Re: [libreoffice-users] Libre Office for Androids

Hi :)
The chances are that almost any Android office app works quite well as the
tablet version of LibreOffice.

One of LibreOffice's (and OpenOffice and many others) main strength(s) is
that they tend to "play well together".  This is very different from the MS
ethos where it's often difficult even to use different versions of their
own software on a single document.

So, in many ways it could be said that any of the office apps on Android
ARE the tablet versions of LibreOffice!  A better match though is to say
that "Google Docs" is one of the Cloud versions of LibreOffice and the
https://open365.io/
is another one.

( The reference to 365 worries me but it seems to be nothing to do with MS
Office 365.  The .io also worries me a little but at the same time it is
good to see that the US or England doesn't try to claim credit for them,
and that the program doesn't have to pretend to be from the US in order to
attract users.  So, on balance, i think this is well worth a good try. )

Annoyingly the Android office apps almost all seem to be dedicated to using
the proprietary MS format (such as DocX, XlsX, PptX etc) rather than the
truly open standards one, "ODF" (Odt for text-based documents, Ods for
spreadsheets, Odp for presentation etc).  Such apps have variable success
with documents that come from MS Office but are more likely to be able to
be able to use documents from each other - and from LibreOffice when "Save
as MS Word ..." is used.  It is always best to keep an 'original' in ODF
because ODF is more stable, consistent and less prone to random injections
of hidden code.  It's not always feasible, of course, in much the same way
that backing-up is not always feasible either and with much the same cause
for regret when either is not done.


MS people often claim that DocX (and XlsX and their others) are
interoperable across different platforms and with different programs but in
the real world this seems a bit untrue = so people often resort to using
Pdf to share documents.  It is true that there is one version of MS's
formats that has been accepted by the ISO standards agency, along with
ODF.  Unfortunately none of their implementations of their own ISO format
is consistent with either their own ISO documentation or their other
implementations of it.

So documents written in MS Office 2007 have problems opening in MSO 2010 or
2013 or their MS Office 365.  The other way around would make sense -
because documents written in newer versions might make use of features that
are not in older versions.  The problem is that older (but still fairly
recent) documents often cannot be read in newer versions of the same
software!!  Coincidentally this is one reason why people have to keep
buying 'new' versions of MS Office, or else use Pdfs when sharing documents
by email or whatnot or storing documents for the longer-term.

Humorously, MS used to make the same claims of interoperability for their
"Rtf" format, with similar levels of lack of success!  Allegedly MS lost a
court-case about their failure to create a consistent standard at which
point they kinda dropped the Rtf format and produced the new DocX (etc)
formats.



There seems to be a lot of confusion and misinformation in this thread so
far [edit: and out in the world too apparently!].  AOO does NOT stand for
"Android OpenOffice"!  It is an easy mistake to make and typing in "AOO"
into the Play-Store does give the correct result of "AndrOpen Office" (3.9
stars out of a max possible 5 stars), which has a logo/icon which says
"AOO"!!

AOO is "The Apache Software Foundation"'s (ASF's) name for Apache
OpenOffice.  So, ASF might have good grounds for taking AndrOO to court for
dilution of the brand-name or somesuch but i seriously doubt they would
bother do anything except perhaps start supporting it instead.  It might
create some 'free' advertising in fairly mainstream media for both AOO and
AndroOO if they do duke it out in court but the legal costs and time&energy
might well out-weigh the benefits of doing so, let alone the cost in terms
of goodwill.

Actually typing AOO into the Play-Store gave me other results, such as
"OpenDocument Reader" (4 stars) which also claims to be able to "modify"
"OpenDocuments".  I'm not sure if it works or what they mean by "modify" or
even if they mean "ODF" when they say "OpenDocuments".  It does look very
worth trying out though.

Typing in "libre office" or the more correct "LibreOffice" gave almost
identical results except that it moved the "LibreOffice Viewer" (3.6
stars), "LibreOffice Viewer Beta" (3.9 stars), "Google Docs" (4.2 stars)
above AndrOO and the OpenDocument Reader.  Various additional things such
as LO templates and the LibreOffice Impress Remote [as in remote control
for using when giving a presentation as long as both the projector/laptop
have wifi or are connected to the internet or are on the same Lan/Wifi (a
lot of options there!)] also appeared above AndroOO.

Typing in "LO" or "lo" gave loads of irrelevant stuff such as games and
whatnot.

"LibreOffice Viewer" (ie not the "beta-testing" one) claims to be able to
edit existing paragraphs and gives quite a bit of detail about what it's
limitations currently are.  Very clear and easy to understand a lot of the
"Read more" section linked to just under the "install" button.



