Want to install and use Microsoft Office 2010 Suite in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail? Well, this brief tutorial is going to show you how to do it. With the help of Wine software, you can install and use M$ Office Suite easily in Ubuntu.

Wine is a free open source software that allows you to run applications designed for Windows on Unix-like operating systems, including Ubuntu. Wine is a better product now. It seems like with every updates, Wine is getting a lot better at handling Windows software on Linux systems.

Now, why would you want Microsoft Office Suite in Ubuntu when you have LibreOfice Suite?

The answer is simple: Because Microsoft Office Suite handles some documents better. LibreOffice is great product, don’t get me wrong. But if you need to work with critical documents designed using M$ Office, then you should use M$ Office to edit it without losing some formats.

What’s about Outlook? If you need Outlook in Ubuntu, then you will definitely need Office Suite. This brief tutorial is going to show you how to install it in Ubuntu 13.04 and previous versions.

To get started with installing MS Office in Ubuntu, download the latest version of Wine. To do that, press Ctrl – Alt – T on your keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the commands below to add its PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa

 

Next, run the commands below to update your system and install Wine

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install wine1.5

 

After installing Wine, run the commands below to configure it so that MS Office could be installed.

winecfg

 

Next, select the Libraries tab, then scroll down and select ‘Riched20’ library from the list and add it. When done, click ‘OK’

 

office_2010_ubuntu

 

Next, run the commands below to configure windows environment for 32-bit version of Office. Wine handles 32-bit version of M$ Office properly than the 64-bit. I hope you’re installing the 32-bit version of Office here.

export WINEPREFIX=$HOME/wine32

 

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Next, run the commands below to enable for settings for Wine.

export WINEARCH=win32

 

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Finally, insert your Office CD or DVD into your computer and right-click on Setup.exe and open with Wine.

 

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With the installer opens, click ‘Install Now’ to begin the installation.

 

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When you’re done, restart your computer and open Ubuntu Dash. Search for Microsoft Office to use the suite.

 

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That’s it! Enjoy!