You have 3 good options here.
First option, install PlayonLinux, and then install for example Office 2007 or Office 2010
Second option. ONLYOFFCE desktop editors. This program gives very good formatting
Third option, Microsoft office online
I agree about LaTeX.
The cloud service Overleaf provides numerous templates for academic work and you can even submit directly to some journals. Itās free for quite a lot of data and the software is always up to date. You can start your project on Overleaf and then dowload it to work offline on your own computer (any operating system). I use TexLive (full version), with TexStudio as front end.
If you really must start with a wordprocessor, LibreOffice Writer has a set of output filters that convert your text to LaTeX, which you can then paste into your Overleaf template.
No excuse, either use virtualbox or just try OpenOffice. I prefer openoffice but I have never had any issues with either Libreoffice or Openoffice other than Libre tends to have some launching issues latey so I use openoffice.
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What about giving Softmaker a try? www.softmaker.com a try? Itās MS compatibility is very good!
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CorelDraw was licensed from Xara; that marriage in hell didnāt last long. Xara went on to expand on their core code.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjLgqTqsIHhAhXQdn0KHdzmCoAQFjANegQIDBAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.xara.com%2Fus%2Fgraphics%2Fdrawingsoftware%2F&usg=AOvVaw1fTr9G66k9N1K82C28Dl18
(I really hate Google lately.) Anyway, I havenāt really kept up with Xara/Magix which I thougth was a half-vast marketing mistake,
Are you sure about that?
Iāve used CorelDraw since version 3, on Windows 3.0, circa 1991ā¦
I think Xara is a raster/bitmap productā¦ Iām talking about CorelDraw, the vector illustration product - and most certainly not CorelPaint or Xaraā¦
I do recall that Corel supposedly ported CorelPaint to Linux - however it wasnāt really a āportā - it was just the Windows version with Wine packaged within the installer.
Corel also ventured into the Linux space with their own Distro - but that didnāt last very longā¦ And then they also bought some office products from Novell and tried competing against Microsoft, with WordPerfect, Quattro-Pro spreadsheet and others - like that was ever going to workā¦
The old meme about not being able to exit vi/vim? Back in the day when I was doing desktop support - I had no idea how to exit Wordperfect - if I came to do some work on a PC running wordperfect and the user wasnāt there? I just used to hit the power button because I didnāt have a clue how to exit Wordperfect 
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Sounds like a typical console to PC port of a video game, where the game runs with 12 FPS on the best hardware. 
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My post in the Lounge for those who want to see a list of Open Source Software (OSS) that rivals Windows Programs.
OSS is mainly for Linux, but many can be installed on Windows and Mac.
Here is a link to my google drive page for the document that contains a list of Open Source Software (OSS) some of which also work on Windows and Mac. I would appreciate any additions or editorials to make it better. Enjoy!
edited 3-26-2019
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Iāve tried libre calc and it simply doesnāt compare to excel or numbers. So for work related stuff I use Windows.
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https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?228-Corel-Xara
~ CorelXara no longer exists.
When Corel and Xara mutually decided to end their marketing relationship, the agreement stated that no one could sell CorelXara 1.2 or Xara 2 after a certain date.
The good news is Xara X, the successor to CorelXara is expected to be released by the end of the month. You can download a free trial version from The Xara X Web site ~
Iād bought CorelXara on my first trip back stateside in 21 years. I remembered well when Xara first launched, 600 quid. So $140 for CorelXara was a steal, even if I did think Corel was a poor manās MSFT with the same game plan.
When the crunch came, I went straight to Xara X. I still have it. My son had got an Amiga and was raving about the graphics. So one day I said, Come look at this. Drew several different figures, colored them, one with a gradient. Yep, pretty fast. So is mine. Then dropped three small ones in a big oval, grouped and said, And now ā¦ as I grabbed a handle and started distorting is every which way with no lag.
Holy ā¦ how do they do that?
