Microsoft Office is not suitable in some situations

Microsoft Office is not suitable in some situations in my cases. If you are familiar with Microsoft Office problems, you could jump to "My solutions" below.

Firstly, using more than one version of Microsoft Office can cause very serious problems. The problems are so serious that they are not reversible. Data loss is not recoverable.


Excel files, Word files and PowerPoint files can be damaged by using Office 2013 and Office 2010 in turns. In my cases, they can be damaged simply by opening a file in either version of Microsoft Office. (I have no money to buy Office 365. I cannot try Office 365 for the long term. I cannot test. I cannot be certain.)

Microsoft Office versions are numerous. Microsoft Office 97, Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Office 2013 and Microsoft Office 365 are all from the same company. Some files produced in one version cannot be opened with the same format, or the same data in another version. The same company do not let you buy an old version. What can you do? In my case, I simply faced the data loss.

Secondly, I use Linux. Microsoft Office is not for me. In my case, I use Debian Linux. I like LibreOffice for my personal use.

Thirdly, I have large files. Microsoft Office cannot handle them in my situation. A file larger than 20MB appeared to be unusable because the opening process was so slow. The time was more than one minute. The random access memory of the computer was 4GB. I used Windows 7. Microsoft Office 2013 was installed on Windows 7.

Fourthly, I send and receive many emails. Microsoft Office Outlook is not for me. In my case, I had more than 10000 emails. Microsoft Office Outlook simply responded slowly until it stopped responding. Transferring Microsoft Office Outlook emails from one computer to another can be a nightmare. In contrast, Mozilla Thunderbird appeared to handle such data.

Fifthly, the "who to blame" question arises. People keep buying different new versions of Microsoft Office and they keep producing files with data loss. Authors of Excel files, Word files and PowerPoint files are forced to take the responsibility. Human resources officials do not accept that data loss is due to Microsoft Office failure. Human resources officials may insist that the cause is the authors' problems. Who will suffer by using Microsoft Office? Think.

My solutions: For all my own personal use, I use LibreOffice on Windows and Debian Linux.

I tell. I do not do for the other people. I tell the other people to keep a Microsoft Office file below 1MB. An Excel file, Word file or PowerPoint file should not exceed 1MB. 1MB is the safety limit in my cases. If the file is larger than 1MB, start another new file. For example, I had a file storing all the product names and other details. I named the first file "products001.xls" and the second file "products002.xls". I constantly checked that the file size is below 1MB. (1MB = 1000KB or 1MB = 1024KB, for this safety purpose)

I myself also keep a file below 1MB.

Never press any Microsoft Office buttons. If somebody asks me to help with Excel, Word or PowerPoint data loss. (if I see "corrupt / damaged file... Repair? Yes / No") I should never touch that computer. The "who to blame" problem will arise.  

Do not touch that computer. Data loss is not recoverable. If I touch the computer, I will be blamed by her or him. Only tell her or him that "I am sorry. The data loss happened. This is not recoverable. If possible, I will try to find the backup copy on another computer. If possible, if you have another backup copy, please use another backup copy. I am really sorry that this happened. I am really sorry although I am not the author and I am not the producer of Microsoft Office. This may be years of data in that file. Please look for a backup copy. This is the only quick solution. In fact, repairing files to produce the same data you want will be not possible as far as I know. Please look for a backup copy."

Back up. Always back up Microsoft Office files. Excel, Word and PowerPoint files must be backed up as frequently as possible, for example, every day, or even every hour. Microsoft Office Outlook files must be backed up as well. Copy PST files and export emails. Backing up four copies of files on four physical hard disks should help to reduce the impact of data loss due to using Microsoft Office on a daily basis. If possible, use external backup disks as well.