Raspberry Pi

Can I Install Microsoft Office on Raspberry Pi

Microsoft Office package includes desktop programs like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook. It is developed by Microsoft and is widely used on Windows operating systems. It helps users create, organize files, make presentations, spreadsheets, and other tasks. Though its installation on Windows systems is simple, when talking about installing it on Linux-based systems like Raspberry Pi OS, the question arises whether the users can install and run Microsoft Office on Raspberry Pi.

Read this article to find the solution to this query.

Is Microsoft Office Compatible with Raspberry Pi?

Microsoft Office is only available for Windows based systems; thus you cannot install it on Linux based systems including Raspberry Pi OS. Though you can use the Wine application to install the setup on some Linux distribution but it will not run smoothly on the system. If you are Raspberry Pi users, you can install and run other Microsoft Office alternatives, which are easy to install on the Raspberry Pi system. These are as follows:

  1. LibreOffice
  2. WPS Office
  3. Calligra

1: LibreOffice

Microsoft Office may be replaced with the open-source office program LibreOffice. LibreOffice is completely free and provides users with a comprehensive office suite, including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, diagram, drawing programs, database, web server, and more. It is compatible with Raspberry Pi and runs smoothly on the system because of its lightweight nature. The users can install LibreOffice on Raspberry Pi from the following command:

$ sudo apt install libreoffice

2: WPS Office

WPS Office is a fully featured office suite that is designed specifically for a lightweight operating system. Its lightweight nature makes it suitable for Raspberry Pi systems. It provides a comprehensive suite of office tools including word processor, spreadsheet, PDF reader, documentation, and more. The WPS Office is easy to use and highly customizable and it has a clean and interactive user-interface that allows users to easily navigate to any option. You can install WPS Office directly from Pi-Apps whose installation is provided here.

3: Calligra

Calligra is another alternative office suite to the popular Microsoft Office. This open-source office suite is available for users of Raspberry Pi and is free to download and use. It includes a full set of tools for creating documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other tasks. It also includes tools for scripting and programming. On top of that, it includes several third-party programs for graphics, multimedia and more.

The interface of Calligra is intuitive and pleasant which makes it easy for beginners to get familiar with the software. In addition, the software is regularly updated and provides a great number of customization options that experienced users will find useful.

You can install Caligra on Raspberry Pi from the following command:

$ sudo apt install calligra

Conclusion:

Installing Microsoft Office on Raspberry Pi is not possible since it isn’t available for ARM based architecture. However, you can run other alternatives like LibreOffice, WPS Office or Calligra on Raspberry Pi OS. All these alternatives offer similar features to Microsoft Office, are lightweight and run smoothly on Raspberry Pi systems.

About the author

Hiba Shafqat

I am a Computer Science student and a committed technical writer by choice. It is a great pleasure to share my knowledge with the world in which I have academic expertise.