4 Best Free Open Source Google Docs Alternative for Windows

Here is a list of Best Free Open Source Google Docs Alternative for Windows. These are basically open source desktop alternatives for Google Docs which help you process documents. You can view, create, edit, and export documents in a variety of document formats, such as DOC, DOCX, RTF, TXT, HTML, XML, PDF, etc. Most of these also let you collaborate with multiple users on a single documents just like Google Docs. You can also send documents via email using Mail Merge Wizard feature of these tools. Besides that, you get all standard document processing tools such as use document templates, create table of content and references, add different type of content (image, table, form, text-art, etc.), format and style content, and more.

In most software, you also get revisions related tools to track and add multiple revisions of a single document. Other than that, you also get password protection and digital signature tools to add security to your documents. Additionally, auto-correct, spellcheck, auto-complete, thesaurus, word count, and more features are offered by these Google Docs alternatives. All in all, these are good open source desktop software that you can use as an alternative to Google Docs.

My Favorite Open Source Google Docs Alternative for Windows:

LibreOffice Writer is my favorite software as it provides most number of features to process document.

ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors is another good one. It is provided as a standalone desktop application as well as for online platform. You also get spreadsheet and presentation processors in this software.

You can also checkout lists of best free Open Source Document Manager, Open Source Word Processor, and Portable Word Processor for Windows.

LibreOffice Writer

LibreOffice Writer is one of the best free open source Google Docs alternative for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is a featured word processor software that you get in office suite called “LibreOffice“. It comes in both installer and portable packages that you can download from its official website. Apart from document processor, you also get spreadsheet processor, presentation designer, maths, drawing, and more office utilities in this package.

Main Features of this Open Source Google Docs Alternative:

• You can view, edit, or create documents in multiple formats such as DOC, DOCX, ODT, XML, HTML, RTF, TXT, PDF, EPUB, etc.
• You can add various objects, insert text from another file, add table of content and index, add a form, define document layout & style, track document revisions, and do more.
• In it, you can create letter, fax, agenda, and other types of documents.
• It lets you send a document via various means including Email, MediaWiki, Bluetooth, etc.
• You can also send documents to multiple users at once using its Mail Merge Wizard feature.
• It lets you open/ save documents from/ to remote locations using services like Google Drive, OneDrive, FTP, WebDAV, SSH, OpenDataSpace, etc.
• You can also password protect your documents and add digital signature to your documents.
• Furthermore, you can use tools such as word count, autocorrect, spell check, thesaurus, chapter numbering, line numbering, bibliography databases, etc.

Conclusion:

All in all, it is one of the best free open source Google Docs alternative which you can use on your desktop.

AbiWord

AbiWord is another nice open source Google Docs alternative for Windows. You can download its source code from this link. It is a good word processor which provides all required tools to create, view, and edit documents. The good part of this software is that its very easy to easy. Novice users can use this document processor without much hassle. Now, let us checkout its main features.

Key Features:

• Using it, you can work on multiple formats of document files including DOC, DOCX, RTF, HTML, TXT, etc.
• You can create documents using its various templates, layout settings, multiple types of objects (table of content, pictures, direction marker, date & time, mail merge field, bookmarks, etc.), add tables, formatting features, and more.
• You can use its Collaboration menu to add multiple accounts and share documents with other users. You can also create a free “abicollab.net” account and share documents within same community.
• It provides a Revisions menu which provides you tools like mark revision while typing, start new revision, accept revision, reject revision, purge revision, etc.
• You can also send your document copy to multiple other users using its Mail Merge feature.
• There is a RDF menu which offers tools such as Highlight RDF, SPARQL Query, Edit RPF Triples, Semantic Items, etc.
• It provides more features that many come handy such as URL Dictionary, Check Spelling, Word Count, Document History, Google Search, etc.
• You can also find a dedicated Annotations feature to add annotations to your document.

Conclusion:

It is another good open source Google Docs alternative for Windows which provides all sufficient tools to process documents in collaboration with other users.

ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors

ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors is yet another open source Google Docs alternative for Windows. Apart from Windows, it is available for other major operating systems like Mac and Linux. You can also use it online (cloud) just like Google Docs. For that, visit this link. It provides all essential document processing tools which I have listed below; let us checkout.

Main Features:

• It supports DOCX, TXT, RTF, ODT, PDF, and more import and export formats to work different document files.
• All standard document processing tools are provided in it, such as layout configurations, Table of Content, images, charts, shapes, hyperlinks, text box, text arts, equations, tables, formatting tools, and more.
• You can collaborate on a document with other users using supported cloud services like ONLYOFFICE, Nextcloud, ownCloud, etc.
• You can also password protect documents to add security to them.
• In it, you get Plugins tab where you can find some additional features, such as cliparts, photo editor, OCR too, symbols, send document via email, Thesaurus, record macros, etc.

Conclusion:

It is a feature rich open source Google Docs alternative which is provided for desktop as well as web.

OpenOffice Writer

OpenOffice Writer is one more open source Google Docs alternative for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is quite like LibreOffice Writer in terms of features and usage. You can process different types of documents in multiple formats using it. It contains a well categorized menu bar to provide you dedicated document processing features.

This software comes with OpenOffice which is a popular office suite containing multiple other office software. Other office utilities that you get in it include OpenOffice Calc, OpenOffice Impress, OpenOffice Draw, etc.

Main Features:

• Multiple input and output formats are supported in it to view, create, edit, and save documents, such as DOC, DOCX, RTF, HTML, PDF, etc.
• You can add various kinds of objects to your documents, customize document layout according to your requirements, used desired style and formatting in documents, create table of contents/ index, bibliographical references, illustrations, tables, etc., and do more.
• It also provides a handy AutoComplete feature that suggest common words while you type and reduce your typing effort.
• You also get more features which help you write documents like autocorrect, spell checker, word counter, etc.
• It also offers mail merge wizard to send a copy of document to multiple users via email.
• You also get encryption and digital signature in this software.

Conclusion:

It is yet another Google Docs alternative that comes with open source license.