How to set up OpenOffice.org to work how you want it with templates and clip art, configurations, shortcuts, and more (download the PDF file for this article)
Solveig Haugland, February 2008 GetOpenOffice.org
It’s Time to Switch
You’ve been thinking about it for a while. You’ve seen the PDF converter and sighed longingly; you’ve blushed before the skeptical glances of your open-source and anti-Microsoft friends who say “You’re still using Microsoft Office?” you’re looking at your budget and wondering why you would pay to get Microsoft Office 2007. And you’ve received Word 2007 files and haven’t been able to open them, so you know there’s going to be some file format issues no matter what you do.
But you haven’t switched over to OpenOffice.org. Quite yet.
I’m here to help. Think of this as a virtual guide, the written version of me coming over to your house on a Sunday afternoon to help get to know OpenOffice.org and figure out all the things you’re not quite sure about. Sit down with this article this weekend and in a few hours you’ll feel refreshed, open sourced, and able to hold your head high when you run into those roving gangs of open source supporters.
Why Switch?
You have your own reasons: price, or principles, or you’re setting up a nice cheap Linux laptop for your daughter to use at school. Here are a couple things I like to talk about.
Spend your money on something important
I realize that since I’m targeting this article at individuals, that the upgrade or full price of Microsoft Office might not make or break you. But if it’s you and your family; your small business; your volunteer organization that feeds homeless families…now you even more seriously need to look at the right way to spend your money. Microsoft Office is a habit, and many people don’t even think about whether they need it. Here’s your opportunity to rank it in comparison to other things you could spend $100 or $500 on, multiplied by the number of licenses.
You can do it. Don’t fear the interface.
When you’ve been using Microsoft Office since the mid 90s, it’s easy to think that learning another product will be too annoyingly difficult. Trust me. You can learn this. You have to learn new products all the time, whether it’s the new bug entry system at a new job, or starting a job at Sun where all of a sudden you’re using Solaris instead of Microsoft Windows, it’s going to have to happen. There are differences, sure, but don’t let that mental speed bump of fear let you think for a second you’re not going to be able to figure it out.
Here’s a demo. Take a look at the same document in Writer, and in Word. I’m purposefully not going to identify them.
Word and Writer
Here’s the same spreadsheet in Excel, and in Calc:
Calc and Excel
And here’s the same presentation, in Impress and in PowerPoint:
Impress and Powerpoint
What This Article Is About
What can I write in a finite article about how to use OpenOffice.org? I can’t cover everything you’ll need to know about how to use the program. But what I can do, in a lot less space, is give you what you need to make getting to know OpenOffice.org easier. I can give you settings to apply that will keep you from having problems in the first place. Not all of them, of course, but with a limited amount of information on how to set up the program, I can help you have a smoother, more enjoyable experience with the program. So that’s what this is: setting up OpenOffice.org to make it work for you.
Switching to OpenOffice.org: Step 1
The first step, of course, is to get the software. Here are some options:
- Download it from http://www.openoffice.org
- You can download Novell’s version of OpenOffice.org. Novell is working on macro conversion code, so that’s one reason to try it. http://download.novell.com/index.jsp
- Get a CD from one of the providers listed here http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/index.html#cdrom
- Or if you’re going to be getting a Linux computer, it’s going to be installed already.
Then install OpenOffice.org. Just double-click the downloaded file, or follow the instructions for installing it for your operating system here. http://download.openoffice.org/common/instructions.html
Setup and Configuration
With several million people using the software, it’s going to be difficult to produce a product that’s set up just the way you want it. There’s more to do than with Microsoft Office, since some of the things you’re paying for are all the licenses that Microsoft bought and all the development work they paid for to get and create templates, clip art, etc. However, it’s not only cheaper but it can be satisfying to set up a program exactly the way you want it. Plus, regarding the little default behaviors you can control, I find OpenOffice.org very easy to control. There are two windows where you go to set up default configuration, and there are a lot of nice choices.
Here are some setup tips to help you get OpenOffice.org humming.
Automatic Settings
Some of the settings aren’t quite what I would recommend as defaults, but it’s very easy to make the changes.
First, choose Tools > AutoCorrect.
In the Word Completion tab, turn off word completion if it bugs you by unmarking the Enable Word Completion option. If you like it but want to change what key you use to accept the suggestion, you can do that too.
General Settings
A window you want to get to know: choose Tools > Options. I strongly recommend that you go through every option in that window since many are very useful. To get the options for text documents you need to have a Writer document open first; to get the options for spreadsheets you need a Calc document open first, and so on.
- I like to choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > View. Select Large as the icon size.
- You might also want to turn on backups. Choose Tools > Options > Load/Save > General and select Always Create Backup Copy. The backups are created at the location specified for backups under Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Paths.
