Does LIBREOFFICE ‘Writer’ support advanced table features, including ‘merging’ and ‘splitting’ of table cells, ability to sort data in columns, header rows, multiple ‘border line’ options, etc. etc. –
– and is their implementation in Writer fully-compatible with document tables that are created in MS WORD (i.e., can tables be transferred between WORD and LIBREOFFICE ‘Writer’?
Thanks.
etc. etc.: yes / yes
Thanks.
If you really need 100%, then you should decide either to use LO only or to use word only (if word, then only one specific version - mixing Office 2003 and Office 2012 won’t satisfiy the 100% criteria, too).
What I really meant to ask there was whether I have to face the likelihood of continuous compatibility problems (i.e., more than minor ones) going back and forth between Word and LO Writer if I have to work on documents when/where LibreOffice isn’t available and so have no choice but to use Word.
Since LO and MS-Office are different products and MS wants to use its own file format, you will in fact face that likelihood. LO isn’t just a free MS-Office. You may ask MS too fully support open standards like odt, ods and so on - that’s another way to get 100% compatibility…
You may ask MS too fully support open standards like odt, ods and so on - that’s another way to get 100% compatibility
Okay, I’ll ask. 
Thanks.