More people than ever before are working at home and have shifted their work lives from the office. While many companies have gone to great lengths to ensure that their employees have all the hardware and software that they need, there are also countless stories of people being unable to do their work properly because they’re missing important software.

Thankfully, maintaining productivity doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming thanks to the fact that there are a lot of different kinds of software that you can use in a home office setting.

1. LibreOffice

Well-known as being one of the very best Microsoft Office replacements out there, LibreOffice has become the go-to for millions of people around the world. While it might not have quite as much functionality as Microsoft’s offering, it’s usually more than enough to get everything done, and is able to save documents in a wide range of different formats. On top of that, LibreOffice is completely free to download and use, relying exclusively on the donations and hard work of the community.

2. Thunderbird

When it comes to having an all-in-one email client, calendar, memo, and contact program, there are not a lot of great choices out there. But Thunderbird remains the exception. A fork of the Firefox browser, Thunderbird is everything that an office worker needs to keep up to date on all of their work and personal emails, their tasks, notes, and so much more.

Like LibreOffice, Thunderbird is maintained by the community, and is completely open source, meaning that the public is easily able to check if there’s anything malicious in the code, which potentially means that it’s much safer and more secure than many email client alternatives.

3. Matrix

Matrix is generally not that well-known throughout the world, but that’s beginning to change as more and more people look for private and secure chat software for work purposes or for keeping friends updated on the latest Australian open betting options.

Matrix and the software that it’s linked to are free to use and make for the perfect way to chat to colleagues in a private way. Element is perhaps the best way to go about this and can be found as both a desktop as well as a mobile app. Matrix might just be the future of group chatting, and it has even been adopted by a number of governmental agencies around the world thanks to its powerful encryption protocols.

4. Jitsi

Another powerful tool that most employees need to make use of is video calling. Video calling allows colleagues to interact with one another in real time and is often a vital component of being as productive as possible.

There are a lot of different options available here, but for those that want the best security and privacy, Jitsi is perhaps the best choice on the market. It’s easy to use, quick to set up, and anyone can join for free without having to create a new account or pay for the service.