- If you find the color selection in OpenOffice.org lacking, you can create your own under Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Colors.
Printing
Writer printing: Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Writer, Print: you might want to turn off the option for printing automatically inserted blank pages unless you’re heavy into the first page of a new section starting on the right-hand page.
Calc printing: Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Calc, Print: it’s best to turn off both options here. If you want to select two or more sheets to print when you’re ready to print, just select one sheet tab, then hold down Ctrl and click on each additional sheet you want to print.
Other Options
Regular Expressions in Calc Spreadsheets: Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Calc > Calculate. Select the Enable Regular Expressions in Formulas option.
What the Enter Key Does in Calc: Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org Calc > General. From the list, select what action the Enter key does for the Press Enter to Move Selection option. If you want to go down to the next line and then back to column A as quickly as possible, select Down here. Then when using the spreadsheet, press Enter, then the Home key.
Language and Dictionaries
To specify a language for measurements, currency symbols, dates, etc., choose Tools > Options > Language Settings > Languages. Make the appropriate selections and click OK.
To install a different spelling dictionary, see the downloads and instructions here: http://lingucomponent.openoffice.org/download_dictionary.html
To tweak the configuration for spelling, choose Tools > Options > Language Settings > Writing Aids. The option to spellcheck all caps words, for instance, is off, so you can turn that on if you want.
You can also create a new dictionary by clicking New, so that you can store your own words like names and specialty terms in it.
To add words to the new dictionary, select it and choose Edit.
File Format
I strongly recommend that you just save documents in the normal OpenOffice.org format: .odt for text, .ods for spreadsheets, and .odp for presentations. The issues aren’t too bad for spreadsheets and presentations, but with text files you lose some features including the names of custom page and list styles, and any background page formatting attributes.
Shortcuts
There are at least three things you can do to make working faster and more keyboard-oriented.
AutoCorrect
Choose Tools > AutoCorrect, Replace tab. For words and terms you type a lot like your name or full city name and logo, use this window. Type a non-word shortcut in the Replace field, then type what you actually want to appear in the With field. Click New, then click OK.
Then type the non-word shortcut you set up and press Space. The actual term you want will appear.
AutoText
This is for more advanced text, or text and graphics, with or without formatting. You might use this for boilerplate letterhead, a standard disclaimer, standard bits of a contract, etc. Select the content that you want, then choose Edit > AutoText.
Type a good descriptive name, then a shortcut; it must be unique so type three or more characters for best chances. Select a category; I recommend you create a new one by clicking Categories.
Then hold down the Autotext button and select New to create the autotext. Close the window.
To insert your AutoTexts in documents, type the shortcut, then press F3.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Choose Tools > Customize, Keyboard tab. Scroll through the categories at the bottom left, and select an item in the Function column. You’ll see in the Keys list whether there’s a shortcut for it. To change it, or to add one if there isn’t one, just select it in the Shortcut Keys list at the top and click Modify.
Extensions
The site http://extensions.openoffice.org/ has a huge number of add-on features that individuals and organizations have created. Look through them to see which ones you want; I like the little one that lets you upload files directly to your Google Docs account.
To install extensions, just download them from that site. Then choose Tools > Extension Manager, select My Extensions, and click Add. Find the downloaded extension file, and the window does the rest.
Labels and Envelopes
WorldLabel ready-to-use templates: If all you want to do is type some content and/or graphics into a prefab label template, then go to WorldLabel a manufacturer of labels. They have templates, as well as some articles I’ve written on how to make’em a little fancier.
http://www.worldlabel.com/Pages/openoffice-template.htm
Envelopes: Envelopes work a little differently. The address in your letter doesn’t automatically appear in your envelope document. Here’s what I recommend. Always print envelopes separately. Choose Insert > Envelope, type what you need in the field, and click New Document. For more information on envelopes, see my blog entries on envelopes at http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/envelopes/index.html
Labels and envelopes from a data source: To do a mail merge for envelopes or labels, you need to just have your addresses in a spreadsheet (other sources are options too) but you need a simple little database file to run the communication between the label document and your spreadsheet full of address info. Here are some blog entries on that:
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/11/rough-draft-vid.html
http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/12/how-to-turn-you.html
Fonts, Templates, and Clip Art
It’s nice to have some goodies around to help formatting quicker and more fun.
Fonts
If you find you don’t have all the fonts you used to in OpenOffice.org, it’s because the fonts were part of your other program. You can buy fonts, but of course it’s cheaper to find free ones. Just google for free fonts, and download the file for your operating system. Here’s one site: http://www.1001freefonts.com/
Just install them on your operating system; to do it on Windows, put the font file in your Windows\Fonts directory. Then the new fonts will show up in OpenOffice.org in the fonts list.
