App to read .doc files

[frostymusic]

I have this .doc file that I used Abiword to open, and Libre Office also. The format is wonky, the lines don't line up, the information I am typing in goes into the middle of the form rather than at the beginning. I am using Edge.

Cheers!

[Cosmo.]

A screenshot would make the issue understandable.
Regarding the text in the middle: Possibly you have set the paragraph format to adjust in the middle.

[shedyed]

.doc is the worst way to have people fill out your forms; unless they have an exact replica of the OP's Word installation. Not the OP of this issue on Linux Mint, but the person who posted the Word doc as a fillable form. It is not your problem that the form fills out from the center. Libre Office tried to provide something close to the original, but it is garbage, and LO is merely putting lipstick on a pig.

The correct fix would be to send it back, have the guy make an Acrobat-fillable form. And you would not have to troubleshoot things on the wrong end. Fix things at the source.

I have worked at a copy center, and this is a common problem: customers come in wondering why they're filling out a form, and it's not formatting correctly. Word was used as the square peg to fit a round hole.

What I end up doing is, I scan the printed form. It gets complicated, so I won't pester you with the fun stuff. But really, you get the idea. That person was not doing anybody any favors by putting it out there as a Word document.

[frostymusic]

What to do with those pesky Windows users...

[Cosmo.]

I am still waiting for the pesky screenshot.

[frostymusic]

[Cosmo.]

In the starting post you wrote:

The format is wonky, the lines don't line up, the information I am typing in goes into the middle of the form rather than at the beginning.

The screenshot shows nothing about typing in the middle. I also do not know, what might be "wonky". A screenshot with the MS program for comparison might make it clearer.
The only thing I can imagine (too few info to say anything for sure), is that the paper format might be wrong (paper size, width of the edges).

[frostymusic]

I don't know how to do it any differently.

[antikythera]

I see the issue, it is the way the table has been formatted by whoever created the document. The text boxes are centre aligned instead of left.

In LibreOffice to change it to left, click in the box where you want to enter text, hold down CTRL+L together.

[shedyed]

There is always an alternative:
1. Print it out.
2. Grab a pen.

The table entries should be for the entries/answers, not the prompts/questions.

[axrusar]

The correct fix would be to send it back, have the guy make an Acrobat-fillable form. And you would not have to troubleshoot things on the wrong end. Fix things at the source.

If the form is converted to an acrobat fillable format, you leave the OP using Linux unable to access the file.
If you have any solution to this problem, please report back. I was trying to help another user in the forum with such an issue here.

[antikythera]

please report back. I was trying to help another user in the forum with such an issue here.

done

[shedyed]

There was a time when the fillable form was OS-agnostic, and the form can be filled out even in Linux (In Firefox with an extension to set it up properly, but this may not be the case any more).