How do you get Microsoft Office for free?
By Jim Gordon
Co-author of Office 2011 for Mac All-in-One For Dummies

Strategy #1: Use the free, on-line version of Microsoft Office.
The basic Microsoft Office suite is now completely free. This includes light versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

The free on-line version works right in your web browser. You can make new files, do light editing of existing files, store, share and collaborate on line. Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox are supported so you can use Mac, PC and LINUX computers. There's nothing to download or install. There are places to use the free version:

http://www.skydrive.com/ (Use Windows Live, Hotmail or Outlook authentication)
http://www.docs.com/ (Use your Facebook account to log in)

Strategy #2: Get a free trial of Office 365.

The free trial of Office 365 lets you use the same web applications as the free version discussed in Strategy #1. The free trial of Office 365 comes with a free trial of SharePoint and Outlook features not included with the free version of Microsoft Office. Office 365 works on Mac and PC.

Office 365 free trial

Strategy #3:
Get Microsoft Office from your employer, school, college, or university

Strategy #4:
Use free office software from competing companies

Be realistic. These are free alternatives to Microsoft Office. None of them have the complete feature set of Microsoft Office. All of them have compatibility problems with Microsoft products to varying degrees. If the ability to share files with users of Microsoft Office is of any importance to you, then you should be aware of these file and feature compatibility issues:

• File compatibility. Microsoft Office adopted the international standard Office Open XML File Formats (OOXML) as the default file formats beginning with Office 2007. While almost all free Office compatible products can open standard file formats, most can not save files in open standard file formats. LibreOffice can be configured to save in OOXML open standard, but it is not the default. LibreOffice warns against using the standard format because there is a high risk that you will lose data and corrupt files.
• Feature compatibility. You can expect compatibility problems with free software files if you use drawings, charts, pivottables, slicers, large spreadsheets, multimedia, VBA, AppleScript or add-ins. Don't expect these features to work seamlessly between free products and Microsoft Office. They won't.
  

None of the free alternatives are "just as good" if that means having every feature of Microsoft Office. Free software doesn't have all of the major features of Microsoft Office. If it did, people and organizations wouldn't shell out money to Microsoft to get these features. Are any of the free alternatives bad? No. But none of these alternative products is identical to Microsoft Office. Here are some popular alternatives to Microsoft Office:

Google Drive
One of several on-line web browser based Office alternatives is Google Drive, which replaced Google Docs. It's Google's direct competitor to Microsoft SkyDrive.

ThinkFree
Another Microsoft Office alternative is ThinkFree.

ZoHo
Yet another Microsoft Office alternative is ZoHo.

Bean
Bean is a free, light-weight word processor for Mac OS X.

OpenOffice
....Available in many "forks" including:

    Lotus Symphony
    Lotus Symphony version 3.4 and later is an Apache "fork" of OpenOffice supported by IBM. Symphony is available for Mac OSX and Windows.

    LibreOffice
    Supported by the original OpenOffice team from the now defunct Sun Microsystems, and abandoned by Oracle Corporation.
    LibreOffice can be made to save files in the open standard (OOXML) file format instead of the old open ODT format.

    NeoOffice
    NeoOffice is an "aquified" fork of OpenOffice that makes OpenOffice, which is made for Windows, look more Mac-like for Mac users.
    Requires Java, which is a potential vector for malware on your Mac.

Strategy #5
Ask for Microsoft Office for your birthday or a holiday, such as Christmas.

Don't be bashful!

• Don't pay for OpenOffice or any of its forks. It's free.
  
• Watch out for bait and switch fraud. Don't pay for a "Microsoft Office Compatible" suite that's really just OpenOffice. The word "compatible" is the tip-off, along with a price that's too good to be true. Don't get stuck paying for OpenOffice thinking you're buying Microsoft Office.
• Watch out for phishing scams. Don't give your email address or other personal information until AFTER you know the terms of sale.
  
• Don't buy an OEM version of Microsoft Office. OEM stands for "Original Equipment Manufacturer" and is sold to computer companies like Dell and Gateway so that they can include Microsoft Office bundled with their hardware. OEM installers are not intended for ordinary new installs of Microsoft Office. An OEM bundle will probably not work on your computer unless your PC came with Microsoft Office factory installed and you have the original product ID code. If you lost or never got your product code or Microsoft Office install media, contact the seller or PC manufacturer. PCs are not always sold with Microsoft Office included.
• Don't buy an "upgrade" package unless you already have the required older version.
  
• Sometimes the full version is on sale for less than the upgrade price. It can pay to compare prices.