Templates
OpenOffice.org doesn’t come with many templates. But Microsoft Office does. I’m not 100% sure about all the licensing, but let’s say that your Microsoft Office license doesn’t forbid you to use those templates in other programs. Just convert ‘em to OpenOffice.org format.
Choose File > Wizards > Document Converter. Select Microsoft Office and all three types of documents, just to be sure you’re covering everything.
Click Next, and fill in where the templates are, and where they’re going. Note: the converter doesn’t like directories with spaces for the Save To field.
Complete the wizard and the converted copies will be created.
Then choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Paths, select the Templates line, click Edit, and add the location of those converted copies.
Now when you choose File > New > Templates and Documents, that directory of the subdirectories inside it will appear. (In this case, there are the subdirectories word, excel, and powerpoint located inside the C:\templates_converted directory.) Double-click the directory name, and select a template.
When you open the template, it’ll look pretty much like it did in Microsoft Office. One note: these gray fields are typically macro-based and don’t work in OpenOffice.org. But that’s fine, since you can just select the gray field, and type over it. Same effect.
Note: With Powerpoint templates, Microsoft Office does an annoying thing that means you need to spend a few minutes on something. The title (not the file name) of every Powerpoint template is Powerpoint Presentation. The OpenOffice.org converter uses that title to name the converted OpenOffice.org Impress copies. Needless to say, non-unique names are a problem.
Here’s what you need to do: it’s simple, but tedious. Before converting, in your file manager, find the Powerpoint templates. For each one:
1. Right-click on it and choose Properties.
2. In the General tab, select the file name and copy it.
3. Click the Details tab. You’ll see that the name is Powerpoint Presentation.
4. Paste the file name into the Title field instead of Powerpoint Presentation.
5. Click OK.
Now each template will have a unique name when you convert it.
Clip Art
OpenOffice.org doesn’t have much clip art. However, it’s really easy to add any clip art you have, and it’s easy to find and download free clip art.
First, think of any clip art you have access to already. Any directory on your computer that contains graphics could be useful.
Then download any paid or free clip art you want. Just google “free clip art” and you’re in up to your eyebrows.
Note: There are some clip art extensions at http://extensions.openoffice.org/ You can add those just by installing the extension following the directions in this article in the Extensions section.
Now add it to the Gallery. You can view and hide the Gallery by choosing Tools > Gallery.
Click the New Theme button; theme is just another word for category. In the General tab, name the theme.
Click the Files tab. Click Find Files and specify the directory where your graphics are located.
Now, before leaving the window, be sure to click Add All (or select some of the files and click Add).
Then click OK. You’ll see your new category and the graphics. To put one in your document, just drag it in.
Take a Look at Other Open Source Software
It’s a big candy store out there. Photo editing and drawing, media, web software, chat, and a zillion other things. Here’s a good place to start: http://www.download.com/
If you’re used to the very cool features in PowerPoint, Impress is going to be a little less fun for you. Try these programs, which are more targeted at multimedia: http://www.pachyderm.org/ and http://powerbullet.com/
Learning the Features
To learn more about the features, you have several options:
The documentation at http://documentation.openoffice.org/
Many blogs, including http://openofficetips.com for great spreadsheet information, and my blog, http://openoffice.blogs.com
The OpenOffice.org user’s mailing list, and its archives. http://www.openoffice.org/mail_list.html#general
Many books are available through Amazon, including my OpenOffice.org 2 Guidebook. For all ordering options, see http://openoffice.blogs.com/bookresources I also have detailed, step-by-step, illustrated learning materials at www.cafepress.com/getopenoffice
Three Mantras
When in doubt, right-click.
OpenOffice.org does what you tell it to do, but nothing else. It doesn’t try to guess what else you might want; this means more control but more responsibility.
Much is possible; less is obvious. Always ask. Don’t just assume it’s not possible or doesn’t work. Start with users@openoffice.org archives, hit my blog and look in the categories, and of course google. For advanced macro and database questions, try http://oooforum.org.
(download the PDF file for this article)
——————————————–
About the Author: Solveig Haugland is an author, instructor, and consultant near Denver, Colorado. She has been working with OpenOffice.org and StarOffice since 1999 and loves to show people how to make OpenOffice.org do what they need it to. She blogs at http://openoffice.blogs.com and her business web site is http://www.getopenoffice.org Her latest book is The OpenOffice.org 2 Guidebook.
This is an article I would like to have to offer to people who would like to make the switch.
However, your link to the PDF version doesn’t seem to work.
Comment by Michael — 22 February 2008 @ 3:44 am
Hi Michael – I think I fixed the links – thanks for the heads up. If you or anyone else have problems with the links to the PDF file, let us know!
Comment by Linda — 22 February 2008 @ 3:54 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
Pingback by Howto: Switching Office Suites from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice. « Tuxicity’s source — 22 February 2008 @ 4:43 am
[...] Read more at http://www.fanaticattack.com [...]
