hear from every owner considering Linux, and it is the right one. Documents, spreadsheets and email are the daily bread of a small business. If they break, nothing else matters.

The good news is that there are three solid routes to a working office suite on Linux, and most businesses end up using two of them side by side. This guide lays them out plainly.

Route one: Microsoft 365 in the browser

If you already pay for Microsoft 365, nothing has to change. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneDrive all run in a web browser, and a browser on Linux is exactly the same as a browser on Windows. You open Chrome or Firefox, sign in, and your documents, mailbox and shared files are right where they were.

The web versions of Word and Excel are not quite the full desktop applications, but they cover everything a typical office does: letters, quotes, budgets, reports, shared editing with colleagues. What they lack is at the heavy end, which we come to below.

Teams deserves a mention because it used to be the weak spot. As of 2026, Microsoft delivers Teams on Linux as a web app that installs from the browser and behaves like a desktop program: meetings, chat, screen sharing, backgrounds, reactions and the raise-hand button all work. Teams on Linux is now simply Teams.

When it wins: you are already a Microsoft 365 shop, your staff know Outlook and Teams, and you do not want to retrain anyone.

Route two: OnlyOffice for the best Microsoft compatibility

OnlyOffice Desktop Editors is a free office suite that runs natively on Linux and is built around Microsoft's own file formats. Where other suites convert a Word file on the way in and back on the way out, OnlyOffice works in .docx, .xlsx and .pptx directly. A contract you open on Linux looks the same as it did on your colleague's Windows PC, and still looks the same when you send it back.

It also looks and feels like modern Microsoft Office, with the same ribbon-style toolbar, so staff settle in within minutes. The 9.x versions released through early 2026 added a proper PDF editor and some AI assistance for writing and spreadsheet formulas.

When it wins: you exchange a lot of documents with clients and other firms, formatting must survive the round trip, and you want a proper desktop program rather than a browser tab. Many businesses pair it with Microsoft 365 in the browser for Outlook and Teams.

Route three: LibreOffice for fully free

LibreOffice is the long-standing free office suite, and it ships with most Linux distributions. It opens and saves Microsoft formats well, and for day-to-day letters, invoices and spreadsheets it is entirely capable. Its native format is a different standard, so documents with complex layouts or heavy tables can shift slightly when exchanged with Microsoft Office users. The 26.2 release of February 2026 improved Microsoft compatibility further.

When it wins: you mostly create documents for your own use or print, you want zero subscription cost, and occasional small formatting differences are acceptable.

Side by side

| | Microsoft 365 (browser) | OnlyOffice | LibreOffice | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Cost on Linux | Your existing subscription | Free | Free | | Runs as a desktop program | No, in the browser | Yes | Yes | | Microsoft file fidelity | Perfect, it is Microsoft | Excellent | Good | | Works offline | Limited | Yes | Yes | | Outlook and Teams | Yes | No, use the browser | No, use the browser | | Learning curve for Office users | None | Very low | Low to moderate | | Excel macros (VBA) | Web version does not run them | Partial | Partial, different language |

The honest limits

A few things do not move cleanly to Linux, whichever route you take:

• Excel macros and VBA. Spreadsheets with built-in automation written in Microsoft's macro language will not run in the web version of Excel, and only partly in OnlyOffice or LibreOffice. If your business runs on one big macro-driven spreadsheet, it needs a Windows PC, or a rebuild.
• Microsoft Access. There is no Linux or web version. An Access database stays on Windows, or gets migrated to something modern.
• Outlook add-ins. Plug-ins for practice management, CRM or document signing that bolt into desktop Outlook may not exist for the web version. Check each one.
• Heavy track changes between suites. A document with hundreds of tracked edits and comments passing between OnlyOffice or LibreOffice and desktop Word usually survives, but this is where we still see the occasional oddity. Keep both ends on the same suite for those jobs.

Worked example: a conveyancing firm

A two-partner conveyancing firm in Brisbane with four staff moved everyone but one to Linux. Their day is contracts, settlement statements, emails with agents and lenders, and a steady stream of Teams calls.

They kept their Microsoft 365 subscription and did nothing to Outlook or Teams. Both run in the browser on every Linux desk, with Teams installed as an app so it sits in the taskbar with notifications. For contracts and settlement documents they use OnlyOffice, because those files go back and forth with other firms all day and must come back looking identical. Every document is still saved to OneDrive and SharePoint, so nothing changed about where files live.

The one Windows PC belongs to the bookkeeper, whose bank-feed tool and an old macro-heavy reconciliation spreadsheet were not worth rebuilding. Six months in, the partners report no formatting complaints from any agent or lender, and a lower Microsoft bill, since the desktop Office licences were swapped for the web-only plan.

What still needs Windows

• Desktop Outlook with specific add-ins your workflow depends on.
• Any spreadsheet driven by VBA macros, until it is rebuilt.
• Microsoft Access databases.
• Microsoft Publisher and Visio, which have no Linux or full web equivalents.

The pattern again is one Windows machine for the exceptions, Linux for everyone else.

Key takeaway

Word, Excel and Outlook keep working on Linux. If you are a Microsoft 365 business, run Outlook and Teams in the browser and add OnlyOffice for documents that must stay pixel-perfect. If you want to cut subscriptions entirely, LibreOffice does the job for most offices. Check your macros, your Access databases and your Outlook add-ins first, and keep one Windows PC for whatever fails the check.

Next in the series: Accounting and Invoicing on Linux: Xero, MYOB and the Free Alternatives.

How We Help Your Business

• We audit the documents, spreadsheets and Outlook add-ins your business actually relies on, test them on Linux before you commit, and tell you exactly what will and will not move.

• We set up Microsoft 365, OnlyOffice or LibreOffice on every Linux desk, connect them to OneDrive, SharePoint or your own file server, and make sure your templates and letterheads look right from day one.