How to open files in PowerPoint or Microsoft Word?

Is there an OS X application that will open Microsoft Word files (.doc and .docx) that is less resource-hungry than Word? I only need to read the files, not edit, if that makes any difference.

  • Clients often send me content for websites as Word files. I just need to open these, copy content out of them (and into my text editor) so I can code them up. Word 2011 for Mac is a resource hog. And, when I'm developing, I already have a bunch of other apps running (my editor, multiple browsers, etc.). So something lighter/faster would be a benefit.

  • Answer:

    Mac comes with Preview which can open Word files for reading. Google Docs can also. Open/Libre Office can open them too, but I don't know if it's less resource heavy.

Ariel Krakowski at Quora Visit the source

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Other answers

If you just need the textual content, and don't really care about the formatting or other richness, Google Docs can work for you. Otherwise, consider the Office for Mac Web Apps: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/webapps. They are pretty fully-featured and lightweight. Plus, if you suddenly decide that you want to edit the documents as well, you can! :)

Philip Loh

Preview and Pages.

James McInnes

Kingsoft has a linux port and is awesome .... I dn't know it will run on mac or not

Bhanu Pratap

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