Pingback by Switching Office Suites from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice « Junji’s Blog Site — 22 February 2008 @ 5:04 am
Thanks, it works now.
Comment by Michael — 22 February 2008 @ 5:15 am
Very interesting article !! I Think Openoffice is much better than ms office.
Comment by nic — 22 February 2008 @ 5:16 am
Hi, I really like the article – and it would be very useful for training purposes. Would you be prepared to relax the CC licence to allow commercial use – that is so that I (and others) can use it during training that we are charging for please?
Comment by Richard Rothwell — 24 February 2008 @ 4:41 am
What a useful article! I hadn’t known about the google docs extension, should make life a little easier as I find google docs runs slow on my browser at home. I often manually download my documents from google docs, edit them with openoffice and then upload them again.
Cheers,
Donal
Comment by Donal — 24 February 2008 @ 6:18 am
@Richard
Hi, as long as the article is not sold and there is an attribution to the author Solveig Haugland in your distribution of it, please feel free to use.
Best
Comment by Russell — 24 February 2008 @ 10:45 am
I year ago, seeing her paying hundreds of dollars for ms office at the university bookstore, I introduced her to OpenOffice. I told her it’s just like ms office but free. She went ahead, downloaded it, and returned ms office for full refund. It was great until she had to write a paper on it (which is a day after she installed it). She saved it in different type (since if you just click the icon save it’ll save it in open office format). Needless to say no one can open her file, including the professor. Only 24 hours after installation she returned to the bookstore and bought back the ms office. Until this moment refused to see another free program like open office.
Bottom line:
People don’t like to change. Ms office spoiled the general population view of office programs. They don’t want to think or figure out how to use other programs. When they do give a chance for this open source/free programs, they expect everything to be perfect.
But I’m still recommending linux and open office to everyone I know. This article would be perfect for them. Thanks for writing it.
Comment by Peterson — 24 February 2008 @ 6:36 pm
clarification:
I was talking about my friend above, for some reason I omitted her name.
Comment by Peterson — 24 February 2008 @ 6:37 pm
article is biased from scratch here’s why:
1. ms office (personal edition) costs $175 and can be installed in 3 machines. the very first 5 installs can be done without even bother to phone ms’s tech support.
2. ms office does have free file converters, including save to pdf.
3. ms office is the only application which is 100% compatible with… ms office (and the rest of the world)
4. ms office comes with tones of templates, images and sounds, which open office does not.
5. the ribbon interface (of ms office) is super cool and extremely efficient. it also, fully comply with new ui standards, implemented even in mfc
6. open office is a java app (looks like an apple app on windows and like an old windows app in linux) – etc
7. ms office starts faster than open office
8. ms office is not written by a hardware manufacturer.
9. ms office serves you, open office serves your madness
10. ms office comes with tones of available books and your existing patterns, open office comes with one book and you need to learn new skills, does not have proper database support, does not have proper object model and automation
executive summary:
if you want to switch, do it, but it’s not the money, nor the lack of features/quality driving you there, it’s you, just you, being mad on something you have little clue about…
regards,
daniel
Comment by daniel — 25 February 2008 @ 3:27 am
Peterson,
it’s a shame that a professor can not open ISO 26300 documents, aka ODF documents. However anybody can save a document in the legacy MS Office .doc format, or export it to PDF from Open Office.
Comment by PlanBForOpenOffice — 25 February 2008 @ 9:43 am
@ Daniel
Have some more Kool-Aide and wipe the MS poo from your nose. The #1 reason to use OO is so you are not locked into the whims, price hikes and bloated document formats required by MS.
Comment by Happy User — 25 February 2008 @ 10:34 am
I recently completed my under graduate and graduate degrees (MS in Information Systems) using only OpenOffice. Let me tell you, I created, exchanged and edited a lot of documents, spreadsheets and presentations over the last 3 years and not one of my class mates knew I used OpenOffice exclusively.
Comment by quisp — 25 February 2008 @ 11:12 am
I have enticed a number of friends, associates and clients to switch to OOo. Not a one has reported any difficulty in making the adjustment and, in fact, most have reported not even having to consult the help system.
If you a starting with an absolute beginner, however, I’ve found KOffice more approachable for the uninitiated.
Comment by Rambo Tribble — 25 February 2008 @ 11:21 am
@ Daniel
Here are a few corrections:
2. “ms office does have free file converters, including save to pdf.”
You now can download a file converter for Office 2007 from MS they have been forced to do this (1) Because of the Openoffice capability and (2) there have been available for some time third party plugins that enable this by linking to the open source ghostscript program.
3. “ms office is the only application which is 100% compatible with… ms office ” For years I have been using Openoffice at home for collaborative work with my colleagues at work. A few years ago back in the days of OOo v1.x there were minor formating problems. Nowadays there are none.
