What computer do I need?

[Tigerrr]

I need a simple computer for my new work as a humanist celebrant. However being a prehistoric primitive I am completely overawed by the choice.
I have a nice Apple Macbook but it seems there are compatibility issues with the humanist world which is all Microsoft windows based. Plus I want to keep personal and work stuff well separate.
I need to be able to compose sure and edit documents and manage basic desktop publishing, email etc - whats the sort of thing to get?
Or in fact is there a fix I can run on my Macbook?

[Jaded]

What compatibility problem documents (and other things) are you having?
How old is your MacBook?

[Tigerrr]

OK - looks like I could just install Microsoft Office - but it's quite costly. The software I need is just word I think - that will allow simple desktop publishing and document sharing with e.g. funeral directors who have windows.
Is there a clever way to get word without having to buy into a whole windows package?

[ian]

Depends what software they use – provided it's relatively simple documents, you can usually save as Word and Excel from Pages/Numbers or LibreOffice without sacrificing formating. Of course, if no needs to edit those documents, just save as PDF.

[red marley]

OK - looks like I could just install Microsoft Office - but it's quite costly. The software I need is just word I think - that will allow simple desktop publishing and document sharing with e.g. funeral directors who have windows.
Is there a clever way to get word without having to buy into a whole windows package?

You can get Microsoft Office for Mac for about £50. That seems good value to me. OK, you might not need Outlook but having Word, Excel and Powerpoint guaranteed for compatibility with Windows colleagues is worth it in my view. The solution of installing Windows on your Mac is overkill in my view and would be more expensive given that you need both the virtual machine software and a legit copy of Windows and Microsoft Office to install too.

[fuaran]

If you want to do desktop publishing, try Scribus. https://www.scribus.net/
It is free. It may take a while to learn, but it makes a lot more sense than trying to use Word for DTP. It can export as PDF, which should work for sharing with others.

[ian]

Pages is acceptable of quick layouts in 'page layout' mode, a lot better than Word anyway. I use it to pull together documents and infographics when I don't need the sophistication (or labour) of InDesign.

(It used to be really good but Apple killed off several key features – text flow and baselines/grids – grumble.)

[Dibdib]

You can get Microsoft Office for Mac for about £50. That seems good value to me.

I might be wrong but I think the last time I looked into getting MS Office for my mac, the £50 was for a year's subscription, rather than a permanent licence.

[SteveC]

You can get Microsoft Office for Mac for about £50. That seems good value to me.

I might be wrong but I think the last time I looked into getting MS Office for my mac, the £50 was for a year's subscription, rather than a permanent licence.

I've just check and Dibdib is correct. The other option is Office Home and Student which is £120.
http://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/HJ9H2Z/A/microsoft-office-home-student-2016-for-mac?fnode=000104090a

However, Openoffice / Office Libre or what ever the currently preferred flavour will do perfectly well for the sort of thing I imagine Tigerrr needs.

[barakta]

Thought occurs there's also Google Documents which I find less awful than Open/Libre office, although has attendant risk of being "in the cloud" but there can often be offline viewing via Google Drive and stuff.

[citoyen]

word ... will allow simple desktop publishing

I don't know where to begin with this... OK, it's probably fine, as long as you're not dealing with publishing professionals. Word is pretty rudimentary as a page layout tool, to say the least, but it has the advantage of being something that most people are reasonably familiar with so the learning curve isn't as steep. You will soon run up against its limitations though.

However, if you need to get a document professionally printed, at least Mac OS will allow you to export it from Word as a PDF, which is a big bonus over Windows.

I don't know Scribus, as mentioned by fuaran, but it looks interesting. It also appears to have a vibrant online community who share resources such as templates, which could be very handy. Might be worth looking into once you get sick of wrestling with Word.

Personally, I won't settle for anything less than InDesign, but that's the industry standard for my line of work so I can justify the expense.

Pages is acceptable...

On what planet exactly?

[Jaded]

Old Pages is OK.

I use Indesign too, but their ransomware approach is bolleaux.

[Woofage]

However, if you need to get a document professionally printed, at least Mac OS will allow you to export it from Word as a PDF, which is a big bonus over Windows.

I don't know Scribus, as mentioned by fuaran, but it looks interesting. It also appears to have a vibrant online community who share resources such as templates, which could be very handy. Might be worth looking into once you get sick of wrestling with Word.

Word for Windows will export PDF. Mrs W does it all the time.

I also recommend giving Scribus a go. I've only used it for simple leaflets etc but it did everything I needed (and this was a few years ago now so things are bound to have moved on).

[citoyen]

I use Indesign too, but their ransomware approach is bolleaux.

The most annoying thing is that you have the choice of paying £15pm for one app or nearly £50pm for the full suite, and nothing in between. I need Indesign, Photoshop and Acrobat but have no use for the rest of it.

[citoyen]

Word for Windows will export PDF. Mrs W does it all the time.

Oh, that's good. It didn't last time I used Windows - admittedly that was some years ago.

[Woofage]

Word for Windows will export PDF. Mrs W does it all the time.

Oh, that's good. It didn't last time I used Windows - admittedly that was some years ago.

Don't ask me how it's done, mind! I've never got to grips with Word since they changed the menu system. Never had to see? LibreOffice at least has a dedicated button.

[David Martin]

Word is fine for making text pretty. It is the Father Ted of layout tools.

Yes I know it can be made to do things with templates and stuff, but then you might as well get a proper job done with professional tools. It blurs the distinction between content and layout. Almost as bad as using Excel as a database.

[Polar Bear]

If it is a Word format document that you need OpenOffice / LibreOffice etc save documents in various formats including some Microsoft formats.   I use Open Office 4 and save documents in Word 97/2000/XP format.   The documents can be opened in other versions of Word on other machines without difficulty.

There is also an option in the File menu dropdown to export as a PDF. 

[David Martin]

I was demonstrating to my colleagues how you can readily extract embedded media content from .*x files with little pain (wanting to grab copies of all the figures from a doc or a presentation)

They looked at me like it was magic.

[Woofage]

I was demonstrating to my colleagues how you can readily extract embedded media content from .*x files with little pain (wanting to grab copies of all the figures from a doc or a presentation)

They looked at me like it was magic.

Is that the same technique as extracting the zipped archives that form .ODx files?

[David Martin]

Pretty much - I think the formats share some similarities. CHange the extension to zip and then navigate the hierarchy (eg word/media)

[Jaded]

I use Indesign too, but their ransomware approach is bolleaux.

The most annoying thing is that you have the choice of paying £15pm for one app or nearly £50pm for the full suite, and nothing in between. I need Indesign, Photoshop and Acrobat but have no use for the rest of it.

This. InSpades.

[Kim]

Word for Windows will export PDF. Mrs W does it all the time.

Oh, that's good. It didn't last time I used Windows - admittedly that was some years ago.

AIUI this depends on having something else installed.  The full version of Acrobat, or some printer driver or something.  Whatever it is, Office picks it up and gives you the export option.  Barakta would know.

[Dibdib]

Word for Windows will export PDF. Mrs W does it all the time.

Oh, that's good. It didn't last time I used Windows - admittedly that was some years ago.

AIUI this depends on having something else installed.  The full version of Acrobat, or some printer driver or something.  Whatever it is, Office picks it up and gives you the export option.  Barakta would know.

Office 2007 has it baked into the Save As options, and I'm pretty sure 2010 has it too. Can't comment on the later ones but I can't imagine it's something they'd take out.

[Mr Larrington]

Office 2013 has it too.