my name is Peter and I am a writer from Austria. Currently, I am in the phase of exploring the possibilities of Onlyoffice to become my tool for writing long texts (approx. 300 pages each book). This, because I am working on Linux Mint 22 and I was using Libreoffice a while (which I like, but my publisher always screams when I send odt files) but now I want to explore Onlyoffice. In my opinion, it would make it easier to exchange *.docx with the publisher and I like the nice and easy to use interface of OO.
I have now installed Onlyoffice Version 8.1.1.27 (flatpak) on Mint and so far, I like it. But:
how good is Onlyoffice in handling long text? I don’t use lots of formatting, not in the manuscript. I usually use left oriented text, 30 lines with 60 letters/blanks and two types of headers Title and Chapter.
Hs anyone here experience with using Onlyoffice as a tool for writing books? Are there some user stories? Hints & tricks?
I started editing a completed novel yesterday, which is pretty much 300 pages long, and so far I haven’t noticed any performance issues while working on it. The only thing I’ve noticed so far is that Onlyoffice takes a relatively long time to load the document (docx) - around fifteen seconds.
However, once it is loaded, working is quick.
I have loaded all my documents now in DocSpace to have them saved. BTW: where does Onlyoffice store the documents local, when in work?
Good news Peter. I have only just started migrating from workspace DEB install to containers (docker) and docspace, so as yet I am not sure. With docker you normally expose a volume to the docker host operating system from a container, and can acecss files from there. It will be a question to ask of support.
So far I like the editors of the desktop app but I am not sure if I will continue to use DocSpace instead of pcloud.com. I have not yet a feeling, how reliable DocSpace is in case of availability, speed and security. I mean, I do travel a lot and what if I am in a region where I do not have easy access to internet? So far I have used pcloud as a backup and kept my files locally.
Ah, what novel? It is a trilogy and actually I am writing the third part where a guy learns in the end, that he is not alive, but a ghost. It all ends in the desert of Namibia
Hello @pna and @ivan
Sorry for the late reply.
About file location in the DocSpace deployment:
Linux: /var/www/onlyoffice/Data/Products/Files/
Docker: /var/lib/docker/volumes/onlyoffice_app_data/_data/Products/Files/
Windows: \Program Files (x86)\Ascensio System SIA\DocSpace\Data\Products\Files
I believe some of users already have used ONLYOFFICE for writing books, and they can share their experience and useful tips. From our side, we can provide assistance with technical questions.
P.S. Once the book is finished, please feel free to contact us at marketing@onlyoffice.com and share your experience with using ONLYOFFICE to write it.
P.P.S Good luck with your novel! Sadly, my German is terrible and I wouldn’t be able to read it without a translation.
The first two books have been published and got nice critics, the third book is finished, and I am correcting it right now. The publishing date will be September 2025.
I switched around a lot in the months since I wrote here, but finally, I am back to Onlyoffice by some good reasons. One of them is that working together with the publisher works best with Onlyoffice.
Hi Peter! OnlyOffice handles long texts quite well, especially for clean, minimally formatted manuscripts like yours. Its .docx compatibility is solid—great choice for working with publishers!
Currently I am reworking the manuscript which has 255 pages standard manuscript formatted - I use nearly no formatting (this is a task for the publisher imho) and OnlyOffice runs like a charme. Much better than Libreoffice.
What I miss (I know, I have posted this before) is a deeper implementation of the great language tool. It would really be fine to have it searching the whole text. That would make it much easier to correct a manuscript.
Hello @pna
Glad to see you again!
Let me congratulate you on writing your novels! We hope that using ONLYOFFICE was convenient, if you have something to share about this long-term project, please feel free to contact colleagues of mine at marketing@onlyoffice.com
P.S. Unfortunately, my German is still at terrible level, so I’ll wait for the translation.
?
for review.