4. “ms office comes with tones of templates, images and sounds, which open office does not.” There is tons of this sort of stuff available for free download on the web and I have.
5. “the ribbon interface (of ms office) is super cool and extremely efficient. it also, fully comply with new ui standards, implemented even in mfc”
Many people used to the old Office interface find the ribbon different and counter-intuitive. These people would be better moving across to OOo as the interface should prove to be more like they expect.
6. “open office is a java app (looks like an apple app on windows and like an old windows app in linux) – etc”
Here show that you know nothing about Openoffice and indicates that you have probably never even run it. Openoffice is mostly written in C++ and has extensions written in Python and Java. Only some multimedia extensions require Java. On Windows it looks like a normal Windows program. On Linux it uses GTK so on my Ubuntu Linux system it adopts the Human theme like any Gnome program. Only on Apple OSX does it look different from a native program as you need to run it under X11 and it therefore looks like a GTK program on Linux. The Neoffice fork of OO was started to provide a Java based version for OSX as Java programs appear native under OSX. OOo is working on as native OSX version currently.
7. “ms office starts faster than open office”
In Windows OO opens as fast as MS Office, just checked it on my system at work.
8. “ms office is not written by a hardware manufacturer.”
OOo was not written by a hardware manufacturer. Tt derives from a substantial rewrite of the original Staroffice code which was acquired by Sun who then made it Opensource and established a developer community around it.
9. “ms office serves you, open office serves your madness”
Oh the madness of a MS astroturfing troll.
10. “ms office comes with tones of available books and your existing patterns, open office comes with one book and you need to learn new skills, does not have proper database support, does not have proper object model and automation”
I checked Amazon and it stocks over 14 books on Openoffice another showing of Daniel’s ignorance. OO does have database support and has Starbasic for automation.
Finally thank you Daniel for astroturfing and may you enjoy your MS paycheck.
Comment by Chemicalscum — 25 February 2008 @ 1:04 pm
While OOo is a superb office suite, at the moment almost as good as MS Office 2003 (2007 doesn’t count at all due to the unusable interface) and getting even better every fast; there three areas where I would like to see some breakthrough improvements:
1. Speed – especially on older PCs and especially on Linux
2. .doc-created-via-copy-paste-from-a-webpage compatibility. Many (a lot) of .doc documents on MS Office are created via copy-paste from a webpage and , unfortunately, many of them look horrible on OOo. At work , sales girls are sending me these documents and at this point I am forced to use MS Office in order to view them.
3. Impress performance, display quality and MS PPP compatibility. The main issue at this point is performance – it feels like your PC is moving a mountain when you try to play a PPP. Transitions are flickering (have they ((the developers)) ever heard of double buffering??) and quality is just beyond comparison with MS PP. However Impress it quite alright to use for creation of some simple presentations with not so animated transitions.
Comment by Vital — 25 February 2008 @ 2:57 pm
[...] How to Switch from Microsoft Word to OpenOffice Writer | Fanatic Attack (tags: openoffice office linux opensource freeware productivity ooo migration microsoft mac howto tutorial) [...]
Pingback by links for 2008-02-26 « Where Is All This Leading To? — 25 February 2008 @ 8:26 pm
For those who preferred CBT, you can visit:
http://openoffice.resolvo.com/
A very intuitive online CBT for OOo
Cheers,
Vibranze
Comment by Vibranze — 25 February 2008 @ 8:53 pm
[...] This article goes into quite a bit of detail on how to switch from using Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org. My only criticism is that it doesn’t address in detail the incompatibilities between the Office and the OOo file formats, or the problems that occur on both import and export. That might change, now that Microsoft has released the specs to the Office binary formats. But that change will take a while to happen. [...]
Pingback by Switching from Office to OpenOffice.org — 26 February 2008 @ 1:32 am
I have OOo on my business machine at the office using XP along with Office 2003, my XP based laptop and my Suse 10 Linux box. I use NeoOffice on a PPc I book that also has a copy of MS Ofc2004. B/C many docs and spreadsheets are shared with clients, I save in MS formats. Recently, I tried to edit a file created using Ofc2003 on my business machine on the Mac with MS 0fc 2004 and talk about a disaster. I lost information, format messed up, what I edited was lost when viewed with Ofc 2003 but could be seen with Ofc 2004 on the Mac. Finally, did it all with OOo and no problem between all 4 machines with different OS.
The problem with OOo in my environment is other apps integrate with MS Ofc and when asking the app companies if they could allow an option to use OOo either they are not planning to or it is planned as a low priority item. One company, my contact manager/e-mail client/calendar/billing system program had an option of either MS or WordPerfect and they dropped WP and subbed OOo but it is not quite as seamless as when using MS but getting better.
