What Are My Options for Using Word on Linux?

If you really need Word itself, another approach is to install Windows on a virtual machine. That way, you can run Microsoft Office within Linux and have access to all its features. It might be a little heavy on resources, so just be cautious about performance.

Ensuring good document compatibility can be a pain, but LibreOffice does allow you to edit and save back in Microsoft formats, usually without complaints from others. I recommend giving it a try and seeing how it works for you!

For straightforward documents, LibreOffice should suffice! However, if you encounter more complex needs, you might need to dabble with SoftMaker or OnlyOffice, as they have different strengths in document compatibility. Just know that document translations can be tricky across different platforms sometimes.

OnlyOffice and WPS are also great options to consider. They handle conversions fairly well to Microsoft Office formats and let you save files as .docx too! If you run into collaborative work, the online versions might be your best bet—I've found them reliable without the disappearing text issue you mentioned.

You might want to give LibreOffice a shot. It's quite compatible with most Microsoft Office formats, and you can save your documents in .docx. If you're simple with your formatting, it should work seamlessly for your school papers. If you're facing unique formatting challenges, just make sure you have the necessary Microsoft fonts installed; that can save you a lot of headaches later!