As Tim KrackedPress and Jorge Rodríguez seemed to be saying, editing
documents - or as others say in a wider context "content creation" is
somewhat limited on a tablet.

I find the default keyboard really limiting and annoying but adding the
"Hackers Keyboard" at last gave me keyboard arrow keys and allows such
things as "Ctrl arrow" to skip a word at a time (sadly it wont let me keep
my finger on the Ctrl though so that particular combo is pretty useless for
me).  There are many other possible keyboards and some others have a couple
of the arrow keys too but i haven't tried them out much.  The Hacker's
Keyboard has tons of options so i can now side-swipe to change between
different keyboards or use the volume buttons to increase the size of the
keyboard so my fingers fit the keys quite well, but then i can't see much
of the document - or decrease the size of the keyboard so i can see the
document but increases fat/old-finger errors.

The one thing i really miss is a decent sized number-pad though, preferably
one beside the document (in landscape) rather than underneath it though and
with vital keys that often get missed off such things - such as Tab, Ctrl,
Shift/Num-lock, /*-+ and . and arrow keys, along with cut, paste, save and
open/close document!  I'm not asking much am i??! ;)  Ok, i am.  Maybe i
could try to make it my first attempt at writing an app myself!



As for attaching keyboard and mouse a friend got a blue-tooth keyboard
(lacks a number-pad of course!) that works quite well on 'my' tablet.  Even
it's keys are a tad too small for me although netbooks or even a tiny
chrome-books keys were all fine for me.  I guess a bigger blue-tooth
keyboard might be good though.

As for connecting a usb-hub my ancient flaky, pos, crumbling old little hub
seems pretty useless but maybe if it's wires hadn't broken off it might be
a bit better.  It intermittently carries data so a mouse might work with it
for brief bouts (usually only when i wished it didn't).  So, probably a
pebkac issue from ages ago!

Recently i got a 7 port usb hub for £11 in the Uk
https://thepihut.com/collections/raspberry-pi-power-supplies/products/7-port-usb-hub-for-the-raspberry-pi
which is fantastic.  If it's connected to a laptop or desktop or if it's
own power-supply is plugged in then it does "smart charging" although if a
lot of devices are trying to charge then even plugged in it tends to favour
the lower charge-speeds (better for battery life but not for impatience)
but if it's only charging 1 device then it favours the 1.0(ish)Amp (well
more like 900mA tbh) 50%/hr range more often and only drops to 25%/hr with
just a few forays to lower charge rates.

I've had a good hunt around on amazon.co.uk but the closest similar things
seem to cost more and don't look such good quality until getting MUCH more
expensive.  I'm unlikely to break this one with idle faffing.

I've not tried it with usb keyboard or mouse with a tablet or phone but
both worked well with my Pi, and with the laptop so i don't see why it
wouldn't work with the tablet too.



So, i think there are a LOT of suitable Android apps for viewing
documents.  Editing documents is trickier but maybe isn't what is required
anyway?

As with so many things on Android it is probably worth installing a couple
of different things and see which works best for her or you and then
uninstall the others in a few weeks or something.  One great thing is that
there are lots of free ones that can be installed, tested and uninstalled
without much struggle so you don't even have to stick with whichever one
you first like.


Good luck, happy hunting and regards from
Tom :)



On 13 May 2016 at 16:38, charles meyer <reachmeplace@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Jorge,
>
> Thank you so much for sharing that.
>
> I used Open Office before I switched to Libre in Windows and found
> them fairly close function-wise.
>
> I'll share there's an Android OO for her tablet with my friend.
>
> Thank you again for kindly sharing that.
>
> Best,
>
> Charles.
>
> Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] Libre Office for Androids
> Date: Thu, 05 May 2016 21:02:12 -0600
> From: jorge <jrodriguez17@cpcecr.com>
> To: charles meyer <reachmeplace@gmail.com>
> CC: users@global.libreoffice.org <users@global.libreoffice.org>
>
> Hi Charles and all:
>
>         Until I know, LO for Android is in progress but at this moment as a
> viewer only and Alpha or begining Beta version (not stable) for LO as we
> use in GNU / Linux and windows.
>
> There is an other version that could help you and your friend: This is
> Aoo (Android OpenOffice). It is a version of OpenOffice for Android.
> I've used it and it works good (In general as I probed: Writer, and
> Calc). It is the nearest of LO at this moment that I know.
>
> As I read, Aoo is based on OpenOffice but is not part of Apache Fundation.
>
> I suggest to your friend that use keyboard and mouse with your tablet too.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jorge Rodríguez
>
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