The big reason for maintaining MS O on my business machine is not that I use it or find advantages with it but to open client docs, especially Excel that allows for some really loosey goosey formula writing that does not conform to proper formula writing and hence not recognized by OOo. I have to open the file in Excel and then correct the cliets’ crap and then close to open in OOo without seeing all those errors in cells.
My son a 4th year uni student has been using OpenOfice since the days of StarDivision and has submitted all of his papers during his college career in either .doc or .pdf format and more recently a few professors have allowed .odt so it is spreading though in doing this I’m surprised they do not require .pdf as as the document should be in a noneditable format (yes, I know and in the office can convert .pdf to .doc).
While some focus on price, others anti-MS, others on and open format, I do not think any of these will individually do much to pull significant market share from Ofc. I’m hearing more IT persons complaining about the licensing structures of MS that seems to getting them to re-evaluate the choice of apps. MS is not the only 1 as Lotus is also a topic of this especially, Notes which is a shame as Lotus Notes with the collaborative apps taken as a whole as it gets into a more mature version for the 1st time will actually be the first true Office Suite.
Comment by Brian Levy — 28 February 2008 @ 7:39 pm
[...] Haugland, OpenOffice.org author and trainer, has written Switching Office Suites from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org for Fanatic [...]
Pingback by SolidOffice » Blog Archive » Solveig Haugland on Switching from Microsoft to OpenOffice — 29 February 2008 @ 8:46 am
[...] Read More Here. [...]
Pingback by Don Watkins » Blog Archive » Switching from MS Office to Open Office — 29 February 2008 @ 1:08 pm
You’ve convinced me. I had a torrid but brief affair with Ubuntu and OOo last year but I soon switched back to MS Office after buying my new laptop which came pre-loaded with Vista. However as I write this, I’ve started my OOo download and am uninstalling Office from my system. Thanks for reminding me where my affections truly lie.
Comment by yousuf — 3 March 2008 @ 10:00 am
I’ve been using OOO for an year. I can only say that this program is pretty good if we consider that it’s free, available for anyone. As a matter of fact, I was really surprised how good it is for a free software. There are some shortcomings, though, which I’d like to write down:
First, I don’t know how this program works on other PCs but on my old one where I have installed Windows, OOO starts a little bit slowly…
Secondly, there are those periods when you create a document, when the program automatically saves it, and no matter what you press or do, the program simply stops for 5-8 sec. After the automatically saving the document, you can continue your work :) On the other hand, this thing is useful – in case of failure you can recover the document.
About the fact that people who use Ms Office can’t see your document… Well, I am glad to announce that today I found a way to solve this problem! While browsing the net I go to this very useful site, where I find the best answer to this question: http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_share_documents_between_openoffice_writer_and_microsoft_word.html
So, if you have some patience to read those instructions on the site, you’ll see that you can share you’re documents written with OOO with people using Ms Office or other programs. All you need is to simply save the document you created in another format, for instance in Ms Office 2003/XP format and so on.
I must say that this information really reliefed me, now I’m no longer terrified to give my work to my boss for fear that he won’t be able to read it.
With other words, in my opinion, Open Office is a great solution especially for people who don’t want or can’t afford using Ms Office. It is maybe too good for a freeware, as I’ve written above, but I can only thank the guys who created it for their initiative! This program simplified my life! I’m so happy I discovered it and hope more and more people will do it too!
Comment by Alex — 3 March 2008 @ 1:27 pm
How to migrate old “.pst” files from Outlook to Open Office???Please help me…
Comment by Kumar — 4 March 2008 @ 2:32 am
Hi Kumar
I wish I had the answer to that. I would suggest you try http://www.oooforum.org and/or email: users@openoffice.org
Hope they can help
Comment by Russell — 4 March 2008 @ 11:10 am
[...] Open Source We recently posted a article entitled, Switching from Microsoft Office to Openoffice.org. We hope by now you have downloaded this great free office suite and that the migration went [...]
Pingback by 30 Similarities Between Microsoft Office Word and OpenOffice.org Writer | Fanatic Attack — 10 March 2008 @ 3:27 pm
[...] stumbled across a rather interesting article today that gives a few hints and tips on how to move from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org [...]
Pingback by Switching to OpenOffice.org « Counting Beans — 13 March 2008 @ 12:16 pm
Brian Levy:
Which “contact manager/e-mail client/calendar/billing system program” are you using that is beginning to interface well with Open Office?
Thanks!
Comment by David — 20 March 2008 @ 12:36 pm
@Brian
Hi
I would just try Evolution and Thunderbird (with its Sunbird and Lightning addons) and see which one you like better.
I don’t have any ideas on billing systems but will investigate and advise.
