How To Use Polaris Office

TechRadar Verdict

A slap-up alternative to Microsoft Office, with a particularly impressive free version if you tin can look past the occasional advert. If y'all need to work with Office documents on the move, it's one of the all-time options around.

Pros

+
Includes gratuitous deject storage
+
Cantankerous-platform
+
Compatible with Microsoft certificate formats

Cons

-
Includes ads and bundled software
-
Mobile apps tin can be fiddly to utilise

If you have a Samsung smartphone, the proper noun Polaris Role (opens in new tab) might be familiar; many of the Korean brand'due south handsets come with the Android app pre-installed.

Polaris Part is a cross-platform function suite available for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. Information technology includes the usual tools for creating and editing text documents, spreadsheets and presentations, and the free version (advertizing-supported) lets you share and sync your piece of work across three devices (ane desktop and two mobile).

Polaris Office

Download here: Polaris Office (opens in new tab)

Developer: Infraware (opens in new tab)

Operating system: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS

Version: 2017

Unlike most free role software suites, Polaris Role includes cloud storage for your documents (1GB as standard), only you can also connect your preferred cloud storage service for more space. Polaris Part is compatible with Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and many others. If you lot'd rather proceed your documents locally, you tin always save them to your device instead.

All the apps are compatible with Microsoft file formats, and do a practiced job of keeping the formatting intact.

User experience

Unlike LibreOffice and OpenOffice, which are open source projects developed by volunteers, Polaris Office is a commercial product. It's therefore reasonable that the costless version is supported past ad.

In the mobile apps this means ads on the carte du jour screens (though non on the document editing screens) and in the desktop software yous'll run across extra bundled software like browser extensions in the installer.

The two premium subscription options remove these limitations, and add actress features including the ability to edit PDFs and annotate shared documents as yous tin in Google Docs.

The selection of pre-installed templates is quite small and there are none available to download separately, which is a shame, only Polaris Part does permit you to create your own reusable templates - a feature y'all won't detect in many similar suites.

Each app's interface volition be immediately familiar if you've used a mod version of Microsoft Part, with a ribbon layout that allows for a little customization to adjust the way you lot prefer to piece of work.

The mobile versions tin can exist a little fiddly - especially compared to online-just tools like Google Docs, just that's easy to forgive every bit a event of cramming all the desktop edition's tools into such a modest space. It's a matter of personal preference - Google Docs is easier to utilize for simple tasks, but if you're working with Microsoft documents and then Polaris Function is a much better, more flexible option.

If you often need to work while travelling, or have access to documents when you're away from your desk, Polaris Part is a great choice. If you lot're already using it on your telephone then it's well worth looking into the desktop version for easier syncing of documents.

The competition

LibreOffice
WPS Office Costless (opens in new tab)
SoftMaker Office (opens in new tab)

Cat is the editor of TechRadar'south sister site Advnture. She's a UK Athletics qualified run leader, and in her spare time enjoys nil more than than lacing up her shoes and hitting the roads and trails (the muddier, the better)