The Ashampoo version

[Freddie]

It seems the Ashampoo version of Office 2018 is exactly the same. The modules are even called TextMaker, Planmaker, Presentations etc. and the features seem exactly the same. At the moment the Ashampoo version is available for half the price and, apparently, features auto updates, but why not simply use the SoftMaker updates as posted? Why are these non-compatible? Have SoftMaker placed something nasty in the Ashampoo code? It seems illogical to maintain a separate code base. In any event, the software works fine, but there is one bug in the page numbering in that you cannot set it to start at a specific page number, even though the dialogue to do this is in place.

I am inclined to think that the best version ever was Office 2016, which was well burned in and had very few bugs. The newer versions feel awkward sometimes when working with large documents. They look nice though.

[martin-k]

The Ashampoo version has fewer features than our Standard and Professional versions (no BasicMaker, no enhanced Thunderbird, no Berlitz dictionaries), offers neither service packs nor automatic updates, and you need to get your tech support from Ashampoo only. It's simply a reduced licensed version. You need to decide for yourself which way to go.

[Brubaker]

I still use SoftMaker Office 2016 but usually only the Textmaker part. . It does have annoying points e.g. the font ressetting to 10 points halfway through a paragraph or letter - no matter what I do with the settings for character etc. Plus of course the incessant demand to upgrade every time I use it! I did try 2018 but found the points thing just as bad, it was slower and frequently crashed. Hence the retreat back to 2016 but I am seriously considering a migration to the 'open' progs like Apache or Libre. I have downloaded the 'trial' for Ashampoo's "Office 8" and to be honest I can see not one drop of difference to my SM 2016 except for that 10 point thing - it ain't happened yet. But with a much reduced pension income since Covid, I can't really see the point of laying out the 20 ish pounds to stand still. As for SoftMaker well they have no chance at their prices so when I just get fed up with the 'upgrade' demands etc it'll be cheerio to tmd's and hello odt's.

[Woody44]

The Ashampoo version has fewer features than our Standard and Professional versions (no BasicMaker, no enhanced Thunderbird, no Berlitz dictionaries), offers neither service packs nor automatic updates, and you need to get your tech support from Ashampoo only. It's simply a reduced licensed version. You need to decide for yourself which way to go.

I realize this discussion is almost three years old, but Ashampoo is still selling a version of Ashampoo Office (currently they are promoting Office 9) that still strongly resembles SoftMaker Office. I have purchased SoftMaker Office 2024, so I'm not looking to buy Ashampoo Office -- I am following up on this purely out of curiosity. If the Ashampoo version has reduced features, does the feature set fall somewhere between FreeOffice and SoftMaker Office Standard? Ashampoo offers a free version, too, which seems to be nothing but an older version of FreeOffice.

Does this mean that Ashampoo Office has some features of SoftMaker office disabled, or is it just an older version of SoftMaker Office?

[SuperTech]

The discussion is old, but the answer is still the same, which Martin have already explained.

[Krzysztof]

I have some experience with Ashampoo products and strongly recommend to make use of trial version. They are cheap and that's all about it.