Do we need to buy Office 365?

giraffe69

Office 365 needs the docx format. Versions of Office like 2010 use this so any file made in 2010 will work ok in 365.
If you use a version of Word earlier than this it will default to doc not docx. These can also be read by 365.
Most free programs like LibreOffice will also be capable of saving as doc or docx files.

The same things apply to other programs like Excel.
If someone is telling you that you must use 365 I would be asking them for a reason. It seems they have misunderstood.

If you can't open docx files on your computer because, perhaps, you use an old version of Office them you can acquire(for free, the Office compatibility pack which adds this ability. You can get this from the Microsoft Office site or many other places. Just put Office compatibility into Google.

growler834

Thank you everyone for your help. The problem has occurred because, through choice, we use an older version of windows (long story). My husband has since found that he could open the documents on his iphone, although not ideal for completing them & sending back to the organisations due to small screen. After much thought he decided that he would purchase an ipad & deal with them from that (a purchase he was already considering anyway). Thanks again.

Keep_pedalling

Just instal LibraOffice on the old PC it will handle .docx and xlsx files, unless , and this is unlikely, he has to deal with macro heavy complex spreadsheets.

ClarkeKent

Libreoffice is an amazing piece of software, should be able to open and create most MS office files.

I run both on my PC, and often find myself using Libreoffice by default. Plus the user interface, especially in Libreoffice (Calc) is a lot more user friendly in MS Excel.