Comment by Russell — 20 March 2008 @ 2:29 pm
[...] more on making the switch to OpenOffice.org, see Solveig Haugland’s great article, which includes links to OpenOffice.org training sites and other resources (scroll a little past [...]
Pingback by B on the Move - Tech News - Smooth the transition to OpenOffice.org — 26 April 2008 @ 2:18 am
For the average user (like me) there is no difference between Micro$oft’s paid version or Sun’s free version. There is no reason to pay for something that is free.
Comment by IP — 4 May 2008 @ 5:21 pm
[...] options in MS Office.One of the biggest issues people have had with Open Office in the past is the perceived incompatibilities that are now a thing of the past. Of course Microsoft is doing it’s darn best to [...]
Pingback by Office Alternatives for Mac | Rick Tech — 13 May 2008 @ 11:42 am
Do you know if there is an equivalent to the utility for (Windows ) MS Word called pocketknife (http://www.xintercept.com/pocketknife.htm).
The utility lets you look up names and contact information directly from outlook and then use it to fill out Templates (Letters, Faxes, Contracts, etc) automatically.
It is very helpfull when you are dealing with several government offices and/or contractors at the same time.
Comment by F Tong — 1 June 2008 @ 8:15 am
[...] More [...]
Pingback by Switching Office Suites from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org | Elfarra.net — 6 July 2008 @ 8:18 pm
You have converted me from Office to Open Office.org….I’m not sure why I didn’t do it sooner.
Comment by OpenOfficeOrgfan — 25 July 2008 @ 2:40 pm
I am using OO on my home internet surfing computer for opening any files sent to me via my personal email. It is working great and I have found it uses less resources than the MS office product. Did I mention it was free too? MS office came preinstalled on my new computer, but it requires me to buy a license to keep using it, so hence the installation of OO to get around spending more money on this new computer. So far I have opened excel, word and PowerPoint files using this and it works great. I am also using the Thunderbird email client and the AVG virus software, my goal is to not spend any more money on this computer. It is setup for surfing the web and personal entertainment, my work computer is supported by the company I work for and they can spend the money on MS office if they wish.
Comment by Mike — 15 August 2008 @ 8:46 am
How about ‘Base’. It doesn’t seem to work with Access files at all, or any other files too well either
Comment by grafix — 15 August 2008 @ 10:55 am
Every now and then during the last 5-6 years, I’ve been checking out OpenOffice. I always thought it was an excellent product, that did everything MS Office could do, but for various reasons I always returned to MS Office (I never paid for MS Office myself which may have been part of the reason). I always saw some clear advantages with OOo and I always wanted to switch, but compability issues with thousands of older MS files on my computer always worried me. Yes, I know I’ll be able to open everything, but it STILL worred me.
2008: the new and truly horrific joke of an interface in Office 2007 has lead me back to OpenOffice. Another reason was the new .docx format, which I had difficulties opening on my Mac (NeoOffice is still the only descent way for me to open these files on my Mac, since MS refuse to write a tiny little upgrade for my old Office 2004). It is ironic that OOo (or NeoOffice in this case) turned out to be more compatible with Microsoft than Microsoft itself… I figured that if I have to use NeoOffice on the Mac, I may as well use OpenOffice on the PC. An added bonus was that I could say goodbye to the awful “ribbon” and “wheel” in Office 2007 for good. Right now, I feel glad that I switched (although I’ve kept my MS versions on both the PC and the Mac “just in case”…).
Bottom line: the two suits are very similar. OOo is slightly slower, but it has a MUCH better interface, is more flexible, and I don’t need to worry about compability issues with future formats.
I’m not anti-MS at all. On the contrary, I really like MS and I admire Bill Gates. There are many huge companies out there run by super rich, but none of them donate anything close to what the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation does. Thousands of people around the world are alive today ONLY because of these donations. How could any sane person hate such a company? I’d rather hate General Motors, whose product pollute the world and who contribute nothing to people in need. That does unfortunately not change the fact that OOo is a slightly better product than MS Office today. It is clear that OpenSource is the future for this type of application, and it is difficult to imagine MS Office being able to compete in the long run.
Comment by oioioi — 4 October 2008 @ 8:07 pm
[...] Read about how to make the switch from Microsoft Office to Openoffice.org easily [...]
Pingback by Your free MS Office Replacement | Fanatic Attack — 13 October 2008 @ 1:33 pm
More a question, really.
I’m using Word, trying to switch to OO. I use the multiple language support in Word, sometimes I write in English, sometimes in Spanish, and like to use the (Windows) language supported keyboard to input the characters used in Spanish that we don’t use in English (n with the little tilde over it, etc.) Also like to spanish spell checker.
I can’t find these in OO Writer. Are they there? And if so, where?
Thanks for a great website. It’s really helping with the transition.
