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    <title>DEV Community: A. Demling</title>
    <description>The latest articles on DEV Community by A. Demling (@a_demling_04902765a6bbe9).</description>
    <link>https://dev.to/a_demling_04902765a6bbe9</link>
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      <title>DEV Community: A. Demling</title>
      <link>https://dev.to/a_demling_04902765a6bbe9</link>
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      <title>Building Nox Suite: A Modern Office Suite Powered by LibreOffice</title>
      <dc:creator>A. Demling</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2026 17:12:38 +0000</pubDate>
      <link>https://dev.to/a_demling_04902765a6bbe9/building-nox-suite-a-modern-office-suite-powered-by-libreoffice-362e</link>
      <guid>https://dev.to/a_demling_04902765a6bbe9/building-nox-suite-a-modern-office-suite-powered-by-libreoffice-362e</guid>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;Building Nox Suite: A Different Take on Desktop Office Software&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Hey everyone!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I've been working on a project called Nox Suite for about a month and a half, and I wanted to share what I'm building and get some feedback.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Nox Suite is a desktop office suite that brings together four applications:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Nox Writer — Documents&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Nox Sheets — Spreadsheets&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Nox Slides — Presentations&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Nox PDF — PDF editing and document tools&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The idea is to create a fast, modern, local-first alternative to traditional office software, with a focus on productivity and ease of use.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Why build another office suite?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I know LibreOffice, ONLYOFFICE, Microsoft Office and other alternatives already exist.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'm not trying to reinvent everything from scratch.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Nox Suite uses the official LibreOffice engine for document processing, with a custom interface and additional functionality built around it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My goal is to improve the overall experience, especially when working with multiple documents, editing PDFs and handling Microsoft Office formats.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;What's different?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A redesigned interface&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A modern interface built with Python and Qt6, designed to make everyday document work simpler.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Fusion&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;A workspace concept for working with multiple documents side by side, with deeper integration between applications planned.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Integrated PDF tools&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;PDF editing, annotations, document organization and other tools within the same suite.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Performance&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'm actively optimizing startup times, document loading and responsiveness.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Local-first&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The goal is to let users work with their documents locally, without requiring a cloud service for everyday editing.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;What about Microsoft Office compatibility?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This is one of my biggest priorities.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'm testing DOCX, XLSX and PPTX files, particularly how well formatting and document content survive opening, editing, saving and reopening.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'm also working on ways to preserve information that document conversion engines may otherwise lose.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Compatibility isn't perfect yet, and I don't want to claim otherwise.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I plan to publish real demonstrations comparing the results.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;How is it being developed?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'm using Claude extensively to help with implementation, testing, debugging and optimization.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My role is to design the product, define the features, coordinate development, evaluate results and make decisions about what gets built.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;AI-assisted development is part of the process, but testing and reliability are essential to making the result useful.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Pricing and availability&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Nox Suite is still under active development.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The current plan is:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Windows and Linux first.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;macOS later.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A one-time purchase rather than a recurring subscription.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A seven-day free trial without requiring a credit card.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Important: Pricing, supported platforms, features and release dates are not final and may change before launch.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'm aiming for a December release, but reliability and compatibility will determine when it's actually ready.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'd love your feedback&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;If you use Microsoft Office, LibreOffice or ONLYOFFICE, I'd love to know:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;What is one feature or problem that would make you consider switching to another office suite?&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I'm particularly interested in document compatibility, PDF workflows, performance and productivity.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Thanks for reading! I'm looking forward to sharing more real demonstrations as development progresses.My site : noxos.eu&lt;/p&gt;

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      <category>devlog</category>
      <category>productivity</category>
      <category>python</category>
      <category>showdev</category>
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