Before long, it was still vector but added their own take on photo editing. Those were the days.
https://www.xara.com/uk/products/ c.2017
Now Iām writing a visual novel. And using Gimp for my Lomography site. Just added a second website, my own domain, thereās not enough hours in the day.
Have you tried WPS? Curious how it compares. I mainly use google docs & sheets which seems to work well for me. Havenāt really played around much with Libre Calc or WPS sheets to compare.
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LibreOffice Writer has been doing my head in just lately!
Itās sometimes more āMicrosoftyā than Microsoft products!
Been doing a bit of tech doco just lately - using LibreOffice Writer and EVERY time I start a word with a forward slash ā/ā (e.g. Iām typing the path to an SSL cert on a NIX filesystem) Libre thinks I want to italicize the word! I have to ctrl+z to undo - but itās a right PITA! And I canāt be arsed to dig under the hood where I can change this behaviourā¦
Think next time Iāll just use Google Docs - or - Office 365 on my work Win10 laptop!
I actually prefer to type documentation in plain text - then go back through the whole thing and format and indent (no spaces!)ā¦ I mostly do NOT format as I type!
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I think I downloaded it once but havenāt used it enough to pass judgement. Iām NOT trying to bash open source with the following and maybe it can be helpful to devs. I donāt mind paying for software that is good. Iād rather pay for open source software but office 365 has nailed it. That $100 a year saves me time and money. Time is $$$. I use OneNote to make customer files with data and all their needs. I can do that on my phone and it syncs to all my devicesā2 phones and 5 computers. Itās easy to use, well organized, and I donāt have to type the same information in on separate devices. If one device is destroyed Iām not in a bind. At home I use Linux but anything work related Iām using office 365. I wish open source would develop something = to 365. Iād pay $200 a year for it. FOSS users need to remember that most people donāt enjoy their jobs by age 35. I just want to type information in once and be done with it. Iām not going to get paid for typing it into other devices later on. Once I retire I will be done using MS. I wonāt have a need for it. Now let the hateful replies follow. 
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Yeah, thatās one of the reasons I use Google docs now primarily. Syncs across all my devices.
I will admit and agree with you, that open source office software has been lacking in comparison to MS office and Google docs, IMO. WPS and Libre both just feel a bit ādatedā and I only really use them if I have to work on a document locally.
WPS has a bug where if you use dark themes with your DE, it defaults the text colour to a light grey that you can barely see. There is a fix where you add an argument to a few config files, but that shouldnāt be necessary, IMO.
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This Is why do most of my writing in plain text or Markdown. I just wanted to share a quick story of my experience with MS Office compatibility. In college, I had a computer with Windows and Office. After I left college, I got a new laptop and installed LibreOffice because I was cheep and didnāt think Iād have to worry about formatting. At the same time, I also has a Fiverr account that I had set up to earn extra money in college. (For those who donāt know, Fiverr is a freelance website and prices start at $5.) One of my gigs was to fix the formatting on PowerPoint presentations. I had planned to deactivate that gig, but never got around to it. Wouldnāt you know it, a guy hired me to reformat his PPT. It was a rush job, which meant extra money, so I accepted. I fired up LibreOffce and fixed it up. I saved it as a .ppt, sent it to him, and closed the gig. Later that day, I get an angry email from asking me what the h@ll am I trying to do. I look at the file with a ppt viewer and it was a mess. I had to borrow my brotherās computer because he had MS Office to fix it. I quickly resubmitted the job and deactivated the gig.
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I still keep windows 7 in a virtual box so I can do my time card in excel. Years ago I was able to do my time card with Libre Calc but after an update when I try to open my time card in calc it opens in Libre draw. Iām not good with spreadsheets and havenāt been able to figure out the problem. So, thatās the ONLY reason I still have windows 7 in a VB. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. I didnāt want to start a new thread over this issue.
@Jamesread ,
re: libre calc and excel
Have you tried gnumeric?
It does what I want, but I am not a sophisticated spreadsheet user.
Neville
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