Steve
Comment by Steve Zabinsky — 4 November 2008 @ 4:17 pm
Hi Steve
Thanks for stopping by. Im not sure about the answer to your question. Will have to ask around.
In the meantime, you might want to ask the question here:
http://www.oooforum.org/
http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/
Best
Comment by Russell — 4 November 2008 @ 6:02 pm
These forums might have the info — I’ve started digging through them, will let you know what I find (may be a week or more, unfortunately).
I’m not used to these user-based communities. How do people with jobs find time do all this great work?
Comment by Steve Zabinsky — 5 November 2008 @ 1:39 pm
I work in a law office and justed switched to Open Office – came on our new computer. I do legal documents that have a half-line above and below the heading. When I put in the half line – it automatically creates a whole bold line across the page that I cannot delete. Any suggestions?
Comment by Deb — 12 November 2008 @ 6:41 pm
I switched to OpenOffice about 4 years ago. I did this when I could not longer read certain documents unless I upgraded for another outlay of hundreds of dollars. I also was tired of MS Office corrupting bullets for no reason on my larger documents. These documents, once corrupted were corrupted forever. I found the change to OpenOffice to be only a little frustrating in certain areas. (Like printing mail labels that were so easy in MS Office and then became a little more difficult and less transparent in OpenOffice) However, I experienced no more corrupted bullets that ended my fear of this nightmare and the need to creat countless backups in order to recover. I could also now print directly to a PDF file. This is GREAT! I work in an office with 102 personnel. I simply save to a .doc file for those few documents I have to share in that file format. I will never go back to MS. I am not impressed with the “pretty ribbons” and “glass” look. It’s just another way to ease the pain of the expense of upgrading yet again in order to read what others send you. What did your site license cost?
Comment by Vaughn — 17 November 2008 @ 1:47 pm
OOo (now at version 3) is not quite MS Office. PC users are used to going to the shoppe, buying a retail license and installing the application (aside the pirates who are used to bypassing software s/n’s and registration). win-deuce users are used to doing this and expecting defaults to be as they’ve always been for them. MS Office 2007 users expect other users to use OOXML without knowing what OOXML really is.
I didn’t like OpenOffice at first (though I liked it better than MS Office…I guess I don’t like Office Suites more than I have to), I just knew I had to switch if I ever wanted to convert to Linux (I figured a gradual conversion to FOSS was the way to go). OOo wasn’t good for handling spellcheck until version 2.4, and I still can’t print slides as handouts of a few, select slides using Impress (I’m not impressed). There’s also no support for microsloth’s equivalent to PDF (can’t remember what it is, but hopefully no one uses is). I was personally frustrated with FOSS at first when I switched to FireFox. I never liked FireFox, and I ended up using a Linux-only browser after I made the switch. FF3 is ok, but it’s too ‘win-deuce’-like for my likings. I also liked foobar2000, but I spent way too much time configuring it. I also hated KDE when I tried it, but I knew I had to convert.
Every so often I’ll find a win-deuce machine w/ MS Office to print some slides in PowerPoint, but otherwise OOo suits my needs.
I got my sister to use OOo, and she kept getting annoyed by the notification every time she wanted to save a file in DOC format. I hope she has no interest in printing certain slides on handouts of a PowerPoint file. She also couldn’t figure out how to view Word comments w/ Writer. OOo will only be “ready” for mainstream use when MS Office loses market share, when people feel the need for interoperability between different office suites and OOo-specific features.
Comment by titaniumtux — 1 December 2008 @ 12:09 am
I made the switch recently. It was forced upon me, actually. I uninstalled something or other, and instantly Office ceased working. Apparently, some dll or other got uninstalled. Whatever — it was for the best. I’d had OOo on my computer for a long time, but I just hesitated making the switch. Now that I have, I’m thrilled. Not a single MS program on the computer — except for Windows! Unfortunately, the wife needs that for work-related programs. Still, it’s a good feeling to be weaning myself from the MS teat…
Comment by G. Scott — 19 January 2009 @ 11:51 am
If I acquire Open Office will I be able to edit documents that are on the computer under an expired trial edition of Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003?
Comment by Norman Olson — 21 January 2009 @ 9:12 pm
[...] the things you’re not quite sure about.” Solveig Haugland offers a virtual hand to hold.www.fanaticattack.com This entry was written by edafe, posted on 03/04/2008, filed under openoffice and tagged howto, [...]
Pingback by Switching office suites from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org - edafe.org — 23 January 2009 @ 9:02 am
1. When we open any DOC file in Openoffice writer(in 3.0), format of file changes. Is there any alternate to it?
Comment by Openoffice user — 25 February 2009 @ 8:21 am
I tried it with OO but i cant open some Documents, or I need other tools to convert. Thats bad for me. I dont have so much time. So i must use MS Office.
Comment by Bergrennen — 1 May 2009 @ 10:09 pm