Run Microsoft Office 365 on Linux

[fox]

You can now do this with Crossover Linux; I used the current version (24.05). I tried it with a standard Microsoft Office 365 and with the University version of it. Both worked. I did it on Ubuntu 22.04, but to get the university edition, I had to go to my university website, download the installer on a PC, and copy it to my Ubuntu partition. (If you try to do this from a Linux partition, you won't get the option to download the PC installer and of course there is no Linux installer.) Crossover Linux has an automated installation process for Office 365; you search for the program and when it comes up, you have the option to install it. Click on the installer (Setup.exe file) and it does the installation automatically. It downloads some necessary PC files first, including fonts, and then the files of Office 365. With the university version, you can actually sign on from your university ID, and it remembers this. On my university website, it shows this installation as one of the five I'm allowed.

I haven't tried a lot of its functions yet, and I only tried Word, Excel and Powerpoint. The review functions on Word work.

All of this is big news because Codeweaver only recently figured out how to get Office 365 to work on their Crossover program. The overall program get 4 out of 5 stars for functionality, which applies to Word and Excel. Powerpoint only gets 3 stars.

I actually installed it for fun to see if it works. When I need MS Office, I use Office 2010, which I own and it is pretty reliable.

[Jason]

That's good news! I've had to go back into Windows to update my skills to Office 365. Now maybe I won't have to.

It's a bit expensive for the everyday guy at $74 US. I wonder how much of this compatibility layer will filter to PlayonLinux.

[fox]

If you are referring to the cost of Crossover Linux, I got that for about $40; just look for specials. I know that the folks who develop Crossover contribute heavily to the code in Wine. I suspect that you can now run Office 365 from Wine if you look for instructions on the internet. It might run on PlayonLinux someday. I say that because it now runs Office 2016, which has a Microsoft account sign-in just like Office 365. Office 2010 is the latest version of MS Office that doesn't have a sign-in; it runs pretty well on Wine, POL and Crossover.

The other thing about the Crossover version that I didn't say enough about is that it allows you to sign in to Office 365 from your university account. Students and faculty of many universities get Office 365 "free" (the university pays for it but students and faculty don't), but until recently, you couldn't install and run the versions of Office on Linux that require a university sign-in. The problem was serial number. There is no serial number in the traditional sense with a university version. It either checks the university server for eligibility (if you are running a university computer and plugged in at the university), or it requires you to sign into your university account. So the private versions could run in Linux earlier than the university versions (from Office 2016 on).